This time, Bobby Pierce made the slider stick and drove away to a win on Night Two of the Wild West Shootout at Vado Speedway Park.
It was a similar dynamic to the night before when Cade Dillard led every lap, surviving a Turn 3 and 4 slider from Pierce, but completed a crossover to take opening night. This time, it was Mike Marlar who led every lap and was poised to complete a clean sweep.
First, Marlar weathered the storm from Kyle Larson, who tossed several sliders but never officially led a lap. The battle between them allowed Pierce to stay right there as they worked lapped traffic.
A caution for Jake Timm reset the field.
Pierce tossed a big slider into Turn 1 with three laps to go, sending Marlar into the wall, and then drove away to a 2.167-second margin of victory.
It was all peak Vado.
“That was an awesome race,” Pierce said. “We kind of missed the set-up and kind of tuned it out too much. We ripped around them as best as we could. Made the car pretty good in the slick. I thought they were going to get us on tires with all the cautions coming out. Mikey, Kyle and (Tyler Erb) all raced hard, but clean, and I don’t think there was a fender rub.
“You couldn’t fit a paper between us. Heck of a race.”
What about the slider?
“I knew it had to be that time,” he said. “I knew Mikey was going to come down but I had to stick my nose down there and go for it. I figured it was only a matter of time before he turned up in Turn 1 and if he had, he probably would have gotten me. I had to go for it. I don’t know how much room I gave him, but it was for them. He drove a heck of a race too.”
Marlar didn’t take any exception to it.
“I think we had her but I was one compound softer than Bobby and thought, if I held out this long, I think we’ll be alright,” Marlar said. “Then we had that caution an thought we could drive away once the tires cooled down and it wasn’t like that at all.
“When I took off, I was skating around and wouldn’t go. His harder tire was gripping so congrats to him. He’s fun and hard to beat. I tried to stick him in the wall and just didn’t have the car to do it.”
Drivers have tire options for the Wild West Shootout. Left sides and right front must be Hoosier national Late Model Tire 2 or 3 tires and the right rear can be either National Late Model Tire 3 or 4.
Pierce earned $11,000 for the win, his ninth all-time in the event, tying Jonathan Davenport for third all-time.
The Wild West Shootout continues on Wednesday with another $11,000-to-win feature with races also on Friday, Saturday and Sunday, the latter of which pays $25,000.
Wild West Shootout Feature 2
- Bobby Pierce
- Mike Marlar
- Tyler Erb
- Kyle Larson
- Cade Dillard
- Garrett Alberson
- Shannon Babb
- Ricky Weiss
- Tyler Stevens
- Don Shaw
- Kyle Beard
- Drake Troutman
- Justin Duty
- Jake O’Neil
- Kaden Honeycutt
- Chase Junghans
- Rodney Sanders
- Jake Timm
- Mikey Kile
- Forrest Trent
- Clayton Stuckey
- Bricen James
- Sam Mars
- Collen Winebarger
- Preston Luckman
Wild West Shootout points
Bobby Pierce 168 points
Cade Dillard (-9)
Tyler Erb (-15)
Mike Marlar (-18)
Garrett Alberson (-21)
Kyle Larson (-21)
Tyler Stevens (-48)
Shannon Babb (-54)
Chase Junghans (-66)
Ricky Weiss (-69)
Matt Weaver is a Motorsports Insider for Sportsnaut. Follow him on Twitter.