A week ago, Ashton Winger pulled off of the track during his World of Outlaws Late Model heat race, angrily protesting a call from series officials about his restarts. He threw off his protective gear onto the ground in disgust about what the tour officials had said.
Although, this week, Winger was throwing his gear in jubilation.
The strongest candidate to win the Rookie of the Year award for the series earned his first career win in what will be one of the highest paying races of the tour this year.
And… he beat the 2019 series champion to do it.
“I didn’t feel very good in the heat race,” Winger said in his postrace interview on DirtVision. “Then, Sheppy was showing me his nose the whole time. This kind of race track moves around a lot and I didn’t really know where to be.”
Sheppy refers to Brandon Sheppard – who rode Winger’s tail for the final 25 or so laps of the 40-lap feature.
Once the 1 car got to Winger’s rear, Winger started being more aggressive with the picks that he set up throughout the run to the checkered flag.
It seemed like every time Sheppard wanted to challenge for the top spot, Winger would make some sort of pass on a lapped car to take away the line of Sheppard.
It got him into victory lane for a $20,000 paycheck with the World of Outlaws on Friday, in one of the best races of the season.
“Damn this is so awesome, man,” Winger said. “I’m so thankful. This is all I’ve ever wanted to do. I never wanted to go to NASCAR. I always wanted to be at the top level of Dirt Late Model racing and here we are.”
Winger and the Outlaws Late Model tour will be back on Saturday in the finale that mirrored tonight’s show, but with the feature event being televised on CBSSN.
World of Outlaws Cedar Lake Feature Results
1. Ashton Winger
2. Brandon Sheppard
3. Ricky Weiss
4. Dennis Erb Jr.
5. Darrell Lanigan
6. Jimmy Mars
7. Scott Bloomquist
8. Frank Heckenast Jr.
9. Cade Dillard
10. Chase Junghans
11. Ricky Thornton Jr.
12. Rodney Sanders
13. Boom Briggs
14. Brent Larson
15. Rusty Griffaw
16. Rick Hanestad
17. Steve Huucovski
18. Colton Horner
19. James Giossi
20. Jeff Massingill
21. Pat Doar
22. Buddy Hanestad
23. A.J. Daniel
24. Paul Parker
Updated World of Outlaws Points Standings
1. Brandon Sheppard 2706
2. Ricky Weiss -148
3. Darrell Lanigan -192
4. Cade Dillard -230
5. Chase Junghans -240
6. Dennis Erb Jr. -286
7. Scott Bloomquist -316
8. Ashton Winger -350
9. Chris Madden -360
10. Boom Briggs -526
