Dustin Linville conferring with a member of his team
To say that Dustin Linville is excited about this weekend’s $25,000-to-win Southern Nationals Bonus Series race at the Ponderosa Speedway would be a bit of an understatement. The Bryantsville, Kentucky native has high hopes for the race set to be contested on what is basically his home track… and for good reason.
The 24-year-old driver has pieced together a solid season that has seen him score eight feature wins as well as strong runs in some big money races. Much of that success has come after a near disaster threatened to dismantle the 2015 campaign.
“We started off kind of rough,” Linville explained in an interview with InsideDirtRacing.com. “I broke my wrist early in the year in that Lucas Oil race at Florence and that put us out for about a month. I think we had one win up until then. But we went through and got all of our ducks in a row there. We came back out on the fourth of July weekend and this thing has been unreal since then. We’ve been pretty fortunate and had some breaks here and there, but overall, the car has been pretty good. This is definitely a big weekend coming up and it would be a great way to cap off the season.”
The driver of the No. D8 Swartz Race Car believes he and his team have what it takes to compete with some of the sport’s biggest stars on the track located in Junction City, KY. He has proven as much already by placing 3rd behind Mike Marlar and Scott Bloomquist in the $15,012-to-win Ultimate Super Late Model Series event staged at Ponderosa back in August.
Linville’s #D8 machine
“I think we should be able to run pretty decent if we have good luck and everything,” Linville noted. “Marlar is really tough right now and he’s really good at that track. To me, that’s going to be the guy to beat. Earlier in the year we had the World of Outlaws come in and we broke in that race when we were running pretty decent. And we had a really good hot rod in the $15,000 race. I think we could have got by Bloomquist there at the end if that caution hadn’t come out.”
The driver known as ‘The Rooster’ has added confidence due to the number of laps he has turned on the D-shaped, 3/8 mile clay oval. He contends that his experience will benefit him greatly because of the track’s unique layout.
“It’s a different animal from anywhere I’ve ever been,” he declared. “Everybody I talk to talks about how unique it is because it’s got that dogleg in the front straightaway. You’ve got to have your car freed up. It’s a place where you need your car to be loose.”
Even with some of the sport’s top drivers expected to be on hand in hopes of staking claim to the lucrative winner’s paycheck, Linville feels good about his chances in Saturday’s feature.
“At this track, it’s just like any other race,” the home state star said. “I know them guys are good and I know you’ve got to have your equipment good. You can’t have no flaws when you race against those guys. But I feel more comfortable at this place than anywhere I go. I feel like if I do my part behind the wheel, we can run with anybody here.”
Linville would love to drive into Victory Lane on Saturday at Ponderosa
And what would it be like if Linville’s pulls off the victory?
“Oh my gosh, it would be unreal,” he answered. “This is probably the best chance I’ve ever had. This is our home track in a race that pays that kind of money. It’s nerve wracking because we’ve got a really good shot, but it could be anybody’s night. But that would definitely top the charts for us. The biggest race I’ve ever won up to now was a $5,000. We won this Fall Classic the last time they had it but it was just a $5,000 then.
“There would be a serious party up here in Bryantsville if we bring that bad boy home.”
