Shane Stewart enjoyed a record-breaking night on Friday as he set a new all-time track qualifying mark at Black Hills Speedway in Rapid City, South Dakota, and then held off Brad Sweet for the victory.

With a lap of 14.861 seconds, Stewart got off to a great start by setting the fast time in qualification. In the the 25-lap feature, he passed Sweet for the lead on the eighth lap around the half-mile track and maintained it for the next 17 circuits.

Sweet was dominant in the opening laps until a caution on lap six set the field back to a double-file restart. The caution was brought out by Jason Johnson, who was running fourth at the time. On the restart, Sweet took the bottom, allowing Stewart to maintain a strong run off the cushion to take the lead on lap eight.

Stewart would continue to run the high line all night.

"Once I made it work, I said to myself I'm not going to come off this [cushion] until someone shows me a nose underneath." Stewart said from Victory Lane.

The second and final caution of the night came shortly after Stewart led his first lap. Sophomore Clyde Knipp suffered a flat right rear tire, sending him to the rear.

Stewart was able to pull away from the field and maneuvered through lapped traffic to gain the victory. The action started heating up behind the leader as Sheldon Haudenschild was masterfully making his way up from sixth into striking distance. Haudenschild made it by Pittman after the two cars traded sliders for fourth place. Then "Little Wild" was able to take advantage of a door left open by Donny Schatz and Sweet as the two were focused on cutting into Stewart's lead.

The second-place Haudenschild earned a career-best finish in his first appearance at Black Hills Speedway and was running shorter lap times than the leader in the final laps. He ran out of time before being able to challenge Stewart for the lead.



Stewart was relieved to see the white flag after dealing with Sweet, Schatz, and Haudenschild all barreling down on him during the final laps.

"We unloaded fast and we were able to keep that momentum going throughout the night," Stewart said. "I got a little nervous late there; the cushion got a little hairy to hit a couple of times. You just can't hesitate [in traffic] with these guys. If you do, you're going to get passed. Fortunately, I saw the white flag."

After having trouble with setting up a winning team earlier in the year, Stewart credits his new crew chief Lee Stauffer for helping him to the win. Stauffer has been the crew chief for the No. 2 Larson/Marks sprint team since late June and has been around for the last three of Stewart's five wins.

"I can't thank my guys enough," Stewart said. "We've been through a lot of crew chiefs this year before finding Lee. Now we're starting to get our act together,"

Haudenschild, who's gotten close to a win several times this season, was happy to settle for second which further expanded his points lead for Rookie of the Year.

"We had a fast car all night," Haudenschild said. "I put ourselves back on the restart. We fell back and had to do some work to get back up there. Overall, I can't thank my guys enough. We had a fast race car."

Sweet's choice to run the bottom on the first restart could very well have cost him the win, but he maintained a podium finish and raised his top five record to 45 for the season, just two shy of the points leader Schatz, who also had a top five finishing one position behind Sweet.

"I wasn't real sure where to go on that restart," the California native Sweet said. "I chose low, then didn't hit the bottom good and that opened the door for Shane. It's always good to be on the front stretch at the end of the night. Hopefully we can pick up some wins on the West Coast."

Pittman finished fifth claiming his 18th top five of the season. Most recent World of Outlaws winner David Gravel finished sixth, and Sheldon's father, Jac Haudenschild -- the "Wild Child" -- finished seventh.

Brent Marks was the hard charger of the night after making his way from 14th to eighth.

Tim Kaeding and Greg Wilson rounded out the top 10.

Top 10 Finishers
1. Shane Stewart
2. Sheldon Haudenschild
3. Brad Sweet
4. Donny Schatz
5. Daryn Pittman
6. David Gravel
7. Jac Haudenschild
8. Brent Marks
9. Tim Kaeding
10. Greg Wilson
Complete Results, With Heats and B-Main