By Victoria Beaver

Brody Roa found himself a few steps higher on the podium on the second night of the Oval Nationals at Perris Auto Speedway in Perris, CA, on Friday. One night after a career-best finish of third place, Roa added a win to his record-setting weekend.

“This is, by far, the biggest one,” Roa said. “To do it at Perris, a track I grew up at and have always wanted to win at, and to do it during ‘Oval Nationals’ weekend, even if it’s on a prelim night, it’s against all the same guys we’re running against [Saturday].”

Roa took the lead from Damon Gardner at the green and held the advantage for the entire 30-lap feature. Gardner was able to secure first for less than a full lap early before Roa pulled away.

The first caution came 13 laps into the race when Logan Williams hit the wall in turn two. By this point, Roa had a three-quarter straightaway lead over Chad Boespflug in second place.

The first green flag run was the longest of the night as cautions piled up after the halfway mark.

On lap 19, RJ Johnson caused a stir when his right rear tire hit the wall causing him to careen into Justin Grant, ending both of their nights.

Boespflug lined up next to Roa on each restart but didn't have the speed to slide up in front of the leader.

“On that first restart, I got a good enough start to where Chad showed me a nose, but he could never get there,” Roa said. “I just kept trying to do the same thing over and over again. I knew our car had good forward bite, and I could get down to turn one quickly. I just had to get to the center quick enough to where they couldn’t slide me.”

But Boespflug was desperate to repeat last year's Oval National’s prelim victory. On lap 21 — right after Roa rode the cushion up to the wall, hitting the concrete but maintaining speed — Boespflug followed the same line and hit the wall harder. He climbed it and narrowly pulled it back to prevent from nearly flipping.

The drivers behind him were not so lucky. Several cars spun in an attempt to avoid Boespflug including Gardner, Dave Darland, and Chase Stockon, who were all running in the top 10 at the time.

On the final restart, Kevin Thomas Jr. started in line next to Roa but couldn't get the jump on the hot driver. Thomas settled for second.

Chris Swindon, who currently leads in the points race by 12 points over Justin Grant, picked up one position to finish third. Grant followed in fourth.