ABBOTTSTOWN, Pa.: Danny Dietrich came into the 2022 season wanting to compete more at Lincoln Speedway than he did a year ago.
It’s a track Dietrich knows well. He is comfortable, and after winning only six races all of last year, he felt it was something the Gary Kauffman-owned team needed to do to be more successful.
That thought process has been paying off. Dietrich’s been fast every time he’s touched the track at the Abbottstown, Pa., oval, something he showed a week ago when he earned his first win of the new season.
But Saturday’s 30-Lap run was on a different level. Dietrich stormed from 10th to the lead in five laps on the daytime surface and was the dominant car on his way to his 57th-career win at the speedway.
“He watered the track, and you’ve just got to go where they aren’t,” Dietrich said. “Our car is just so good right now, and it’s so much fun to drive. I’m comfortable, and when I’m comfortable, I’m confident.
“We wanted to come back to Lincoln to get back to our winnings ways, get that confidence level, and all of that kind of stuff, and we’ve been so good here. I hope we can keep it rolling, because it can change so quick with problems, crashes, or bad luck. Right now, we are just having fun.”
It helps when you can ride around the top of the speedway when the race goes green and drive around everybody. That’s what happened in the main event, and Dietrich was up to third coming out of Turn 2 on Lap 3.
Tim Wagaman was running second behind leader Robbie Kendall on the third circuit. One lap later, Dietrich disposed of him with the same power move off the second corner to take the runner-up spot.
“It was like Lap 4, and I know he started 10th,” Wagaman said of Dietrich. “I was like, ‘Alright, Lap 4, great.’ I knew it would get good at some point, but I didn’t know when.
“When you are up front like that, you don’t know when to go. Danny got up there super quick, and if I would’ve gotten up there, maybe it would’ve been different.”
Wagaman never got a chance. Kendall didn’t, either, and Dietrich pulled a slider in Turns 3 and 4 on Lap 5 to take the lead.
The only thing that slowed Dietrich’s assault on the rest of the field was the multiple caution periods. Tyler Ross slowed through the first and second corner and stopped on the backstretch to bring out the first stoppage on Lap 8.
Dietrich blasted out front on the restart and opened up a 1.929-second lead by the 10th circuit. He caught the back of the field on Lap 14, which allowed Kendall to close the gap to 1.813 seconds at the halfway point.
“The cautions didn’t bother me, mainly because I noticed the bottom was getting faster in one and two,” Dietrich said. “So, I knew the rubber was coming in. I don’t like to be in the rubber any more than I have to because you can grind your tires down.
“With it being rubber down, you grind your tires down and go to run high in Turns 3 and 4, and you don’t have any tread left and can’t stick it. I knew I was going to end up running out of tread and have trouble running the top. You just lose your forward drive, but when you have a car like this, it’s easy to think of that stuff.”
Billy Dietrich slipped under Kendall for second on Lap 18 in Turns 1 and 2. As for his brother Danny, had a 3.608-second advantage by Lap 20.
The leader knifed through backmarkers and left the rest of the competition sit. By the time Lap 25 was scored, Dietrich had a hefty 4.984-second cushion.
That lead was wiped out just as Dietrich crossed the line to complete Lap 25. Dylan Norris spun in the fourth corner to set up a five-lap dash to the finish.
Dietrich was pinned to the bottom on the restart and got away. His brother, Billy, got sideways a bit, which allowed Wagaman to take over second. Dietrich remained third, with Kendall doing a 360 in Turns 1 and 2.
The final caution came out on Lap 26 when Kendall rolled to a stop. One more restart followed, but it didn’t change the outcome. Danny Dietrich was too good up front and pulled away to a 1.482-second win.
“I don’t think I’ve went from 10th to the lead in five laps since 2012, and we won nine times here that year,” Dietrich said. “That should tell you enough.
“I told Gary [Kauffman] earlier in the week that we have a pretty good point lead down here. We’re not point racing, but it would be pretty cool to miss a few shows and still win the thing or finish second to get some money back.”
Wagaman earned his first top-five finish of the season by placing second. Freddie Rahmer came up to third thanks to the last restart, and Billy Dietrich and Niki Young completed the top five.
“We’ve been struggling,” Wagaman said. “We had a shock package here, and I wasn’t really fond of it, but we tried it.
“We’ve been tuning it and trying to get it better for me. I think we are starting to make strides. Tonight, we had a strong showing and earned it. We passed Kendall, who is always good here, passed Billy, and we stayed there. So, I’m pretty happy with it.”
Cameron Smith led all 20 laps to capture the 358 Sprint Car main event. He took the win by 1.042 seconds over defending track champion Steve Owings.
Brett Wanner settled into third at the start and stayed there. Jeff Rohrbaugh and Kody Hartlaub completed the top five.
410 Sprint Car Feature Finish, 30 Laps: 1. Danny Dietrich; 2. Tim Wagaman; 3. Freddie Rahmer; 4. Billy Dietrich; 5. Niki Young; 6. Jimmy Siegel; 7. Devon Borden; 8. Chase Dietz; 9. Mark Smith; 10. Alan Krimes; 11. Tim Glatfelter; 12. Aaron Bollinger; 13. Dylan Norris; 14. Chad Trout; 15. Austin Bishop; 16. Jordan Givler; 17. Kyle Moody; 18. Brandon Rahmer; 19. Bradley Howard; 20. John Walp; 21. Scott Fisher; 22. Robbie Kendall; 23. Tyler Ross; 24. Troy Wagaman.
DNQ: Michael Millard; Riley Emig; Matt Campbell; Zane Rudisill; Brie Hershey; Trey Hivner; Tyler Esh; Glenndon Forsythe; Zach Allman.
358 Sprint Car Feature Finish, 20 Laps: 1. Cameron Smith; 2. Steve Owings; 3. Brett Wanner; 4. Jeff Rohrbaugh; 5. Kody Hartlaub; 6. Matt Findley; 7. Chris Frank; 8. David Holbrook; 9. Kyle Denmyer; 10. Brett Stickler; 11. Frankie Herr; 12. Wyatt Hinkle; 13. Jake Eldreth; 14. Ashley Cappetta; 15. Nash Ely; 16. Kyle Rohrbaugh; 17. Cody Phillips; 18. Nat Tuckey; 19. Will Brunson; 20. Cody Fletcher; 21. Justin Foster; 22. Hayden Miller; 23. Jordan Strickler; 24. Kyle Keen.