STEWART CAPTURES 4-CROWN WIN AT ELDORA SPEEDWAY

Shane Stewart and Larson Marks Racing scored two top-five finishes this weekend as the World of Outlaws Craftsman Sprint car series traveled east. The Larson Marks team scored the win at Eldora Speedway in Rossburg, Ohio Friday night and followed it up with another top-five finish at Lernerville Speedway in Sarver, Penn. on Saturday.
 
Stewart qualified seventh in flight one of time trials, ninth overall, and advanced two positions in his heat race to finish second and transfer into the dash. Stewart started and finished fifth in the six-lap dash. After four attempts to start the 30-lap main event, Stewart quickly jumped up to the runner-up position on lap three. He took the lead on lap 10, sliding under the leader in lapped traffic. After a caution with six laps remaining, Stewart regained the lead on the restart and never looked back, capturing back-to-back wins and his eighth victory of the World of Outlaws season.
 
"I was nervous in that race Friday night," Stewart said. "I had two good restarts, one bad restart and told my guys on the open red 'I don't know if our car is going to be good enough or not,' but we were bad-fast. I can't thank Scotty, Andrew and Heath enough for giving me such a fast racecar. I especially have to thank Justin and Kyle for letting us to come out here and race night in and night out. It was great to get them all another victory."
 
Following Friday night's race at Eldora Speedway, the Larson Marks crew made the 5.5-hour drive to Sarver, Penn., to compete in the Commonwealth Clash at Lernerville Speedway on Saturday. Stewart qualified sixth and won his heat race from the second starting position. Stewart finished fifth in the dash and after racing as high as fourth, he finished fifth in the 35-lap main event.
 
The Larson Marks Racing team will be back in action this Thursday at Williams Grove Speedway in Mechanicsburg, Penn., for the National Open.


Stewart Goes 21ST TO SIXTH AT KINGS ROYAL

Larson Marks Racing and Shane Stewart returned to the famed Eldora Speedway in Rossburg, Ohio this weekend for the 33rd Annual Kings Royal. The team finished 12th on Thursday and earned top-10 finishes on Friday and Saturday.
 
The Bixby, Okla., native qualified second in Flight 2 of qualifying after going out 16th on Thursday and finished third in the fourth heat race. Stewart started 12th for the 40-lap Jokers Wild feature event and was in 13th on lap 12 for a restart. With five laps remaining, he moved back into 12th, where he finished the race.
 
Stewart timed in fourth in Flight 2 of qualifying Friday night and finished second in the fifth heat race. He advanced two positions in the second dash to earn the fourth starting spot for the Knight Before the Kings Royal 30-lap feature event. The Larson Marks team has been less successful on slick racing surfaces this season, and with no cautions in the main event for the No. 2 to try to gain positions on restarts, Stewart slipped back to an eighth-place finish.
 
Looking to defend the crown Saturday night after his big win last year, Stewart qualified fifth and finished fourth in his heat race. With only the top three positions transferring into the main event, Larson Marks Racing was relegated to run the Last Chance Showdown, where the No. 2 started fifth. On the start of the race, Stewart jumped up to third before the caution came out the following lap. On the ensuring restart, he advanced to the runner-up position and completed a last lap pass for the win and a transfer spot into the 33rd Annual Kings Royal.
 
The LMR team rolled off 21st for the 40-lap Kings Royal feature event and got off to a slow start, but moved up to 19th by lap 10 and 17th five laps later. The first caution of the night came out at the halfway point of the race and from there Stewart took off. He was up to 13th on the restart and into the top 10 by lap 25.
 
On lap 26, the red flag came out for a car flipping in Turn 4 and the track went under open red flag conditions. This allowed crews onto the track to make slight changes to their cars, so the Larson Marks boys went to work. The No. 2 restarted eighth and was up to seventh on the restart. On lap 30, Stewart advanced to fifth, but got chopped by the competitor he just passed going in to the next turn and slipped back to sixth, where he finished.
 
"We didn't have the weekend we wanted, but we were able to come back to earn a sixth-place finish," said Stewart. "We didn't have the speed we needed the first two nights, so the LMR boys worked hard to switch cars for Saturday. They put in a lot of time and hard work to keep this No. 2 running up front, so I am glad we were able to transfer out of that Last Chance Showdown and advance 15 spots to get a decent finish to end the weekend on a good note."
 
The Larson Marks Racing team will be back in action tomorrow at Lernerville Speedway in Sarver, Penn., for the Don Martin Memorial

STEWART EARNS TOP FIVE AT BADLANDS

The Larson Marks Racing team and Shane Stewart headed to Badlands Motor Speedway in Brandon, S.D. this weekend for two nights of racing. The team earned a top-five finish on Saturday night followed by an 18th-place finish on Sunday night.

Stewart timed in eighth in flight one of qualifying Saturday and advanced one spot in his heat race to finish third. He started 11th for the 40-lap feature event and was up to sixth by the caution on lap 15. Stewart advanced to fifth on the ensuing restart. With four laps remaining, a car in front of the No. 2 blew a tire and Stewart barely missed him as the caution came out. Stewart held his position through the final restart and remaining laps to finish fourth and earn the team's 27th top-five finish of the season.

The following night, the Bixby, Okla., native qualified ninth in flight two of time trials and finished fifth in his heat race. Stewart started 18th for the 40-lap feature event but could never really get going and finished the race in the same position.

"It was an up-and-down weekend for us at Badlands," said Stewart. "Things kind of fell our way to earn a fourth-place finish on Saturday and unfortunately once we got lapped on Sunday, we couldn't really go anywhere. Hopefully we can get back to our usual form soon; we've got some big races coming up that we're really looking forward to."

The Larson Marks Racing team will be back in action Friday July 8 at Cedar Lake Speedway in New Richmond, Wisc.


LARSON MARKS RACING EARNS TWO TOP 10S TO CLOSE OUT THE NORTHERN TOUR


Larson Marks Racing completed the first of two trips to the north this season and brought home two more top-10 finishes. Shane Stewart finished third Friday night at Jackson (Minn.) Motorplex and sixth Saturday night at Beaver Dam (Wisc.) Raceway.
 
Stewart timed in third quickest Friday night at Jackson Motorplex and finished second in his heat race. He started seventh in the dash, got collected by a spinning car on lap 1, but was able to restart and earn the sixth starting position for the main event. By the lap 10 of the 30-lap race, Stewart was up to fifth, where he stayed until a caution with 10 laps remaining. On the ensuing restart, he advanced two spots to earn a third-place finish.
 
The following night, Stewart qualified ninth and finished third in his heat race. The Bixby, Okla. native took the green flag from the ninth spot and within five laps was up to seventh. On lap 31, the cars in front of Stewart stacked up and some spun. Despite the No. 2 being collected in the accident, Stewart was able to continue and restarted in the 11th position with nine laps remaining. He jumped to eighth on the restart and finished sixth after a green-white-checkered finish.
 
"It was a decent weekend for us," said Stewart. "I wasn't expecting a third-place finish Friday night; we weren't a third-place car, but I will take it. Things could have gotten bad for us when we got caught up in that bottle up with nine to go on Saturday, but thankfully we were able to keep the No. 2 on track and come back to get another top 10. We've got some big races coming up, so hopefully we can start knocking off some more wins."
 
The Larson Marks Racing team will be back in action tomorrow night at Rockford Speedway in Loves Park, Ill. for the Outlaw Clay Classic.