MILTON, Fla. – It took Ricky Stenhouse Jr. 14 years to return to victory lane with the United Sprint Car Series Outlaw Thunder Tour, but just one race to earn his second win of the season.
Stenhouse, who races full time in the NASCAR Cup Series with JTG Daugherty Racing, completed a weekend sweep with the USCS 360 sprint cars on Saturday night at Southern Raceway, starting from the pole and besting Justin Barger for the victory.
Wheeling his familiar NOS Energy Drink-backed No. 17jr, Stenhouse’s triumph was the ninth of his USCS career. Prior to the weekend, his last USCS win had been in 2006.
Barger took the checkered flag second, followed by Mark Smith, Dale Howard and R.J. Jacobs.
An 11th-place finish was enough for longtime veteran Terry Gray to put the finishing touches on his 13th career USCS national championship.
Unofficially, Gray earned the title by 34 points over Connor Leoffler, who finished sixth in Saturday night’s feature.
The finish:
Ricky Stenhouse Jr., Justin Barger, Mark Smith, Dale Howard, R.J. Jacobs, Connor Leoffler, Conner Morrell, Derek Hagar, Terry McCarl, Chase Howard, Terry Gray, Michael Miller, Zane Devault, Hayden Campbell, Kyle Amerson, Danny Smith, Jim Shuster, Brandon Blenden, Michael Magic, Jeff Willingham, Terry Witherspoon, Mallie Shuster, Ronny Howard.