For more information:
Linda Mansfield, Restart Communications
E-mail: LKMRestart@gmail.com
Cell: (317) 201-0729

 

Nolen Racing Is Front and Center
In Little 500 Sprint Car Race
At Anderson Speedway Saturday Nigh

ANDERSON, Ind., May 28 — Nolen Racing and driver Emerson Axsom shook up the pavement sprint car world last week by winning the pole for that division’s biggest race, the 76th annual Little 500 Presented by UAW at Anderson Speedway. The Whiteland, Ind.-based team only plans to run a handful of races this year, and the 19-year-old driver from Franklin, Ind., has been concentrating on driving winged dirt sprint cars all over the country, not non-winged ones on paved tracks.

That’s why the regulars were surprised when Axsom won the CB Fabricating pole last Thursday with a four-lap time of 44.575 seconds to earn the right to lead the field of 33 cars three abreast to the green on Saturday night for 500 laps on the quarter-mile track. He backed that up by routinely being fastest in practice sessions too.

“I wish Gene [Nolen] was here,” Axsom told an Andersen Speedway representative after winning the pole. “He was one of my biggest supporters. He’s the main reason I’m able to drive this car; he was a big fan of mine. I know he’s watching but it would be cool if he was here and was able to take some pictures with us on the front row.”

Dakoda Armstrong got the jump at the start as Axsom didn’t press things in an effort to save his No. 4, which is sponsored by KECO Coatings and powered by a Tranter-prepared Chevrolet V6 engine. Still, he set the fastest lap of anyone in the race when he posted a time of 11.554 seconds on lap 26 while running second to Dakoda Armstrong.

He led twice: once from laps 86 through 172 and again from laps 176 through 185 for a total of 96 laps, the third-most of the seven drivers who led. He was never out of the top five.

The first time he took the lead by passing Dakoda Armstrong. The second time he inherited the lead after Davey Hamilton Jr. took the point and then almost immediately was involved in an accident.

Axsom ran in second from laps 228 through 326, hounding leader Kody Swanson incessantly. Unfortunately his thrilling drive came to an end when his car’s right-front shock stud broke and put him into the wall between Turns 1 and 2 working lap 327, ending his stirring drive. Luckily he emerged unhurt, but he was out of the race. His official finishing position was 21st.

Nolen Racing’s Shane Hollingsworth of Lafayette, Ind., led the race too in the yellow No. 20, which is also sponsored by KECO Coatings and has a Tranter-prepped Chevy V8 engine. He started 16th in his 16th Little 500 after missing the top-15 cut-off in the first round of qualifying by just 0.004 seconds.

After losing a couple of spots on the initial start he made steady progress moving forward until he was 12th on lap 176. The Nolen crew decided to keep Hollingsworth out when the leaders made their first pit stops, and subsequently Hollingsworth found himself second on lap 186 and in the lead two laps later. He led through lap 227 for a total of 40 laps before he pitted himself, which dropped him back to 14th. He received a penalty for an alleged infraction after that pitstop.

Despite that, Hollingsworth made steady progress in the second half of the race. He set his fastest lap of the race on lap 237 while he was 13th. He did lose a couple laps, however, and when the checkered dropped he was eighth, three laps down.

“I felt like we had a solid car; we just lacked track position,” Hollingsworth said afterwards. “We had a bad break on our second stop with the push trucks.

“We also got a penalty; they said I passed the pace truck. I’m not sure that was the case, but at the end of the day it didn’t affect our finishing position.

“We did lead awhile due to our pit stop strategy.

“At least we finished. The last two years we weren’t able to stay out of trouble, but we did accomplish that today. I wish we had been a little higher up, but at least we finished!”

Caleb Armstrong won on the last lap over his cousin, Dakoda. Swanson finished third. Tyler Roahrig, Billy Wease, Ryan Newman, Bobby Santos III, Hollingsworth, Kyle O’Gara and Logan Seavey rounded out the top 10.

The race was streamed live by DirtVision.

For more information follow the team on Facebook and Twitter @NolenRacing.

Linda Mansfield/Restart Communications for KECO
E-mail: LKMRestart@gmail.com
Cell: (317) 201-0729