DARLAND TO MAKE 200TH SILVER CROWN START SATURDAY AT ELDORA
By: Richie Murray - USAC Media
Rossburg, Ohio………Dave Darland has picked up a last-minute ride with Felker/Nix Racing to compete in Saturday’s “4-Crown Nationals” USAC Silver Crown event at Eldora Speedway, which will mark his record 200th start in the series.
Darland, the 1997 series champ will drive the A.J. Felker & Ricky Nix-owned, Ricky Nix Tire Service/Nick Bohannon LLC-sponsored, Beast/Chevy, will start from the tail of the field after not registering a time in Friday’s qualifying session.
It’s a homecoming of sorts for Darland as he becomes the first driver to break the 200 start barrier with the series. The USAC Triple Crown champ made career Silver Crown start number one at Eldora back in 1990, starting 13th and finishing 8th for Frank Faurote. Darland is a four-time winner of the Silver Crown portion of the “4-Crown,” picking up victories in 2004-05-08-09.
Darland has made six Silver Crown starts this year, finishing a best of 9th at the “Hoosier Hundred” in May at the Indiana State Fairgrounds, charging from his 28th starting position.
Meanwhile, the Felker/Nix entry No. 43 has competed twice this year, missing the show at the “Hoosier Hundred” with driver Daniel Robinson and finishing 11th in August’s “Joe James/Pat O’Connor Memorial” at Salem (Ind.) Speedway with driver John Heydenreich.
Shane Cottle scored the pole for Saturday’s “4-Crown Nationals” presented by NKT.TV USAC Silver Crown Champ Car race at Eldora Speedway. Cottle will be joined on the front row by Jerry Coons, Jr. of Tucson, Ariz. Coons’ Nolen Racing teammate Chris Windom, whose won the two most recent events on the Silver Crown calendar, will line up third alongside Brady Bacon. Series champ Kody Swanson and defending race winner Tyler Courtney occupy row three, with newcomer Jason McDougal and C.J. Leary taking row four with Matt Goodnight and Kevin Thomas, Jr. rounding out the top-ten qualifiers in row five.
On Saturday, pits open at 11:30am, spectator gates open at noon, a USAC autograph session will take place from 3-4pm in the fan zone, drivers meeting at 4:30pm and cars on track at 6pm. General admission tickets are $30 for ages 13 & up and $30 for ages 12 & under. Reserved tickets are $34 for ages 13 & up and $14 for ages 12 & under: $14.
Saturday’s full events will have LIVE audio on the USAC app along with LIVE video on http://Live.EldoraSpeedway.com/.
ALL-TIME USAC SILVER CROWN “4-CROWN” WINNERS: 1981: Steve Kinser, 1982: Ron Shuman, 1983: Ken Schrader, 1985: Larry Rice, 1986: Jack Hewitt, 1987: Larry Rice, 1988: Jack Hewitt, 1989: Jack Hewitt, 1990: Steve Butler, 1991: Jack Hewitt, 1992: Steve Butler, 1993: Ron Shuman, 1994: Jack Hewitt, 1995: Jack Hewitt, 1996: Jack Hewitt, 1997: Kevin Huntley, 1998: Jack Hewitt, 1999: Jimmy Sills, 2000: J.J. Yeley, 2001: J.J. Yeley, 2002: Brian Tyler, 2004: Dave Darland, 2005: Dave Darland, 2006: Mat Neely, 2007: Jerry Coons Jr., 2008: Dave Darland, 2009: Dave Darland, 2010: Bryan Clauson, 2011: Kyle Larson, 2012: Bryan Clauson, 2013: Chris Windom, 2014: Jerry Coons Jr., 2015: Christopher Bell, 2016: Chris Windom, 2017: Tyler Courtney
USAC SILVER CROWN CHAMPIONSHIP POINTS: 1-Kody Swanson-583, 2-Justin Grant-507, 3-Chris Windom-503, 4-David Byrne-439, 5-Jerry Coons, Jr.-378, 6-Bobby Santos-329, 7-Kyle Robbins-326, 8-Travis Welpott-319, 9-Matt Goodnight-309, 10-Austin Nemire-286.
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USAC SILVER CROWN CHAMP CAR SERIES RACE RESULTS: September 22, 2018 – Eldora Speedway – Rossburg, Ohio – 37th “4-Crown Nationals" presented by NKT.TV
QUALIFYING:
1. Shane Cottle, 81, Williams-16.764
2. Jerry Coons Jr., 20, Nolen-16.888
3. Chris Windom, 17, Nolen-16.935
4. Brady Bacon, 6, Klatt-16.993
5. Kody Swanson, 63, DePalma-16.993
6. Tyler Courtney, 97, Lein-16.998
7. Jason McDougal, 9, Dyson-17.002
8. C.J. Leary, 30, Leary-17.011
9. Matt Goodnight, 39, Goodnight-17.118
10. Kevin Thomas, Jr. 56, Foxco-17.146
11. Kyle Robbins, 7, KR-17.179
12. Justin Grant, 91, Hemelgarn-17.250
13. David Byrne, 40, Byrne-17.306
14. Aaron Pierce, 26, Pierce-17.333
15. Austin Nemire, 16, Nemire/Lesko-17.543
16. Travis Welpott, 18, Welpott/Gorman-17.554
17. Mike Haggenbottom, 124, Haggenbottom-17.714
18. Jacob Wilson, 07, WBR-17.765
19. Aaron Schuck, 53, Five-Three-18.034 (Car will be raced by Steve Buckwalter on Saturday)
20. Chris Fetter, 89, Fetter-18.513
21. Dave Berkheimer, 31, Berkheimer-19.076
22. Bill Rose, 66, Rose-NT
23. Dave Darland, 43, Nix/Felker-NT