A trip to Land of Legends Raceway in Canandaigua, NY, on Thursday night was just what "The Doctor” ordered for Danny Johnson to return to Victory Lane for the first time in the Super DIRTcar Series since September 2016.

Starting on the pole, the 58-year-old Rochester, NY, driver led a field of 31 big-block modifieds for all 100 laps of the Liberty 100 at the fast 1/2-mile clay oval, earning not only his 81st SDS win but also the 600th overall victory of his storied career. 

Now, the five-time DIRTcar Northeast Driver of the Year is ready to look for more.

“Hopefully, we can get on a roll and we can keep going,” said Johnson, who was coming off a sixth-place finish at Cornwall Motor Speedway in Ontario on Sunday. “[I’m] just ecstatic for (car owner) George Shackleton and his wife, Tammy, and everybody who helps out, (former car owner) Chris Gennarelli. And shout out to everyone who Honeoye Auto Parts’ Doug Doulen for sponsoring tonight. And the kids have been helping me all night; it’s just been a fantastic night for us.”

While Johnson was out front for the entire night, he was far from alone. After opening the race in fourth, Matt Williamson grabbed the second spot behind Johnson’s wheel on lap 17 and didn’t relinquish his runner-up position for the rest of the night.

Williamson was able to hang on for his first SDS podium finish of 2018 despite a lap-49 caution that wiped out a seven-second advantage over the pack. 

Over the final 51 laps, the St. Catharines, Ontario, native held off the rest of the hard-charging challengers in the top five, including points leader “Super” Matt Sheppard, who finished in third place; Peter Britten, who rose from 19th to finish fourth; and Stewart Friesen, who earned his third top-five finish in three SDS starts. 

“Danny is one hell of a race car driver; it’s tough to beat a guy like that so we’ll take a second to that guy any day—he’s had a lot of laps around this place,” said Williamson, who owns 10 wins this year away from the SDS. “The who’s sitting third ain’t too bad either so I’m pretty happy to be with these two guys up here.”

His 81st @SuperDIRTcar win The Dr Danny Johnson. #superdirtselfie pic.twitter.com/vuFmQdpo1y

— Shane Andrews (@NYVoice13) July 6, 2018

Prior to Thursday’s race, Sheppard and Friesen were the only two drivers to reach Victory Lane through four Super DIRTcar Series events in 2018, with Friesen winning the season opener at Weedsport Speedway back on May 28 and alternating wins with Sheppard at Brewerton Speedway (June 15), Albany-Saratoga Speedway (June 26), and Cornwall Motor Speedway (July 1).

“It was a good night for us,” Sheppard said. “Congrats to 'The Doctor.’ He was really, really good tonight. Matty was really good. They were the class of the field by far. We were pretty darn good but we didn’t have anything to run with them so it’s no big deal. We’ll work on our car and work on our program and hopefully we’ll get a little better.”

The Super DIRTcar Series next heads to Utica-Rome Speedway in Vernon, NY, for the Freedom Fighter 100 on Sunday, before finishing up its stretch of three races in six days at Outlaw Speedway in Dundee, NY, on Tuesday, July 10.

“It’s definitely a good start to a long week and weekend here,” Sheppard said. “The track was slick tonight and Utica is probably going to be the same way Sunday, so hopefully maybe we can learn something tonight that we can apply to Utica… We’ve got a big weekend here, so we’ll keep on rolling.”

Liberty 100

Land of Legends Raceway
Canandaigua, NY
Thursday