Tanner Carrick placed second, leading four Toyotas into the top-five in the USAC NOS Energy Drink National Midget Series’ 38th annual 4-Crown Nationals at Eldora Speedway, Saturday night.
Starting from the outside of row one, Carrick quickly moved to the lead past pole-sitter Jerry Coons, Jr., with Logan Seavey also slipping past Coons for second, while Kevin Thomas Jr., was fourth and Rico Abreu was fifth.
By lap five, Abreu had moved into third, followed by Tyler Courtney and Thomas, while Coons began to slip back in the field as a red flag waved after Jason McDougal got upside down.
Carrick would maintain the top spot through the first 15 laps before Seavey would get past him for the lead on lap 16. The two Keith Kunz Motorsports (KKM) teammates would continue to battle for the lead over the next two laps before Carrick reclaimed the top spot on lap 18.
Just one lap later, Courtney would make a run down the back straight and overtake both KKM drivers with Carrick able to throw a slider back at him to hold the lead at start/finish. The two would continue to battle with Carrick continuing to hold down the top spot at the scoring stand through lap 24.
Courtney would make one more run at Carrick, though, and this one would be successful, passing Carrick for the lead on the final lap for the victory. Carrick would finish second, followed by Seavey, Abreu and Thomas. Tucker Klaasmeyer would make it five Toyota-powered entries in the top-10 with a ninth-place finish.
For the night, Carrick led 22 of 25 laps, while KKM Toyota drivers led 24 of the 25.
The Toyota midget car program returns to action Friday night at Jacksonville Speedway for the first of a pair of POWRi Lucas Oil National Midget League feature events at the Illinois track next weekend.
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