The Silver Dollar Speedway in Chico, California played host to the World of Outlaws STP Sprint Car Series on Saturday night for the “Mini Gold Cup.”  A tough field of 42 sprint cars were on hand as the World of Outlaws tour regulars faced off against some very strong local California drivers.  NASCAR Sprint Cup regular Tony Stewart would lead the field to the green flag of the 40-lap feature with Paul McMahan on the outside pole.  Stewart in his first visit to Silver Dollar Speedway would jump out to the early lead and McMahan settled in the second spot. 

On lap seven MaMahan would get around Stewart for the lead and never look back as he earned the big win just hours after getting the news that he would be running the entire 2013 World of Outlaws schedule with the CJB Motorsports team.  The victory was McMahan’s 15th career WoO win as he was emotional in victory lane saying, “Kenny Speck passed away last Friday night at Tulare and we laid him to rest today, and this is the first time I’ve been back to Stephen’s (Allard) hometown here in Chico. To win here, I know he’s smiling down, looking on me – both of them are. I said earlier in the night that if I could win here this would be for them guys and I was fortunate enough to get it done.”

All Hell Breaks Loose Behind McMahan

Paul McMahan Gives an Interview in Victory Lane (Photo Source: CJB Motorsports)

While McMahan sailed to the checkered flag all hell was breaking loose behind him.  On the final lap David Gravel got around Tony Stewart for the second spot entering turn three.  However, Gravel would spin in turn four and collect Stewart as McMahan took the checkered flag.  The two would continue but the incident led to more problems behind them.  Stewart would get back on the gas hard in the middle of the track as Chad Kemenah got a great run on his inside coming to the finish line. Kemenah would get the runner-up spot over Stewart but the two drivers would make contact which sent Kemenah flipping wildly just a week after he missed several races due to concussion symptoms. 

Stewart spoke about the incident after the race saying, “He’s going for a second-place finish so we can’t fault him for that. He just spun in front of us and we clipped him on the way by. Then you’re racing to the checkered there and Chad got a really good run on the inside of us. Just banged into him, drove over the left front (tire) and it tore his car all to pieces for a second-place run.”  Shane Golobic would finish in the fourth spot with Roger Crockett rounding out the top-five as series officials were forced to use video replay to determine the finishing order. 

Daryn Pittman continues to lead the series points race by 78 points over Paul McMahan.  The World of Outlaws STP Sprint Car Series will return to action on March 29th at California’s Merced Speedway.