It was mostly the Stewart and Stewart show, but sprint car veteran Shane Stewart and former NASCAR champion Tony Stewart had to settle for second and third respectively following a late-range charge by All Stars Circuit of Champions legend Tim Shaffer, who guessed right on the constantly changing 3/8-mile dirt oval at Bubba Raceway Park in Ocala, Florida.
Shaffer took home $5,000 for winning the Ollie’s Bargain Outlet All Star Circuit of Champions season opener Thursday night in windy, chilly conditions. It was the first regular-season running in 2019 of any major dirt track series leading into Speedweeks, where most every major short track in Florida will be running nightly leading up to the Daytona 500.
Thursday, 33 fast sprint cars in the series now owned by inveterate racer Tony Stewart packed the pits, with time trials and heat races whittling down the field to 24 for a 30-lap finale.
Tony Stewart, who came in second in his heat race but won the dash, started on the outside pole and immediately set sail, building up a sizable lead in the No. 14 until Oklahoman Shane Stewart in the No. 49 began wearing Stewart down as they raced side by side.
But another of several cautions — there was only one serious one but the driver walked away after vaulting over the turn 3 wall, out of the stadium — and with every restart, Stewart prevailed.
Until he didn’t. As Tony Stewart ran the bottom, Shane Stewart and Pennsylvania racer Tim Shaffer found some speed in the middle and top of the blackened track, which began taking rubber immediately. When the checkered flag fell, it was Shaeffer in the No. 49, Shane Stewart in the No. 5 and Columbus, Indiana’s Tony Stewart in his familiar No. 14.
Tony said after that he needed to do a better job conserving his tires for the races Friday and Saturday night, “but there’s no shame in finishing third here to these guys. They are some of the best sprint car drivers in the world.” Indeed, time trials had the better cars running nearly wide open around the circuit, logging times in their 900-horsepower cars in the mid-11-second range.
Stewart has already started on his 2019 plan to participate in 99 races — mostly winged sprint cars, three-quarter midgets and a modified race, not that different from the 2018 season for the three-time NASCAR Cup champ and co-owner of Stewart-Haas Racing, with Cup drivers Kevin Harvick, Aric Almirola, Clint Bowyer and newcomer Daniel Suarez for the 2019 season.
As for Shaffer, it was his 65th feature win in the All Stars, and he’ll be going for two more on Friday and Saturday. For more information, head to BubbaRacewayPark.com.
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