SWANSON JETS TO TOLEDO 500 TOUR FATHERS DAY VICTORY

Kody Swanson in victory lane at Toledo Speedway (Jack Kessler photo)

June 18, 2023 – Toledo, Ohio - Kody Swanson stormed from his seventh place starting position, took the lead by lap five, and never looked back on his way to the 500 Sprint Car Tour feature victory at Toledo Speedway Sunday afternoon. It was Swanson’s first series victory of the season.

Swanson had earlier set quick time in qualifying when he toured the famed half mile at 14.716 seconds.

When the green flag waved, Swanson went on the offensive and began passing cars using the outside groove to quickly advance positions. Swanson would win by a margin of 1.839 seconds over Tyler Roahrig.

“We were really fortunate to have a good car today’ Swanson explained in victory lane. “We weren’t too far off in the first practice. The change we made really helped the car out. I’ve gotta lot more experience here than a lot of the guys. I’m old enough that I ran USAC Sprint Cars here at one point. I was able to lean on that experience a little bit.”

In the closing stages of the race Swanson struggled getting around lapped cars at one point. “It’s all part of the game, its part of racing. Luckily today we had a big enough lead that we could sort our way through there without paying the price for getting stuffed. We had a good enough car I could move around when I had to. I felt like we had breaks fall our way with cautions that were timely. It felt good to get the win today”

40 lap feature finish:

1. 77-Kody Swanson; 2. 56-Tyler Roahrig; 3. 22a-Bobby Santos III; 4. 1-Dakoda Armstrong; 5. 26-Kaylee Bryson; 6. 53-Justin Harper; 7. 24-Jackson Macenko; 8. 74-Tony Main; 9. 27-Nick Marcott; 10. 77s-Quintin Saayman; 11. 64-Jake McElfresh; 12. 67-Kyle O’Gara; 13. 55-Taylor Ferns; 14. 11-Tom Paterson; 15. 55n-Tommy Nichols; 16. 28-Jeff Bloom; DNS 4-Cory Butler