CASEY JOHNSON SCORES A POPULAR SLINGER NATIONALS VICTORY

Slinger, Wis., July 14—The 47^th running of the Cobblestone Hotels Slinger Nationals presented by Lynch of West Bend provided plenty of drama and excitement Tuesday night at the Slinger Speedway before Wisconsin racer Casey Johnson prevailed to capture his first Slinger Nationals title and the biggest victory of his career.

The 200-lap main event featured some of the best super late model racers in the country taking on the Slinger high banks on a scorching night under record setting temperatures. The heat outside intensified the action on the track as a series of chaotic events in the closing laps left Johnson in the right place at the right time to edge Austin Nason and Richard Childress Racing NASCAR prospect Carson Brown at the checkered flag.

“We had a decent car and could run top ten all day and I knew if I could keep the car clean we could do something at the end, “Johnson said afterwards, “I’ve been in this race so many times and seen it won by the guy that was not supposed to win it and I’m not going to lie, I probably should not have won tonight.”

After early leader, Derek Kraus gave way to Luke Fenhaus just after fifty laps in, defending Nationals champion Ty Majeski took command of the event just before the halfway break looked poised to be the first repeat winner since Matt Kenseth accomplished the feat in 2009. However, in the waning laps, Gabe Sommers and Carson Brown began to track Majeski down and were in the leader’s tire tracks with five laps to go. Sommers tagged Majeski’s rear bumper exiting turn four and charged into the lead as Majeski’s car kicked wide but when Sommer’s machine slid wide in turn two, Brown drove by both of them and into the lead. However, when the trio came through turn four, Sommers slid wide and when Majeski filled the inside space, he and Sommers made contact and both cars spun off the corner to draw the caution flag. Brown found himself alongside Andrew Morrissey for the restart and after an aborted start, the front row cars got together as they came to the green flag, sending Morrisey scraping against the frontstretch wall. Morrisey quickly dove to the inside of Brown exiting turn two but when Brown defended, Morrisey’s right front launched over Brown’s left rear and the caution flag waved once again. Morrisey’s car suffered severe damage and stopped in the infield and while Brown kept going, his car had significant damage with his right front fender flailing as he maintained his position. That left Casey Johnson as the next driver to challenge Brown on the front row and he used the outside lane to drive around Brown on the restart as Austin Nason moved up to battle Brown for second. Johnson maintained the lead over the final three laps and drove to the victory as Nason edged Brown for second. Jesse Bernhagen made the starting field by winning the qualifying race and he turned the opportunity into a strong fourth place finish while Derek Thorn notched another top five Slinger Nationals finish by taking the checkered flag in fifth. Brad Mueller finished seventh followed by Jordan DeVoy and Dennis Prunty in eighth and ninth respectively. Andrew Morrisey finished tenth ahead of Alex Prunty in eleventh and Kody King in twelfth. Ty Majeski led the most laps but was credited with a thirteenth-place finish after the incident with Gabe Sommers who finished fourteenth. Luke Fenhaus finished fifteenth. Majeski, Fenhaus, and Derek Kraus collected a majority of the over $20,000 raised in Lap Leader bonus money awarded to drivers that led laps in the race. Other notable finishers in the race included Stephen Nasse in sixteenth, Tristan McKee in seventeenth, Rich Bickle in nineteenth and NASCAR Cup Series star Carson Hocevar who finished twenty second after suffering mechanical problems.

Jesse Bernhagen won the 30-lap qualifying race to make the starting field along with Jordan DeVoy, Ryan Farrell, and Steve Apel who finished second through fourth respectively. Gabe Sommers turned in a qualifying lap of 11.138 seconds to take top honors among the 35 super late model drivers entered.

Zach Prunty won the 40-lap Uptown Motor Cars late model feature over Evan Hassler and Ryan Gutknecht. Tyler Hromadka finished fourth and Jacob Vanoskey was fifth. Tom Berens finished sixth followed by Jon Reynolds Jr in seventh and Ryan Weyer was eighth. Josh Nelms and Josh Thiering completed the top ten in ninth and tenth. Zack Riddle was the fastest qualifier with a lap time of 11.870 seconds.

Monday evening’s preliminary action featured the inaugural Slinger Nationals Bracket Challenge where the top 32 drivers squared off in bracket seeds to set the qualifying order for Tuesday’s Slinger Nationals. The overall winner of the bracket received $5,000 and a guaranteed starting spot in the Slinger Nationals main event. Carson Brown won the Bracket Challenge with a head-turning lap time of 11.003 seconds while Ty Majeski, Luke Fenhaus, and Penn Sauter rounded out the final four drivers.

Derek Kraus won the Turn One CRA Pro Series Fire Suppression Solutions 100-lap race to wrap up Monday evening’s racing action. 2025 Slinger late model champion Jayden Johnson finished second followed by Tyler Lupton in third and Chase Pinsonneault in fourth and Albert Francis in fifth.

The Prelude to the Nationals kicked off the Nationals festivities on Sunday night with the Midwest Truck Series headlining the evening as James Swan drove to victory in the 50-lap main event. Eugene Gregorich III finished second and Kevin Knuese took the checkered flag in third. Grant Griesbach was fourth and Jeff Holtz finished fifth. Nick Quinnell won the Midwest Truck Series qualifying heat while the even heat was won by Laney Osbourne and James Swan won the odd heat race. Grant Griesbach was the fastest qualifier after turning in a time of 12.153 seconds.

A $1,000 bounty was offered to any driver in the Raceway Bar and Grill 602 Crater division who could beat John DeAngelis in the main event and it didn’t take long for the money to be collected as Tanner Berge won the 30-lap feature over DeAngelis. Dan Thomson finished third followed by Nick Schneider in fourth and Danny Church in fifth. Michael Lange won the 602 Crater heat race and John DeAngelis set fast time with a lap time of 12.158 seconds.

Mason Wilcott won the 25-lap Finish Line Bar and Grill Slinger Bees feature over Carl Benn and Owen Benn. Todd Snow and Ricky Gebhard rounded out the top five finishers. Brandon Tackes and Marty Tackes each won a Slinger Bees heat race while Carl Benn was the fastest qualifier with a lap time of 15.006 seconds.

Bobby Frisch was the winner of the 189 Customs Crown Vic main event over Ethan Degner. Eddie Dabroski finished third ahead of Elliott Rehm in fourth and Mathew Rose in fifth. Ethan Degner and Eddie Dabroski were the winners of the Crown Vic heat races.

Ryan Lovald beat Shane Becker and Craig Krueger to win the Raceway Bar and Grill Figure 8 main event. Rick Bruskiewicz was fourth and Donald Van Camp was fifth.