By Victoria Beaver

On the first night of the USAC Oval Nationals, Chase Stockon closed in on his second victory of 2017.

With a win last Saturday at Arizona Speedway – that snapped a 15-month dry spell – and on Thursday at Perris Auto Speedway, Stockon officially entered the double digits in USAC wins. Notably, this ties him with ex-NASCAR star Tony Stewart for wins in the series.

After adjusting his car before Arizona and securing the ninth win, Stockon entered night one of the Oval Nationals on the outside of the front row. He jumped to a half straightaway lead by the backstretch.

While Stockon pulled away, the pole sitter Danny Faria Jr. fell back giving up positions to CJ Leary and Brody Roa. The first caution flag flew on lap 11, when Josh Hodges lost an engine in turn two to coast quietly off the track. By that point Stockon led by 1.7 seconds.

Stockon had to start from scratch, but on the restart he was superior again and pulled to a sizable lead over Leary. Stockon’s lead was not air tight. By lap 19, Leary was able to force a nose under him and attempt the pass. Leary had a second chance one lap later and this time capitalized – passing on the high side in turns three and four to nose Stockon at the line. That lead was only momentary as Stockton powered back into the lead for lap 21.

“It was kind of a tough race for me,” Stockon said. “I could feel myself slowing down in three and four as the bottom started to wear out. With CJ behind me, I knew he was going to be charging the top. With lapped cars up there, I started moving around down in three and four. I was still able to get above a few of them before they came out to the wall on the front stretch. For the longest time, I thought the lapped cars were helping me out a little bit in that aspect. Then I kept seeing CJ’s nose. For the whole race, he kept pressuring me and pressuring me, making me drive a little harder.”

Leary still had more to throw at Stockon in the final three laps, as the duo came to the line with two to go a caution was called for Dennis Gile, thawing Leary’s momentum.

With two laps to go Stockon claimed the lead and drove into clean air to capture the win over Leary, Roa, Kevin Thomas Jr., and Tyler Courtney.

It’s tough to come up short there at the end,” Leary said. “I think that if it would’ve stayed green, I would’ve had a better shot to win. Chase was pretty good and we set a really fast pace the entire time. At one point, I finally went to the top in three and four and I got by. I just don’t know how he got back by us.”