Macri Wins Stockyard Stampede, Holds Off Courtney

Anthony Macri in Victory Lane after winning the Stockyard Stampede at the Texas Motor Speedway Dirt Track (Photo: Dylan Nadwodny | The Podium Finish)

FORT WORTH, Texas — After a long hiatus, the High Limit Racing series finally got back underway Saturday night at the Texas Motor Speedway Dirt Track for the Stockyard Stampede.

Very similar to the World of Outlaws, there were two groups of qualifying. However, unlike the World of Outlaws, there were two cars on the track at one time, instead of one.

During the first qualifying session, there were two lead changes for the quickest time after the initial time was made by Justin Peck, which was a 14.077. The ultimate winner of Group A was Zeb Wise with a 14.025 second lap.

In the second group of qualifying there were only two lead changes after the initial speed was set, but that second lead change was the best of the night and earned Brad Sweet the title of Group B, as well as the overall quick time of the night with a 13.735 second lap.

The Heat Races followed and each of the four races were eight laps and had the top five drivers of each race move on to the feature race. The first two races went smoothly, but the third one saw Zack Hampton barrel-roll in Turn 1 after his rear axle broke.

“That was a scary one, but at least we landed softly,” said Hampton about his crash.

After the Heat Races, the Dash was completed, followed by the B Feature. But before any laps could be scored for the latter, there was a bad wreck in Turns 1 and 2. Wayne Johnson hit a hole in the track and flipped over hard, causing John Carney to hit him and flip over and then Tanner Thorson spun next to Carney to try to avoid hitting him. Luckily, all three drivers were able to climb out of their cars and walk away.

Once all of the cars that were going to be in the main event had been decided in the preliminary races, it was time for the 30-lap feature race to begin.

Jacob Allen and Brent Marks were on the front row to lead the field to the starting line, but Allen’s lead was short-lived as he got loose going up high coming out of Turn 2, giving the lead to Marks…for about three seconds.

The first car out of the race was Chris Windom. Windom rode the wall a bit too much, causing him to flip over and making it so that no laps were scored. Allen and Marks were able to stay in their respective positions.

On the restart, Allen jumped out to the lead and held it, but back in the pack, some problems started to arise. Sweet started battling with Wise and James McFadden began making his presence known to the rest of the field.

On Lap 3, Wise passed McFadden for sixth. One spot behind though, Rico Abreu and Brian Brown went at it for seventh by trying to slide job each other. Brown eventually lost his battle to both Abreu and Kasey Kahne two laps later.

At the front of the pack, Allen began to feel the pressure from Tyler Courtney. He also started to see lapped traffic. The lapped traffic proved to be a problem because as soon as Allen caught up to the last of the cars, “Sunshine” saw his opportunity and passed Allen for the lead. Meanwhile, the spot behind Courtney and Allen that was previously held by Marks was nabbed by Anthony Macri. 

Brad Sweet and Brent Marks competing in the Stockyard Stampede at the Texas Motor Speedway Dirt Track (Photo: Sean Folsom | The Podium Finish)

Lap 13 saw Sweet get loose and Marks pass him for fourth, but Sweet got him back immediately, slide jobbing him for that coveted spot. This battle was cut short though, due to Parker Price-Miller slowing down and bringing out a caution.

On the restart, Macri got past Allen for second and had his sights locked in on “Sunshine”. Sweet had his sights locked in on somebody too: Allen. 

As Macri was gaining some serious ground on Courtney, another caution came out on Lap 16; this one caused by Brian Brown. 

It seemed that fighting a good battle and having it cut short was the theme of the night because Sweet began to set his sights on Macri to make a dash for the lead, when Peck brought out the caution yet again.

As the green flag flew with nine laps to go, Macri was right on Courtney’s tail. Macri slide-jobbed Courtney for the lead coming out of Turn 4, but Courtney said “no” and got him back going into Turn 1. Macri did not appreciate that and passed Courtney for the lead once again. During this time though, Sweet entered the chat by getting up close to the two warriors. 

With 5 laps to go, Macri started smoking a little bit, giving Sweet, who was looking to pass Courtney, a little bit of hope. Right when Sweet went to make his move on “Sunshine”, lapped traffic got in the way and quelled all of his efforts to get second.

On Lap 27, Macri drifted way up high in Turn 2, but somehow managed to save it and retain his leading spot. Macri won the race with Courtney, Sweet, Allen and McFadden rounding out the top five.

“It’s pretty badass,” Macri said on his win. “I’m pretty winded and it feels really cool to win with these guys. I know Courtney’s fast but we’re fast too. I just threw it in there because I wanted to win and we do whatever to win.”