There were very few bumps in the road for C.J. Leary and Reinbold/Underwood Motorsports throughout “Winter Dirt Games X,” which culminated Feb. 16 with the combo’s first USAC AMSOIL National Sprint Car victory together at Bubba Raceway Park in Ocala, Florida.
Leary, from Greenfield, was highly successful on the USAC trail in his own family car over the past several seasons. This past offseason, Leary made the move to the Arizona-based team, bringing with him a familiar face to a new setting to make the transition as smooth as silk.
In the other two USAC events that were contested on Febr. 14 and 15, Chris Windom and Justin Grant scored the feature victories to kick off the 2019 season.
“The cool thing was Andy (Reinbold) brought me and (crew chief) Davey (Jones) on as a team since we had already been working together, and we get along so well on and off the track,” Leary pointed out. “I’m just learning this new racecar and this new engine package is quite a bit different than what I was running the past couple of years on our family car. We did a lot of unique things to the racecar, and it paid off for us down here in Florida.”
Winning this early on in the season is always a good sign that things are clicking. With a sixth, second and a first during the three-night mini-series, plus the early season point lead, the team is already enjoying the fruits of its labor after thrashing to get its operation ready to go for the new year.
“We had high expectations with this new team,” Leary exclaimed. “Andy gave us the best of everything. Davey and I have put a lot of hours into this car. Just to see it pay off is really awesome for Davey and me. I’m sure it is for Andy just because he’s spent a lot of money getting this thing where it is. This kind of caps off that he hired the right two guys.”
Leary, the 2013 track champion at Lawrenceburg Speedway, started the 30-lapper from the outside of the front row alongside Robert Ballou. Ballou got the initial jump to the lead, but Leary wasn’t taken aback.
“He got the jump on us at the start,” Leary recalled. “The outside lane was pretty slick, and I knew the bottom still had pretty good moisture. I knew he was probably going to get the jump on us, so I was hoping to cross him over into (Turn) 1.”
However, Leary slid into second behind race leader Ballou as the two hit the back stretch of the 3/8-mile D-shaped dirt track. The first stoppage came early when Dave Darland and Kent Schmidt tangled off Turn 4. Both would be finished for the evening.
Following the lap two restart, Ballou extended his lead as Leary fought with Kevin Thomas Jr. for the second spot. But gradually, Leary was able to chip away at Ballou’s lead as the frontrunners began to work lapped traffic by lap nine where Leary was able to take a sneak peek underneath Ballou heading into Turn 1.
Leary retained his presence just a few car lengths behind Ballou when on the 12th lap, Ballou drifted high off Turn 4, allowing Leary underneath to grab the lead.
“I just stalked him there, and then we had that yellow,” Leary remembered. “Our car was really good on the restarts, and when he made that small mistake in three and four, it got tight on him and let us capitalize, drive up under him and it was pretty smooth sailing from there.”
Leary’s only close encounters were dealing with lappers and having to endure multiple restarts down the stretch, first on Lap 21 for an excursion by the previous night winner, Justin Grant, and on Lap 28 for a Turn 4 Matt Westfall spin. The restart with just three laps remaining pit Leary versus Thomas back in second. Usually a caution with a late-race lead is something to fret about, but Leary had no qualms.
“I was just really happy to see those yellows to be real honest,” Leary reiterated. “I normally hate seeing yellows when I’m the leader. This 19AZ was super fast on the restarts, and we were digging hard. I’m just happy to be with this new team. It’s a great way to start the season off.”
On the Lap 28 restart, Leary bolted to a five-car-length lead that built to six, seven, eight, nine, then 10 car lengths that would prove to be insurmountable in the final stanza, with the Greenfield driver pulling away for a 1.502-second victory over Thomas. Tyler Courtney made a substantial charge on the final restart from sixth to third. Chase Stockon was fourth with opening night winner Windom rounding out the top-five.
Dakota Jackson of Elizabethtown made all three events in Florida with his best finish an 11 th-place finish on Feb. 15.
The next USAC National Sprint Car event will be on March 30 at Lawrenceburg Speedway.
February 16 Feature (30 laps): 1. C.J. Leary; 2. Kevin Thomas Jr.; 3. Tyler Courtney; 4. Chase Stockon; 5. Chris Windom; 6. Robert Ballou; 7. Jason McDougal; 8. Damion Gardner; 9. Carson Short; 10. Timmy Buckwalter; 11. Brady Bacon; 12. Kyle Cummins; 13. Chad Boespflug; 14. Joey Biasi; 15. Isaac Chapple; 16. Stephen Schnapf; 17. Matt Westfall; 18. Matt Goodnight; 19. Noah Gass; 20. Dakota Jackson; 21. Justin Grant; 22. Dave Darland; 23. Kent Schmidt.
February 15 Feature (30 laps): 1. Justin Grant; 2. C.J. Leary; 3. Tyler Courtney; 4. Chad Boespflug; 5. Kevin Thomas Jr.; 6. Damion Gardner; 7. Timmy Buckwalter; 8. Chase Stockon; 9. Dave Darland; 10. Kyle Cummins; 11. Dakota Jackson; 12. Isaac Chapple; 13. Robert Ballou; 14. Carson Short; 15. Brady Bacon; 16. Jason McDougal; 17. Joey Biasi; 18. Matt Goodnight; 19. Matt Westfall; 20. Stephen Schnapf; 21. Chris Windom; 22. Kent Schmidt.
February 14 Feature (30 laps): 1. Chris Windom; 2. Kevin Thomas Jr.; 3. Justin Grant; 4. Chase Stockon; 5. Robert Ballou; 6. C.J. Leary; 7. Brady Bacon; 8. Kyle Cummins; 9. Dave Darland; 10. Carson Short; 11. Timmy Buckwalter; 12. Chad Boespflug; 13. Dakota Jackson; 14. Jason McDougal; 15. Damion Gardner; 16. Matt Westfall; 17. Travis Hery; 18. Tyler Courtney; 19. Kent Schmidt; 20. Joey Biasi; 21. Isaac Chapple; 22. Matt Goodnight; 23. Stephen Schnapf.
