Swanson Is Fastest Qualifier and Finishes Second
In Doran Binks Racing’s Mission Foods No. 77
At Glen Niebel Classic 500 Sprint Car Tour Season Opener

ANDERSON, Ind., April 15 —Doran Binks Racing and driver Kody Swanson got the 2024 season off to a great start Sunday afternoon when Swanson was the fastest qualifier in the Mission Foods/Glenn Farms No. 77, led a third of the 100-lap Glen Niebel Classic, and finished a solid second in the 500 Sprint Car Tour season opener at Anderson Speedway.

After earning the pole when the inversion was a one, Swanson led the first 34 laps as the 21-car field sped around the quarter-mile paved oval. Dakoda Armstrong used lapped traffic to help him vault from third to first in Turn 2 on lap 35, and he went on to win the race with Swanson in hot pursuit. The winner’s cousin, Caleb Armstrong, placed third followed by the defending race winner, Kyle O’Gara, and Taylor Ferns.

It was the second year in a row that Swanson was the fastest qualifier for this particular event, which was its 24th edition. After running third and first in the two practice sessions Sunday afternoon, he topped the field in qualifying with a time of 11.274 seconds with the No. 77, which is powered by a Dan Binks-prepared Chevrolet V8 engine. Defending series champion Tyler Roahrig qualified second followed by Dakoda and Caleb Armstrong and Bobby Santos III.

Roahrig pressured Swanson incessantly right from the start, with Dakoda Armstrong right behind him. The top three broke away from the pack slightly in the early going, but they had their hands full with lapped traffic quickly.

Dakoda Armstrong used double-wide lapped traffic to help him pass both Swanson and Roahrig on lap 35, and Swanson chased him the rest of the way in pursuit of his third victory in this particular race, as he won it in 2018 and 2021.

There were only two cautions, and yellow-flag laps didn’t count. The first yellow flew with 67 laps down when Billy Wease spun low on the frontstretch while running seventh. That allowed Swanson to close up behind Dakoda Armstrong for the restart, but Armstrong was able to spurt away when the green waved again.

Roahrig experienced a mechanical issue shortly thereafter and fell back to sixth before retiring with 71 laps complete, which moved Caleb Armstrong into third. On the next lap the second and final yellow waved with 72 laps down when Shane Butler spun in Turn 4 while running tenth.

Dakoda Armstrong set the fastest lap of the race with a 11.525 on lap three. Roahrig was second in that category with a 11.538 on the same lap, and Swanson was third with a 11.541 on lap five.

The next 500 Sprint Car Tour race is its premier event, the 76th Little 500 at Anderson on Saturday, May 25, but before that the Doran Binks crew will turn its attention to the USAC Silver Crown season opener this coming Saturday, April 20, at Toledo (Ohio) Speedway. Last year Swanson won an unprecedented fifth straight USAC Silver Crown race at Toledo Speedway and his seventh there in all. The Kingsburg, Calif., native who now lives in Indianapolis also won the 500 Sprint Car Tour race there last year.

“Anderson is challenging; it’s always a little different every time, and this time it struggled to build up rubber and I got looser and looser all race,” Swanson said after Sunday’s race. “Dakoda had a little better handling car, which helped him in lapped traffic. We’ll work on that and try to be better next time.”

Swanson said that he had several close calls with lapped traffic, but added “that’s part of the challenge here; we’ll have even more when we come back here in May for the Little 500.

“To set quick time and finish second in the first race of the year, I think we’re off to a good start,” added Swanson, who suffered a broken left foot in a non-racing accident on Christmas Day. “My foot is OK; it didn’t affect me at all in the race,” he said.

“I want to thank the Doran Binks crew for their hard work, and Mission Foods and Glenn Farms for their support,” he concluded.

About Mission Foods:
The Gruma Corporation began in 1949 and is today the leading tortilla manufacturer worldwide. Mission Foods is a proud subsidiary of Gruma, and as the #1 tortilla company in the United States, manufactures a wide variety of authentic Mexican products. Five years ago it opened a state-of-the-art plant in Dallas, Texas, with the capacity to produce 30 million tortillas daily. Today Mission Foods is a global company, with special emphasis not only on the United States but also Mexico, Central America, Europe, China, Malaysia, and Australia. Its products include flour and corn tortillas; tostadas; low-carb, whole wheat, organic and gluten-free items; wraps; flatbreads such as naan, pita and roti; tortilla chips and organic chips; chicharrones; salsa, and dips. For more information see missionfoods.com.

For more information on Doran Racing, see DoranRacing.com.
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