BECHTELSVILLE, Pa. — Chris Windom earned his second NOS Energy Drink USAC National Midget Series victory of the season in Tuesday’s Pennsylvania Midget Week opener at Grandview Speedway.

He fought Clauson/Marshall Racing teammate Tyler Courtney for the win on the final lap, losing the lead via a Courtney slider in turn one, then outracing him into turn three to retake the position before sealing the deal to win in the series’ first visit to the third-mile dirt oval in three decades.

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“Honestly, it took me a little while this year,” Windom admitted. “I raced midgets quite a bit in 2011 and 2012, but I felt like I never really ran a lot. Being off six years, these things have changed quite a bit.  Most of these guys have gotten to do it two or three years straight.  It took me a little bit to get back into the rhythm of it. CMR and (crew chief Tyler Ransbottom) and everybody gives us cars to go out and compete first and second with.  You know you have a car to win, so you’ve got to go figure out how to do it.”

Windom was slotted into the pole position for the start of the 30-lapper after originally scheduled pole starter Zeb Wise had to go to a backup car after his engine expired at the finish of his heat race. Wise’s misfortune moved him to the tail of the field and fortuitously gave Windom the pole.

Windom slid past outside front row starter Kevin Thomas Jr. into turn one on the opening lap, with Thomas maintaining a one to two car length distance behind Windom’s rear bumper for most of the first third of the race.

Windom utilized the higher line between turns one and two but found comfort on the bottom of turns three and four until the ninth lap when he was forced into taking the high road around the lappers hugging the bottom rail.

As Thomas attempted to close on Windom a couple car lengths back, the bottom was no longer an option as a stack of traffic hung to the low side in the ensuing laps.  As it turned out, it forced Windom out of the comfort zone and into the track position it turns out he needed to occupy.

“Before I caught lapped traffic, I felt like the bottom was starting to get slower,” Windom recalled. “I was actually kind of glad to see lapped traffic because it forced me to go up there and then it just felt like I was gaining more and more momentum, so that’s where I stayed. I felt like the only way anyone was going to get us running there was on a caution and a slide job.”

With 12 laps remaining, 11th running Karsyn Elledge spun to a stop between turns three and four, putting a lid on the traffic game for the leaders and bringing a resumption of the battle up front which encapsulated the top-five under a blanket just prior to the yellow.

The see-saw battle between Thomas and Courtney picked up the lap 19 restart where Courtney slid by Thomas into turn one.  Thomas countered underneath to retake the runner-up spot in turn three.

On lap 25, Courtney returned the favor, sliding by Thomas again in turn one. Thomas tapped Courtney on the rear bumper as the pair exited turn two, with Courtney securing the position.

Zeb Wise and Steve Buckwalter got together in turn one while racing for 12th, sending Buckwalter flipping.

A wild scramble for second on back behind Windom allowed Windom to distance himself from the pack following the restart, building a 1.2 second lead prior to the stoppage with three to go due to a spin by USAC East Coast Sprint Car champ and 16th running Steven Drevicki between turns one and two.

Courtney was now right Windom’s tail tank once again for the three-lap sprint to the finish. Though he didn’t initially attempt a slider, Courtney began the stint with a decent restart, staying within a couple car lengths of Windom throughout the first lap.  A lap later, Windom escaped Courtney, who now appeared to not be close enough to make another last-ditch run at Windom as the leaders passed under the white flag.

Further back in the pack, eighth-running Jason McDougal spun sideways to a stop in turn four to bring a halt to the event, setting up a green-white-checkered finish.

When leading in this situation, a driver is fully aware that they are ripe for the picking and a slide job is most likely going to be delivered. Windom was cognizant of that fact and had readied himself for Courtney.

“He’s on top of his game in a midget right now and he’s a really aggressive driver, so I wasn’t just expecting him to sit back and run second on a restart,” Windom said. “I knew whatever line I went to, he was going to the opposite.”

Courtney remained a car length back on the first lap following the restart, shadowing Windom and anticipating when he, himself, would shoot his shot while a hard-charging Kyle Larson raced side-by-side with Tanner Carrick for third midway down the back straight.

Courtney took his shot in turn one on the final lap and Windom already had the next half a lap planned out before Courtney even made his move.

“I felt like, at some point, it had to be coming,” Windom expected. “I was trying to get as good of a restart as I could, but when guys running second get two and three opportunities at you in the last three laps, they’re going to figure out something normally. He was able to get in front of me there and I knew my only option was to cross him over and beat him to turn three.  So, that was my plan when I saw him come across my front end there. I knew I had to cross him over and just hope we got to turns three and four smoothly.”

Windom did just that, after turning his car down at the exit of two to sneak back under Courtney, drive past him on the back straight and clear him high into turn three.  Courtney ducked low off turn four underneath Windom, but it wasn’t enough as Windom closed out the victory by a car length over Courtney, Carrick, Tanner Thorson (from 15th) and Chad Boat.

To see full results, turn to the next page.