CANEY, Kan. – Leading start to finish at Caney Valley Speedway, John Carney II held off the last lap charge of Robbie Price to win the second round of the Lucas Oil ASCS Sprint Week powered by Smiley’s Racing Products on Wednesday.
Asked if he was as surprised to see Price make a run on the final lap, Carney replied, “No, actually. On the restarts, I picked up the pace quite a bit just in case I pushed or did something silly, and usually, everyone is on your tail. I think that last one, we had eight to go, and once I saw we had two to go, I knew if I just hugged the tires, I’d be in good shape, but that’s exactly where I messed up.
“I dumped the throttle a little early and made it push. Once I did that, I tried to get the car to slip and bring the back around, and it didn’t. It pushed more, and that just opened it up for Robbie to get there, but luckily, I still had a little more momentum on him, so I knew I was in good shape. I just made sure I didn’t lift in the last turn.”
Getting the run to the lead over polesitter Channin Tankersley, caution lights came on after the first lap for Chase Randall. Able to keep the Skagit Speedway No. 21p at bay on the restart, Price had his own battle to deal with as Brandon Anderson used lap seven restart for Harli White to bolt into the runner-up spot.
Losing ground to the Xiphos by SawBlade.com No. J2, the No. 55 began moving around. Despite the line being around the bottom, Anderson opened his groove up a little bit and started running down the No. J2.
Making over a second on Carney, the run was brought to a fiery halt as Anderson’s engine erupted into flames with eight laps to run.
Advancing Robbie Price back to second, the final two laps put the No. 21p on the back-bumper Carney. Diving under the No. J2 through the first and second turns, the door slammed shut as the pair hit the back straightaway with Carney taking the win by .391-seconds. J.J. Hickle rolled through the field from 10th to claim the final podium step with Ian Madsen crossing fourth. Jake Bubak completed the top five.
The finish:
1. J2-John Carney II[2]; 2. 21P-Robbie Price[8]; 3. 63-JJ Hickle[10]; 4. 35M-Ian Madsen[3]; 5. 1X-Jake Bubak[6]; 6. 17G-Channin Tankersley[1]; 7. 1-Sean McClelland[12]; 8. 5H-Michael Faccinto[9]; 9. 33-Colton Heath[14]; 10. 23-Seth Bergman[13]; 11. 17W-Harli White[7]; 12. 1P-Dylan Postier[20]; 13. 52-Blake Hahn[19]; 14. 18T-Tanner Holmes[18]; 15. 26M-Fred Mattox[15]; 16. 22X-Riley Goodno[5]; 17. 47-Avery Goodman[16]; 18. 31-Casey Wills[17]; 19. 55B-Brandon Anderson[4]; 20. 9-Chase Randall[11]