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Winger notches first career DIRTcar Summer Nationals win

Despite getting off to a rough-and-tumble start to his first venture on the DIRTcar Summer Nationals, Ashton Winger and his team refused to give up. Their perseverance and hard work paid off last Tuesday night with a $5,000 series victory at Illinois’ Knox County Fair Raceway. (Brendon Bauman photo)

The triumph came aboard Winger’s E-Z-GO No. 12 Dekalb / Johnny Doan Plumbing/ Keyser Manufacturing/ Clements Racing Engine Super Late Model and marked his second overall win of the season.

“We’ve had a heckuva start to this deal with everything from mechanical failures to flips, but we’ve kept digging, and it all finally came together. I know it’s just a $5,000-to-win race, but that 32 car (Bobby Pierce) is not easy to beat, and Tanner (English) too,” Winger declared in Victory Lane. “I’m just a Georgia boy out here trying to make everybody back home proud.”

“We’ve worked so hard for this. We’ve been through so many issues,” Winger continued. “We’ve just been clawing and clawing. I’ve torn up cars, I’ve blew up motors, I’ve flipped cars, and it’s all led to this. This is so awesome.”

On Tuesday night, the DIRTcar Summer Nationals debuted at Knox County Fair Raceway (Knoxville, Ill.) to compete atop the half-mile oval. After topping the 22-car field in time trials, Winger dashed to a heat race victory, sending him into the redraw.

Receiving the second-starting position for the A-Main, Ashton turned back challenges from Bobby Pierce after a late-race encounter with lapped-traffic to secure his first-career Hell Tour victory. He finished ahead of Pierce, Tanner English, Mitch McGrath, and Jason Feger to earn $5,000.

With the win he became the first Georgian to ever win a DIRTcar Summer Nationals feature.

One night later the miniseries rolled into Spoon River Speedway (Banner, Ill.), here Ashton raced from the 18th-starting position to a 10th-place finish. Meanwhile, Thursday night’s action at “The Mighty” Macon (Ill.) Speedway found Winger advancing from the 19th-starting spot to a 10th-place finish in his first attempt at a Herald & Review 100.

Taking a provisional to start 22nd on the gird on Friday night at Farmer City (Ill.) Raceway, Winger passed seven cars to finish 12th.

Both Saturday and Sunday’s action at Highland (Ill.) Speedway and Tri-State Speedway (Haubstadt, Indiana) fell victim to rain.

Ashton sits in fourth in the latest Summer Nationals point standings.

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