Stock Car Racing: Patience helps Nelson on the race track

By Joe Lindholm and Conrad Engstrom

July 29, 2019 at 3:00 AM

For Super Stock driver Dylan Nelson patience and consistency have been keys to success in his four year career in the Super Stock class. It is paying off this year as he holds a 97-point lead in the class points race after racing on Saturday, July 27 at North Central Speedway.

Nelson finished runner-up to Jake Goetze in 2018 and this year Nelson has accumulated three wins and non top-five finishes in 13 features.

When asked about the key elements to his 2019 season Nelson said, "Probably staying consist and staying out of the wrecks and making sure you finish.If you can stay up towards the top each week the points add up and if you don't finish you lose a lot of ground."

Nelson got his start at the track as a teenager in a Pure Stock car and he had a good level of success with several wins. Then an opportunity came about to make the jump to a Super Stock car, a jump that Nelson wasn't expecting.

"I didn't know that jump was coming," Nelson said. "My dad bought the Super Stock and we sold the Pure Stock and took the step up, but it wasn't really planned. It just kind of happened."

As is the case for most drives the jump up to a higher class normally takes some time for adjustment. Some drivers take chances and end up by crashing out or crashing other drivers out of the race. Others are patient and get comfortable in the car and then look for opportunities to move. Nelson took the second path and it has paid off for him.

"This will be my fourth year in Super Stocks," Nelson said. "Probably after the first year of Super Stocks was a big step for me because with the Pure Stocks I won a couple of times and in the first year of Super Stocks you take smaller steps and work for top five's and top three's and when you are comfortable then you can go out and try to win each week."

In Saturday's race Nelson practiced patience early, then tried a risky move to gain the stop and then used his experience to make a correction and come away with another top five finish.

Nelson started on row four of the 10-car, 20-lap feature and he moved into fourth place early in the race. He made the jump up on lap nine to move into second place behind veteran driver Tim Johnson. The two ran neck and neck for the next 10 laps. Going into turn four on the last lap, Nelson attempted a pass of Johnson on the low side of the track and in doing so lost control of his car briefly. However, he was able to make the correction and straighten the car out to come across at the checkered flag in fourth place with Johnson getting the win.

While the aggressive move on the last lap was atypical for Nelson it also showed the importance for him of finishing high in each race on his way to hopefully claiming his first points championship at the end of August.

"It is very important to know that with all of the guys that run here throughout the year and do well that I am able to finish ahead of them it is a great feeling of accomplishment," Nelson said.

In other action Tim Gonska claimed his eighth win of the season in the Hobby Stock feature. His eight wins lead all classes of drivers. Aaron Johnson held off Billy Kendall III in the Modified feature and he won for the second time of the season, and extended his points lead over Shawn Fletcher to 12 and Justin Jones to 16.

Jacob Jordan and Jake Hagemann have a tight battle going on in the Sportmod class and Jordan crashed out early in the feature race. Hagemann was able to finish in third behind winner Brendon Yamry, who recorded his first career win, and Troy Jordan. Hagemann now leads Jacob Jordan by five points in the points race.

Zachery Schreder notched his second Sports Compact win of the season and Adam Prieve tallied his sixth win of the season in the Mod 4 feature and he now holds a 116 point lead in the points race.

The Outlaw Mini-Mods also made an appearance and Nathan Kilwine took the top spot.