"Slammin' Sammy" Swindell stole the show Thursday night at Silver Dollar Speedway in Chico, California, winning the opening night of the three-day Gold Cup Race of Champions World of Outlaws Sprint Car Series event.

“It’s great to get a win here and hopefully we can get two more,” said Swindell. “The whole crew did a great job tonight. We had a few issues early on in our heat that we had to work on and didn’t get a chance to do some of the things I wanted to do for the dash. We were able to make the adjustments I wanted to make for the main event. I could really hustle it (the car) in there and make it cut and get right back on the throttle. We had to work for it there a little bit.”

Swindell and Jac Haudenschild battled at the front of the field for most of the 30-lap race, Swindell getting by Haudenschild for the final time with three laps remaining when Haudenschild hooked a rut exiting turn four and got upside down while leading.

“I knew when we took off that the car was very good and just kind of had to be patient and not get in trouble and not tear it up,” explained Swindell. “That was the key and it was the same when I was behind Haud. I didn’t want to tear it up. I wanted to win and we had a pretty good race a couple of times. I was under him a couple of times and beside him a couple of times and he was able to shut the door enough that it wasn’t worth the gamble to go for it and take us both out.”

An early race incident removed Steve Kinser and Joey Saldana from contention, caused when the right rear hub broke on Kinser's Tony Stewart Racing machine just after taking the lead on a lap 2 restart. The 20-time Outlaws champion went into a flip with the ensuing melee collecting seven other cars, including the No. 9 Kasey Kahne Racing entry of Saldana. who made repairs and returned to the track and finished 15th. Kinser, unable to repair the massive damage to his car, finished 24th.

Local driver Jonathan Allard came from a row seven starting position to finish second.

“It was a great start considering we lined up 13th,” said Allard. “I didn’t think we would go through the pack like that. I thought it was going to be pretty narrow. We got a couple of lucky breaks and a couple good restarts and that definitely helped. That last red (flag) killed us. Sammy (Swindell) got pinned on the bottom and I started to get a good run through the middle and we had that restart and I just stumbled on the restart and couldn’t get after him. I’m really happy for my crew and it’s always great to do well in the hometown.”

Brad Sweet finished third, Jason Meyers fourth and Sam Hafertepe, Jr., who started 22nd, finished fifth.

Meyers took the lead in the 2010 World of Outlaws Sprint Car Series championship standings with his fourth place finish and holds a two-point margin over Saldana going into Friday's A-Main.

The World of Outlaws Sprint Car Series return to the Silver Dollar Speedway Friday, September 10, 2010 for night number two of the 57th Annual Gold Cup Race of Champions.

World of Outlaws Sprint Car Series Results Thursday, September 9, 2010
A-main (30 laps) - Starting Position [#]
1) 1-Sammy Swindell[5] [$8,000]
2) O-Jonathan Allard[13] [$4,000]
3) 49-Brad Sweet[10] [$2,500]
4) 14-Jason Meyers[9] [$2,200]
5) 15H-Sam Hafertepe Jr.[22] [$2,100]
6) 7S-Jason Sides[6] [$2,000]
7) 91-Paul McMahan[15] [$1,800]
8) 15-Donny Schatz[19] [$1,600]
9) 3-Kerry Madsen[18] [$1,500]
10) 99-Kyle Larson[23] [$1,300]
11) 6-Danny Lasoski[11] [$1,200]
12) 11K-Kraig Kinser[7] [$1,100]
13) 5W-Lucas Wolfe[14] [$1,000]
14) 121-Shane Golobic[20] [$700]
15) 9-Joey Saldana[16] [$600]
16) 11C-Roger Crockett[17] [$600]
17) 7-Craig Dollansky[3] [$600]
18) 25M-Bobby McMahan[24] [$600]
19) R19-Jac Haudenschild[1] [$600]
20) 2B-Ben Gregg[12] [$600]
21) 51-Sean Becker[8] [$600]
22) 21-Tommy Tarlton[21] [$600]
23) 33E-Evan Suggs[2] [$600]
24) 11-Steve Kinser[4] [$600]

Lap Leaders: Evan Suggs 1; Jac Haudenschild 2-3, 18-27; Sammy Swindell 4-17, 27-30
KSE Hard Charger Award: Sam Hafertepe Jr.

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