SOBO Race Story First Edition

Lindley Wins Lucas Oil 250

South Boston, Va.—Saturday night at South Boston Speedway, it was a familiar
site in the racing world: a Lindley driving No. 16 and ending the night in
victory lane.
Following in his father’s footsteps, Mardy Lindley piloted his No. 16
Hooters Air Ford to victory in the Lucas Oil 250 presented by Virginia Is
For Lovers. Lindley led a race-high 221 laps—and rookie Gary St. Amant—en
route to his eighth win in the Hooters ProCup Series and his first in since
switching to the No. 16 that his father, Butch Lindley, drove to Grand
National titles in 1977-78.
“I was about my son’s age when I used to sit here and watch my dad run the
No. 16,” said Lindley with his son standing at his side. “It was great to
win with that number again.”
Lindley didn’t waste any time getting to the front once the green flag
waved.
The Taylors, S.C., swept around the outside of pole sitter Johnny Rumley in
Turn 1 and pulled away in the first seven laps. Rumley began to reel in
Lindley by Lap 20, but was unable to pull even.
Lindley was able keep Rumley at bay for much of the first half of the race,
building leads of up to two seconds. But as the race neared halfway, Rumley,
driver of the No. 8 Lucas Oil Ford, started to chop down Lindley’s lead.
When the leader caught a pack of traffic on Lap 121, Rumley made his move,
sliding to the inside of Lindley and taking over the point.
Rumley’s move came just in time for him to pick up $1,000 for being the
Lucas Oil Products Halfway Leader.
“Our car just got tight towards the end of the first run,” said Lindley.
Rumley led until Lap 141, when he was accessed a stop-and-go penalty for
contact with Danny Sammons.
Benny Gordon, driver of the No. 66 Predator Performance Ford, inherited the
lead after Rumley rolled to pit road. During the caution, most of the
lead-lap cars came in for service.
Lindley restarted third behind Gordon and Gary St. Amant, driver of the No.
11 Jegs Mail Order Chevy, who had pitted under an earlier caution.
Lindley blasted past St. Amant after the restart and made his way around
Gordon, who led nine laps, on Lap 151. St. Amant followed Lindley through,
and just in time.
On Lap 163, Kertus Davis, running fourth, and Gordon tangled while battling
for position, igniting a 10-car melee that brought out a red flag 16
minutes.
Once the race restarted, Lindley picked up where he left off, building
comfortable leads over second-place running St. Amant.
The last caution, which waved at Lap 216, enabled St. Amant to make a
last-ditch effort to make his way around Lindley. But Lindley weathered the
storm and beat St. Amant to finish line by .563 seconds.
“Honestly, we felt like we could come out of here with a top-five finish,
but this is better than I expected,” St. Amant said of his first ProCup
start. “Track position was key out there. [Rumley’s penalty] helped us…and I
feel very fortunate to get a runner-up finish.”
St. Amant’s second-place finish netted the Ohio driver an extra $1,000 for
being the Miller Lite Rookie of the Race.
Rumley rebounded from the stop-and-go penalty to finish third. Jeff Agnew
finished fourth and D.J. Kennington rounded out the top five.