MECHANICSBURG – A tremendous field of 58 sprint cars filled the pit

area Friday night at Williams Grove Speedway for opening night of the

62nd Annual National Open.

The very best drivers the sport has to offer were on hand including

the World of Outlaws, Pennsylvania Posse and top invaders like Brad

Sweet, Tyler Courtney and Brian Brown.

The Friday night race and the National Open itself saw a large purse

increase thanks to partnership with Weis Markets and Sage Fruit.

Friday night’s 25-lap feature paid $12,000 to win, while the 40-lap

National Open will pay $75,000 to win out of a $192,000 purse.

The large field was split into two flights for qualifying time trials.

Daryn Pittman was fastest in Flight A with a lap of 16.579. He’s the

sentimental favorite this weekend with six runner-up finishes in the

National Open during his career, plus he’s driving the Kreitz Racing

69K. Pittman put the car on the pole of the Knoxville Nationals in

August.

Kasey Kahne was second at 16.618 and Gio Scelzi third at 16.636. TJ

Stutts was fourth in Flight A with a lap of 16.641. Stutts has three

Grove wins this season, including a win against the Outlaws on the

opening night of the Summer Nationals in July. Brock Zearfoss rounded

out the top five. Brad Sweet, Justin Whittall, Jacob Allen, Sheldon

Haudenschild, and Donny Schatz rounded out the top 10 in Flight A

qualifying.

Two-time National Open Champion Brent Marks set a blistering 16.499

lap in Group B qualifying. Marks, of Myerstown, won the race last

season and in 2019. Marks earned an extra $300 from Fast Tees. Outlaws

point leader David Gravel was second at 16.510 followed by Anthony

Macri, 16.557, Chase Dietz, 16.582, and Chase Randall, 16.583. Justin

Peck, James McFadden, Danny Sams III, Lucas Wolfe and Conner Morrell

rounded out the top 10 in Flight B qualifying.

“The car is rolling around nice,” Marks said. “Tonight is going to be

about track position and we’re in a good spot so far. We need to make

the right adjustments and not get too tight and be able to maneuver

the car. We’ve been trying to get better every week. We’ve been off a

little bit this year. It would be nice to have a good weekend at

Williams Grove.”

The top 20 drivers from each flight were locked into the four heat

races, while everybody else ran a non-qualifiers race. Troy Wagaman

Jr. beat Logan Schuchart in the first one and Tyler Courtney won the

second over Caleb Johnson.

These four drivers tag the rear of the heat races, while the remaining

cars went to the D and C mains.

Pittman started on the pole and won the opening heat race. Scelzi,

Zearfoss, Whittall, and Brian Brown completed the top five.

Fog started rolling over the speedway as the second heat race was

lining up. The racing continued as Kahne won the race over Buddy

Kofoid, Stutts, Schatz and Sweet.