The final night of the two-night show concluded Saturday night for the 305 Nationals with the United Rebel Sprint Series at the Belleville High Banks in Belleville, Kansas, which saw a 30-lap feature for the main event. A 10-lap increase from Friday night.
Already having won the previous night’s prelim feature, Joey Danley was looking to go back-to-back and become the first driver since 2019, when Jake Bubak did it most recently. Danley was able to do so after starting in the fourth position in the main event by passing then race leader, Justin Fifield, off Turn 4 on the last lap to claim the win.
“I was thinking about a second place run too when I had a run on him (Justin Fifield) off Turn 2 once, and I could tell he didn’t know I was up there, so I stood on the brake,” Danley said in his post-race victory lane interview. “I figured there went the win, but his car must’ve been going away a little bit, his car wasn’t quite as running the wall. He just let me get one more run on him. Thank god for 30 laps.
“I lost one like that two years ago, and I guess I got redemption tonight.”
There were 39 Sprint Cars entered at the time of check-in.
Feature Recap – 30 Laps
Justin Fifield started on the pole for the feature with Jacob Gomola on the outside pole. Kaylee Bryson jumped down to the bottom of Turns 1 and 2 trying to make a run on the leader, Fifield. Bryson slid up to the third position right behind Gomola. However, she was challenged and battled side-by-side with Danley, almost making contact with each other. Danley had the high side and eventually passed her for second off Turn 2 with 26 laps to go.
Knowing Danley had a lot of ground to make up, four seconds behind race leader Fifield, he had to chase him down lap-by-lap. At the halfway mark with 15 laps to go, it was Fifield with the lead, Danley second, Garrett Benson, Jeremy Huish, and Gomola the top five.
With 10 laps to go, Danley cut Fifield’s lead down to 1.6 seconds as Fifield got into lap traffic. However, Danley was able to breathe a sigh of relief when the caution came out two laps later with eight laps to go. When the field got ready to go back racing, the top five were Fifield, Danley, Benson, Huish, and Bubak.
Danley lost momentum for a brief period, but gathered it back up and made a last-lap pass on Fifield off Turn 4 to take the win by just a mere margin of 0.077 seconds at the start/finish line.
Heat Race Recaps – Top Four Transfer – 8 Laps A Piece
Similar to Friday night, there were five qualifying sessions to rubber the track in. Bubak was fastest in Q1, Fifield fastest in Q2, Danley in Q3, Stuart Snyder in Q4, and Steven Richardson in Q5.
Heat 1 – Huish was your pole sitter for the first heat. Gomola, who started on the outside pole, remained side-by-side with the leader of Huish. Gomola finally got the better of Huish off Turn 2 with five laps to go. Gomola won the heat with Huish, Bubak, and Joe Bob Lee the top four.
Heat 2 – Benson was the top starter for the second heat with Wichita, Kansas native Jeremy Campbell on the outside pole. Fifield was strong early and attempted to challenge Benson for the lead, but was unsuccessful in doing so. Benson stormed away with the heat win and was followed by Fifield, Campbell, and Owen Carlson getting the transfer spots.
Heat 3 – Jon Freeman out of Salina, Kansas had the top spot with the third heat. The drivers were already three-wide down the backstretch with Freeman, Ty Williams, and Danley. Danley made his car work on the bottom and took the lead with Williams behind him. Danley won with Williams, Freeman, and Kyle Jones taking the top four.
This was a much different outing for Jones, who won the Saturday night feature the past two years, as he failed to make the show Friday night by not advancing out of the B-feature.
Heat 4 – Brandon Bosma had the No. 1 starting spot for the fourth heat. Bosma had a tremendous start, as everyone was jumbled up at the start/finish line. The caution was thrown, and this would be a complete restart. As soon as Bosma was getting ready to take the white flag as the leader, his engine expired, causing a caution with one lap to go.
The heat went back green with two laps to go. Bryant Wiedeman was the leader, and Stuart Snyder was second. Snyder threw a last-lap attempt on Wiedeman in the last turn, but Wiedeman got the better of him. For the transfers, it was Wiedeman, Snyder, Whit Gastineau, and Danny Nekolite.
Heat 5 – 2024 USAC Silver Crown at-track winner, Bryson, was on the pole for the fifth and final heat race. Bryson briefly left the door open for Steven Richardson on the backstretch, and the two nearly made contact with each other. Despite the close call, she powered away with the heat victory. Richardson was second, Trefer Waller third, and Ryker Pace fourth.
Winning the one and only B-feature was Tyler Drueke. He was followed by Bosma, Braxton Weger, and Trevor Serbus rounding out the final transfer spots. Drueke won in a last-lap pass off Turn 4, passing Bosma.
For those that may have missed the race, you can check out the highlights below.
Official Race Results Following Night 2 For The 305 Nationals at the Belleville High Banks
- Joey Danley
- Justin Fifield
- Garrett Benson
- Jeremy Huish
- Jake Bubak
- Whit Gastineau
- Kyle Jones
- Bryant Wiedeman
- Jeremy Campbell
- Brandon Bosma
- Tyler Drueke
- Ty Williams
- Jon Freeman
- Owen Carlson
- Jacob Gomola
- Kaylee Bryson
- Braxton Weger
- Joe Bob Lee
- Trevor Serbus
- Ryker Pacee
- Stuart Snyder
- Trefer Waller
- Danny Nekolite
- Steven Richardson
