Clayton Miller won the Modified feature in the Sweetheart
The Open Wheel Modified division took part in 411 Motor Speedway’s season opening Sweetheart event on Saturday afternoon. Clayton Miller would end the day as the big winner as he collected the winner’s reward of $2,000 for his efforts at the Seymour, TN facility.
Miller was the fastest among the 22 cars to make qualifying attempts as he toured the 3/8 mile clay oval in 14.430 seconds to beat out Adam Stricker, Rocky Wilson, Amos Bunch, Billy Palmer, Josh Henry, Wayne James, Robert Reagan, Brian Skaggs and Joey Cotterman.
Amos Bunch earned the pole for the feature by winning the first heat race of the day ahead of Clayton Miller and Wayne James.
Adam Stricker won the second preliminary of the day ahead of Billy Palmer and P.J. Simpson while Josh Henry defeated Rocky Wilson and Aaron Carter in the final heat of the afternoon.
At the start of the 30-lap feature it was Stricker who bolted to the early lead with Bunch, Miller, Wilson and Henry in his tire tracks. Miller made an early move by passing Bunch to take second on lap 3.
After a lap 3 caution, Miller and Stricker battle side-by-side for the lead with Stricker holding the top spot. Over the next few laps, the top-3 cars driven by Stricker, Miller and Bunch broke away from the field. However, multiple yellow flags during the race’s middle section kept the field tightly packed.
Following a lap 12 restart, Stricker and Miller ran side-by-side for three laps with Miller on the bottom while Stricker ran the top side. On two different occasions at lap 15 and lap 18 yellow flags negated passes for the lead by Miller.
Finally on lap 19 Miller made the move that stuck as he moved to the top spot on the scoreboard. Shortly thereafter, Bunch would also get by Stricker to take second.
But after surviving multiple restarts over the final ten laps, it was Miller who took the checkered flag ahead of the pack to claim the victory.
Feature Finish: 1. Clayton Miller, 2. Amos Bunch, 3. Adam Stricker, 4. Josh Henry, 5. Glen Hounshell, 6. Rocky Wilson, 7. Tyler James, 8. Brian Nantz, 9. Cameron Marlar, 10. Robert Reagan, 11. Aaron Carter, 12. Joey Cotterman
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