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CARDEY GETS BIG B-DAY PRESENT AT THE PAS
By Robert Mayson
Perris, Calif…(October 31, 2008) “Dynamite” David Cardey, Riverside, Calif., celebrated his 33rd birthday in style by winning Friday night’s 25-lap preliminary feature for the 13th Annual Budweiser Oval Nationals. Cardey’s popular win was his first Lucas Oil USAC/CRA Sprint Car victory of 2008 and the first USAC National Sprint Car win of his career.
“Man what a birthday present,” Cardey said in victory lane. “The more fuel we burned the better the car got. We’ve had a good car the last couple of races and tonight we were finally able to show it.”
Driving the Glenn Crossno / ITI Performance No. 38 Viper, Cardey started on the pole with Warsaw, Missouri’s Jesse Hockett to his outside. Aggressively attacking the cushion in Duke McMillan’s No. 2 Maxim, Hockett secured the lead on the opening lap exiting turn-four.
Hockett would hold the top-spot until Cardey slipped under him exiting turn-four on the ninth circuit.
Damion Gardner, Concord, Calif., flexed his muscles during a lap-eleven restart and he put his Leffler Racing / Pace Electronics No. 71 Beast into the lead. Hockett followed Gardner past Cardey on the restart and moved back ahead of the low-grooving Gardner on lap-17.
Hockett and Gardner fiercely battled wheel-to-wheel for the lead until Robert Ballou brought out red flag after a frightening flip along the back-straight. Remarkably, Ballou walked away from the accident, but did receive medical treatment for a finger injury.
The restart provided more two-wide excitement with Gardner now holding on to the lead by the narrowest of margins. Even though Cardey had the best seat in the house to watch the battle between Gardner and Hockett he wasn’t content with just a podium finish. Anticipating a turn-one slide-job from Hockett, Cardey dove to the bottom of the racing surface and passed both drivers for the lead, and the eventual win, less than three laps from the finish.
“I thought once those guys got by me that it was over,” Cardey confessed. “The track was awesome tonight. Damion and Hockett ran side-by-side for a number of laps and I was just sitting there watching. It was just a great race.”
Appropriately, Cardey’s wife Danita, who is expecting their first child, was the honorary trophy girl after winning an earlier Halloween costume contest.
Gardner’s runner-up finish did help him receive the “Dean Thompson Award” which is given to the driver earning the most points during preliminary action for the Budweiser Oval Nationals. One of 12 drivers locked into Saturday night’s finale, Gardner will line-up sixth for the 40-lap race. Jerry Coons, Jr., Tucson, Ariz., slipped ahead of Hockett for third during the closing laps. Now holding a 45-point lead over Levi Jones (Olney, Ill.) for the USAC National sprint title, Coons, and his Dynamics, Inc. / Kroger-Tide, No. 69. F-5, will start next to Gardner in the third row tomorrow.
Jones, who earlier in the evening out-qualified the 61-car field, finished fifth in the feature race in the Tony Stewart Racing/Chevy – Bass Pro Shops No. 20 Beast. Jones will start one row behind Coons on Saturday. Jones’ teammate Tracy Hines and Tyler Brown are scheduled to share the front row for Saturday’s race.
Keeping an eye on the USAC/CRA title chase, Blake Miller’s seventh-place run helped to pull him to within 24-points of Mike Spencer, who was scored in the 22nd position.
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