CONCORD, NC — Oct. 28, 2018 — Getting good restarts is key to winning any caution-filled race, and Comp Cams Monster Mini Stock feature winner Rod Tucker certainly had a bunch of those on Sunday night at The Dirt Track at Charlotte in the Driven Racing Oil World Short Track Championship.
Tucker battled through quite a wreck-fest and multiple challenges from both second and third-place finishers Jammie Mattson and Justin Mintz over 25 laps to earn his hard-fought victory. A number of yellow flags and even one red flag for a flipping Dennis Kirk forced multiple restarts, all of which Tucker had to survive in order to pick up the W.
“This is by far one of the biggest stages I’ve ever won on,” Tucker said in Victory Lane. “Everybody’s here and it’s awesome.”
Tucker did lose the lead briefly just before the halfway mark to Mattson, as he got a good run off of turn four and drove it deep into turn one to swipe the spot away. Tucker would take it back on the next restart, though, and cruise to a big win at Charlotte on the preferred bottom lane.
“That was dry-slick racing at its best,” Tucker said. “The bottom groove was definitely the place to be.”
Jammie Mattson had a chance to chance to win it on the final green-white-checkered, but slid up high over the cushion in turn one and was not able to recover. He crossed the line in second, 1 ¼ seconds back.
Justin Mintz put on a passing clinic over the first 15 laps, coming all the way from 20th to finish third. He caught the two leaders in the closing circuits, but elected not to start beside Tucker on the final restart. This cost him an extra spot in the end, but still wrapped up a podium finish.
HIGHLIGHTS:
RESULTS:
Feature (25 Laps) – 1. 8-Rod Tucker [2]; 2. 97-Jammie Mattson [4]; 3. 54-Justin Mintz [20]; 4. 84-Kyle Cooper [23]; 5. 10-Logan Richey [3]; 6. W5-Jackie Holden [19]; 7. 28-Kevin Cooper [1]; 8. 98-Matt Gilberts [9]; 9. O-Nick Walker [6]; 10. 95v-Adam Vandiver [10]; 11. 212-Greg Brew [26]; 12. OO-Cody Ussery [12]; 13. 98h-Wes Helms [5]; 14. 14r-Lawson Rogers [17]; 15. 4-Tack Brown [7]; 16. 12-Jason Dickerson [14]; 17. 22-Mason Pugh [22]; 18. 18-Austin Mintz [15]; 19. 10c-Carl Currin [18]; 20. 71-Tim Bristol [21]; 21. 115c-Patrick Arch [8]; 22. 14-Jason Horne [13]; 23. 21e-Shannon Ethridge [11]; 24. 71k-Dennis Kirk [25]; 25. 13-Brayden Pruitt [24]; 26. 43-Sparks Parris [16]; KSE Hard Charger Award: 84-Kyle Cooper[+19]
Qualifying Flight-A – 1. O-Nick Walker, 20.633; 2. 10-Logan Richey, 20.774; 3. 4-Tack Brown, 20.909; 4. 115c-Patrick Arch, 21.095; 5. 14-Jason Horne, 21.167; 6. 89w-Randy Weaver, 21.177; 7. 96-Stacy Brock, 21.178; 8. 12-Jason Dickerson, 21.222; 9. W5-Jackie Holden, 21.357; 10. 51-James Manning, 21.426; 11. 21-Austin Whiteside, 21.437; 12. 22-Mason Pugh, 21.747; 13. B3-Damien Bryant, 21.748; 14. 7x-Jason Adams, 21.782; 15. 33-Tim McMahon, 21.795; 16. O7-Nicholas Broome, 21.872; 17. 25-Rusty Campbell, 22.121; 18. 22m-Bubba Miller, 22.366; 19. O4-Phillip Wilson, 23.879; DNS. 82-Taylor Gettings, NT
Qualifying Flight-B – 1. 8-Rod Tucker, 20.483; 2. 97-Jammie Mattson, 20.787; 3. 98-Matt Gilberts, 20.79; 4. 43-Sparks Parris, 20.839; 5. 54-Justin Mintz, 20.841; 6. 95v-Adam Vandiver, 20.981; 7. 18-Austin Mintz, 21.025; 8. 84-Kyle Cooper, 21.059; 9. O5-Matthew McDonald, 21.373; 10. 12b-Pete Brew, 21.409; 11. 212-Greg Brew, 21.427; 12. B18-Aaron Weed, 21.44; 13. 21s-Randy Staton, 21.619; 14. 95-Kevin Atwell, 21.723; 15. T2-Travis Sharpe, 21.731; 16. 95m-Joey Morgan, 21.782; 17. 44s-Greg Murphy, 21.921; 18. 61-Eric Hill, 22.821; DNS. 83-Ricky Bogan, NT; DNS. 579-Jeremey Potter, NT
