SPRING VALLEY— The USAC National Sprint Car Series' first visit to Deer Creek Speedway turned into a battle of attrition.
The 30-lap non-wing Sprint Car feature ended with 11 cars on the track and a driver headed to Victory Lane for the first time this season.
The night started with 22 USAC cars taking hot laps and qualifying. It ended with the look of a heat race, as half the field didn't finish the feature due to three multiple-car wrecks.
That was little concern to Jon Stanbrough, though, who drove his Mike Dutcher Motorsports No. 37RW to a USAC victory for the first time in 2014.
"It's great to get one," said Stanbrough, the Avon, Ind., driver who now has 32 career USAC Sprint Car victories, tying him with Rollie Beale for 10th all-time on the series. "We were fast as soon as we unloaded tonight."
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The 46-year-old Stanbrough is in his first season driving for Dutcher Motorsports. He had five previous top-five finishes in USAC races this season, but hadn't been able to secure a victory. He said he had a "heart-to-heart" with Dutcher before Saturday's race.
"We've won this year, just not in a USAC race," said Stanbrough, who is in fifth place in the USAC points standings. "Mike and I both have high expectations. I expect to be in Victory Lane a lot more than we have been. We know we need to keep working and it will come.
"I'm happy to get to Victory Lane for (my team)."
Stanbrough led every lap and, when the field wasn't bunched up because of cautions, he consistently built comfortable leads. He started third and got by front-row starters C.J. Leary and Bryan Clauson, the two-time defending series champion who saw his night end when he broke down in Turn 4 on the first lap.
Stanbrough survived the wrecks that took out front-running drivers such as Leary — who is in the top 10 in the points standings —and Tyler Courtney, the 2013 USAC Sprint Car Rookie of the Year. He'll go down as the first-ever USAC winner at Deer Creek, 26 years after the last time USAC Sprints raced in the state, at Jackson Speedway in 1988.
"We obviously wish we'd have won a lot more races by now, but it's just so good to get this win for my team," Stanbrough said. "I'm happy to get another win for myself too, but it's a big boost for my guys who have put in so much work for us to be running up front all these times and being close every night."
