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Larson nets the finale in the Late Models, as Strand delivers for top-10 finish at Vado

From Dirt On Dirt Staff Reports

VADO, NM (January 14) - Kyle Larson finally broke through for his first Rio Grande Waste Services Wild West Shootout presented by O’Reilly Auto Parts in Sunday night’s 50-lap finale at Vado Speedway Park.

But would the NASCAR Cup Series superstar have emerged triumphant if a flat right-rear tire hadn’t snuffed out Bobby Pierce’s bid for a fifth straight win—and a $100,000 Penske Paydirt Jackpot bonus—as the Oakwood, IL, driver led the feature on lap 43?

Larson, 31, of Elk Grove, California, wasn’t sure if he could have overcome Pierce without the pacesetter’s twist of fate, but he was certainly ready to take his shot in the final circuits.

“I think it was getting ready to get good there down the frontstretch into (turn) one,” Larson said of the moments before Pierce’s tire gave up.

The battle didn’t happen, however, as Larson inherited the lead on the lap-43 restart following Pierce’s problem and controlled the remainder of the distance to secure the $26,000 first-place prize. He was 2.823 seconds ahead of Winfield, Tennessee’s Mike Marlar, who led laps 1-13 before fading as far back as fifth and then rallying to reach second following the lap-43 restart.

Cade Dillard finished close behind Marlar in third. Garrett Alberson was fourth, for his fifth top-five finish in six events, and Stormy Scott completed the top five after running as high as second.

North Dakota’s Jason Strand was the highest WISSOTA-area finisher in the top 10 Sunday night, finishing his two weeks in the desert in eighth. Minnesota’s Dustin Sorensen was 10th, Canada’s Ricky Weiss was 11th, Wisconsin’s Sam Mars was 16th, and Minnesota’s Jake Timm was 23rd.

SUMMARY

Super Late Models:

A Feature 1 (50 Laps): 1. 6-Kyle Larson[4]; 2. 157-Mike Marlar[2]; 3. 97-Cade Dillard[1]; 4. 58-Garrett Alberson[8]; 5. 2S-Stormy Scott[6]; 6. 1-Tyler Erb[12]; 7. 32-Bobby Pierce[3]; 8. E85-Jason Strand[11]; 9. B5-Brandon Sheppard[5]; 10. 19-Dustin Sorensen[9]; 11. 7-Ricky Weiss[7]; 12. 18-Chase Junghans[19]; 13. 18B-Shannon Babb[10]; 14. 86-Kyle Beard[18]; 15. 25-Mikey Kile[15]; 16. 28M-Sam Mars[23]; 17. 14M-Morgan Bagley[17]; 18. 15S-Clayton Stuckey[24]; 19. 7T-Drake Troutman[13]; 20. 14S-Collen Winebarger[16]; 21. 10-Kaden Honeycutt[20]; 22. 13-Bricen James[21]; 23. 49T-Jake Timm[14]; 24. 32B-Cody Laney[22]

Heat 1 (8 Laps): 1. 32-Bobby Pierce[2]; 2. B5-Brandon Sheppard[3]; 3. 19-Dustin Sorensen[1]; 4. 7T-Drake Troutman[5]; 5. 11-Jon Kirby[4]; 6. 14M-Morgan Bagley[7]; 7. 18-Chase Junghans[6]; 8. 28M-Sam Mars[8]; 9. 02-Kent Rosevear[9]; 10. 250-Walton Kyle Jr[10]

Heat 2 (8 Laps): 1. 157-Mike Marlar[1]; 2. 7-Ricky Weiss[2]; 3. E85-Jason Strand[5]; 4. 25-Mikey Kile[4]; 5. 42S-Don Shaw[3]; 6. 13-Bricen James[7]; 7. 38-Thomas Hunziker[6]; 8. 28W-Jim Whisler[8]; 9. 777-Pete Vargas[9]

Heat 3 (8 Laps): 1. 6-Kyle Larson[1]; 2. 2S-Stormy Scott[2]; 3. 18B-Shannon Babb[3]; 4. 49T-Jake Timm[4]; 5. 86-Kyle Beard[9]; 6. 15S-Clayton Stuckey[6]; 7. 88-Chance Mann; 8. 6T-Terry Carter[5]; 9. 3-Keko Perez

Heat 4 (8 Laps): 1. 97-Cade Dillard[1]; 2. 58-Garrett Alberson[3]; 3. 1-Tyler Erb[2]; 4. 14S-Collen Winebarger[5]; 5. 32B-Cody Laney[6]; 6. 1R-BJ Robinson[4]; 7. 73-Rodney Sanders; 8. 82-Ian Whisler; 9. 10-Kaden Honeycutt[9]