Qualifying Flight-C -1. 21e-Shannon Ethridge, 21.012; 2. 28-Kevin Cooper, 21.015; 3. 98h-Wes Helms, 21.022; 4. 10c-Carl Currin, 21.084; 5. 14r-Lawson Rogers, 21.123; 6. H3-Harley Holden, 21.139; 7. 13-Brayden Pruitt, 21.142; 8. OO-Cody Ussery, 21.318; 9. C25-Craig Overby, 21.44; 10. 92-Chris Chapman, 21.577; 11. 71k-Dennis Kirk, 21.601; 12. OB-Blake Dill, 21.607; 13. 483-Ricky Wall, 21.691; 14. 8B-Dustin Bolin, 21.942; 15. 71-Tim Bristol, 21.988; 16. 59-Ray Cagle, 22.125; 17. 18D-Riley Dunford, 22.682; 18. 15-James Anderson, 22.904; 19. 65-James Murphy, 23.038; 20. 39-Austin Breedlove, 25.456
Heat #1 – Flight (A) (6 Laps) – Top 3 Transfer – 1. O-Nick Walker [1]; 2. 4-Tack Brown [2]; 3. 14-Jason Horne [3]; 4. W5-Jackie Holden [5]; 5. 21-Austin Whiteside [6]; 6. 25-Rusty Campbell [9]; 7. O4-Phillip Wilson [10]; 8. 33-Tim McMahon [8]; 9. B3-Damien Bryant [7]; 10. 96-Stacy Brock [4]
Heat #2 – Flight (A) (6 Laps) – Top 3 Transfer – 1. 10-Logan Richey [1]; 2. 115c-Patrick Arch [2]; 3. 12-Jason Dickerson [4]; 4. 51-James Manning [5]; 5. 22-Mason Pugh [6]; 6. 7x-Jason Adams [7]; 7. O7-Nicholas Broome [8]; 8. 22m-Bubba Miller [9]; 9. 89w-Randy Weaver [3]; 10. 82-Taylor Gettings [10]
Heat #3 – Flight (B) (6 Laps) – Top 3 Transfer – 1. 8-Rod Tucker [1]; 2. 98-Matt Gilberts [2]; 3. 18-Austin Mintz [4]; 4. 54-Justin Mintz [3]; 5. O5-Matthew McDonald [5]; 6. T2-Travis Sharpe [8]; 7. 212-Greg Brew [6]; 8. 21s-Randy Staton [7]; 9. 44s-Greg Murphy [9]; 10. 83-Ricky Bogan [10]
Heat #4 – Flight (B) (6 Laps) – Top 3 Transfer – 1. 97-Jammie Mattson [1]; 2. 95v-Adam Vandiver [3]; 3. 43-Sparks Parris [2]; 4. B18-Aaron Weed [6]; 5. 95-Kevin Atwell [7]; 6. 95m-Joey Morgan [8]; 7. 84-Kyle Cooper [4]; 8. 12b-Pete Brew [5]; 9. 61-Eric Hill [9]; 10. 579-Jeremey Potter [10]
Heat #5 – Flight (C) (6 Laps) – Top 3 Transfer – 1. 98h-Wes Helms [2]; 2. 21e-Shannon Ethridge [1]; 3. 14r-Lawson Rogers [3]; 4. 71-Tim Bristol [8]; 5. 13-Brayden Pruitt [4]; 6. 71k-Dennis Kirk [6]; 7. C25-Craig Overby [5]; 8. 483-Ricky Wall [7]; 9. 65-James Murphy [10]; 10. 18D-Riley Dunford [9]
Heat #6 – Flight (C) (6 Laps) – Top 3 Transfer – 1. 28-Kevin Cooper [1]; 2. OO-Cody Ussery [4]; 3. 10c-Carl Currin [2]; 4. 92-Chris Chapman [5]; 5. OB-Blake Dill [6]; 6. 8B-Dustin Bolin [7]; 7. 59-Ray Cagle [8]; 8. H3-Harley Holden [3]; 9. 39-Austin Breedlove [10]; 10. 15-James Anderson [9]
Last Chance Showdown 1 (8 Laps) – Top 2 Transfer – 1. W5-Jackie Holden [1]; 2. 22-Mason Pugh [4]; 3. 25-Rusty Campbell [5]; 4. O4-Phillip Wilson [7]; 5. 21-Austin Whiteside [3]; 6. O7-Nicholas Broome [8]; 7. 82-Taylor Gettings [14]; 8. 7x-Jason Adams [6]; 9. 33-Tim McMahon [9]; 10. 51-James Manning [2]; 11. 22m-Bubba Miller [10]; 12. B3-Damien Bryant [11]; 13. 89w-Randy Weaver [12]; 14. 96-Stacy Brock [13]
Last Chance Showdown 2 ( Laps) – 1. 54-Justin Mintz [1]; 2. 84-Kyle Cooper [8]; 3. 212-Greg Brew [7]; 4. O5-Matthew McDonald [3]; 5. T2-Travis Sharpe [5]; 6. 95m-Joey Morgan [6]; 7. 12b-Pete Brew [10]; 8. 95-Kevin Atwell [4]; 9. 44s-Greg Murphy [11]; 10. B18-Aaron Weed [2]; 11. 21s-Randy Staton [9]; 12. 61-Eric Hill [12]; 13. 83-Ricky Bogan [13]; 14. 579-Jeremey Potter [14]
Last Chance Showdown 3 ( Laps) – 1. 71-Tim Bristol [1]; 2. 13-Brayden Pruitt [3]; 3. 18D-Riley Dunford [13]; 4. 59-Ray Cagle [8]; 5. 8B-Dustin Bolin [6]; 6. OB-Blake Dill [4]; 7. 65-James Murphy [11]; 8. 71k-Dennis Kirk [5]; 9. 92-Chris Chapman [2]; 10. C25-Craig Overby [7]; 11. 483-Ricky Wall [9]; 12. H3-Harley Holden [10]; 13. 39-Austin Breedlove [12]; 14. 15-James Anderson [14]
