Thomas Wins the Oval Nationals, Windom Takes the Title

From Richie Murray Kevin Thomas, Jr. unloaded his racecar from his hauler last Wednesday night as the man to beat when practice began for the Budweiser “Oval Nationals” presented by All Coast Construction. When the time came to roll his car back into the hauler following Saturday night’s 40-lap main event, the Cullman, Alabama was a richer man – by $25,000 – and had the hardware to show for it after scoring the victory in the 22nd annual event at Perris Auto Speedway. Meanwhile, Chris Windom emerged as USAC’s newest AMSOIL National Sprint Car champion, defeating Justin Grant by a mere six points to earn his first series title just one year after capturing the Silver Crown championship. It was in late August that Windom found himself trailing Grant by 93 points and firmly believed his championship dreams had been dashed. “Two months ago, when we got knocked out of the race at Kokomo, I thought our season was over,” Windom said. “This means everything. Derek (Claxton), Billy (Grace) and I fought hard all year long for this. With Margo and Kenny Baldwin, we almost did this back in 2011. They’ve done so much for my career. I can’t be [...]