Roahrig powers to IRP win, Swanson claims title

By Ken de la Bastide

CLERMONT – Tyler Roahrig passed Kody Swanson with five laps remaining to win the final 500 Sprint Car Tour event of the year at Lucas Oil Indianapolis Raceway Park.

With his second-place finish, Swanson claimed the inaugural 500 Sprint Car Tour championship presented by Auto Value Bumper to Bumper Parts Stores over Dakoda Armstrong.

CJ Leary set fast time during qualifications and started from the pole position as the 23-car field started straight up on Sunday.

Leary got the jump on Roahrig when the green flag dropped, and Kody Swanson leaped into the second spot. Starting on the outside of the front row, Roahrig dropped back to sixth almost immediately after a poor start. Swanson quickly took the lead on lap three with an outside pass of Leary entering turn three and went on to lead the most laps of the race. Roahrig moved into the third spot on lap 15 with an inside pass of Bobby Santos III coming off the second corner, andwith 10 laps remaining Roahrig moved into the second spot and started to close on Swanson.

Roahrig got a strong run coming off the second corner to take the lead from Swanson and drove away to win by 1.5-seconds on Howard Companies Championship Saturday at Lucas Oil Indianapolis Raceway Park.

Kyle O'Gara came home in third followed by Santos and Armstrong.

“It wasn't the start I wanted,” Roahrig said in victory lane. “I messed up and gave up a lot of spots…I was confident that the car would be good on a long run,” he said. “It was fortunate that the race went green to checkers.”

Roahrig proclaimed that he was able to close on Swanson in lapped traffic as the cars were dancing around. The Plymouth, Indiana driver won his fourth event of the year in addition to capturing the 74th running of the Lucas Oil Little 500 presented by UAW at Anderson Speedway.

“It means a lot to be the champion,” Kody Swanson said after winning the Season Championship with his second-place finish. “The entire Doran Racing Team put in a lot of effort.

“Wish we would have won more races and we came up a little short again tonight,” he said.

Kyle O'Gara started sixth and moved into the third spot with less than ten laps remaining.

“The car got better throughout the race,” he said. “We don't have short run speed, so we try to set the car up for a long run.”

The inaugural 500 Sprint Car Tour presented by Auto Value Bumper to Bumper Parts Stores season comes to a close with Kody Swanson winning the points championship. Swanson finishes the season with 1,737 points, a 35-point victory over Dakoda Armstrong with 1,702. Kyle O’Gara finished in third place Saturday night and third place in the points standing with 1,598 points. Bobby Santos III and Billy Wease round out the top 5 with 1,590 and 1,549 points respectively.