PUNTA GORDA, Fla. — Troy DeCaire would not be denied a second consecutive Southern Sprint Car Shootout Series victory of the season Saturday night despite the loss of power steering in the closing laps of his victory at 417 Southern Speedway.

When the green flag dropped DeCaire wasted no time charging to the front from his outside row two starting position.By the time he crossed the start finish line to complete the first lap, he had firmly established himself as the race leader.

He would go on to lead the 40-lap event wire-to-wire despite two late race double-file restarts that allowed L.J. Grimm a brief opportunity to challenge DeCaire.

DeCaire won by 1.371 seconds over runner-up Grimm.

“I don’t know if a power steering line was leaking or something, it’s all over the car,” DeCaire explained. “Maybe I’m just old and got tired. I’m not really sure. I was struggling. I was getting a lot of wrap in the steering wheel. When I saw that yellow with three or four to go, I wasn’t happy to see that. You worry when you slow down because something might happen and it might lock up. But the car was really good and I never touched the wing. I can’t remember when the last time I done that.”

Following DeCaire was Grimm, Scotty Adema, Joey “The Ace” Aguilar, and Mike Tharp rounding out the top five.

With DeCaire’s win, he now finds himself undefeated in 2021 with three winged pavement sprint car victories.

The finish:

Troy DeCaire, L.J. Grimm, Scott Adema, Joey Aguilar, Mike Tharp, Ryan Adema, Travis Bliemeister, Gary Wiggins, Nick Andrade.