Jett Noland appeared to be on cruise control for a third win on the week in Pro Late Model competition at the World Series of Asphalt Stock Car Racing. A late race restart and a hungry driver changed all of that.
Nick Panitzke capitalized on a restart with four laps to go, passing Noland for the win in the closing laps on Night Six of the World Series.
It was a hard-earned win for Panitzke, but also a rewarding one as part of a hectic week for the Minnesota native. Panitzke started the week in the Super Late Model division for the World Series, but switched to the Pro Late Models mid-week and scored a win in the process.
“We’ve been working hard all week,” said Panitzke on the NBC Track Pass broadcast. “We’ve changed just about every part on the car. We weren’t going to lose that one due to me.”
Panitzke and Noland battled door-to-door on the decisive restart before Panitzke ultimately pulled ahead for the win.
“I gave it everything I had,” said Panitzke. “We raced clean, it was just hard racing. I was happy to pull this one off for the team. We’re the last ones in the pit every single night. We’ve worked so hard as a team, and I couldn’t be happier right now.”
Bouncing back from an early exit on Tuesday night, Noland settled for a second-place finish. Noland said a vibration near the end of the race impacted the handling of his machine, but the strong showing gives him confidence for Thursday’s racing.
“We have a good car,” said Noland. “I can’t thank Anthony Campi enough for letting me come out here and race. We had a bad vibration in the rear end, so we’re going to try to work that out. We just kept getting worse and worse. Hopefully, we can get that fixed up for tomorrow, come back and win.”
Brandon Oakley finished third, while Kody Swanson unofficially took the Pro Late Model points lead with a fourth-place finish. Stephen Nasse rounded out the top five.
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-Story by: Zach Evans, Speed51 Content Supervisor – Twitter: @ztevans
-Photo credit: Speed51 Photo / Will Bellamy
Pro Late Model Unofficial Results
| Pos | # | Driver |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | 19 | Nick Panitzke |
| 2 | 81 | Jett Noland |
| 3 | 22 | Brandon Oakley |
| 4 | 26S | Kody Swanson |
| 5 | 51N | Stephen Nasse |
| 6 | 15 | Jean-Phillipe Bergeron |
| 7 | 149 | Max Calles-McDonald |
| 8 | 5 | Jeremy Miller |
| 9 | 29 | Hunter Wright |
| 10 | 76 | Jerick Johnson |
| 11 | 53 | Zachary Tinkle |
| 12 | 5A | Jerry Artuso |
| 13 | 14 | Conner Jones |
| 14 | 77 | Andrew Scheid |
| 15 | 41 | Hayden Sprague |
| 16 | 8 | Chad Butz |
| 17 | 77H | Colt Hensley |
| 18 | 9 | Braison Bennett |
| 19 | 21 | Tommy Neal |
| 20 | 17F | Kevin Folan |
| 21 | 11 | David Weaver |
| 22 | 88 | Paige Rogers |
| 23 | 3 | Will Cox |
| 24 | 12D | Justin Drawdy |
| 25 | 12 | Chase Williams |
