It’s not clear whether the 944 Spec drivers knew it was going to be important to get things done early in the race, but that was what it looked liked from trackside. Fresh from his win in GTS1, Jason Stanley used pole position to his advantage. Stanley and second-place starter Shannon McCue posted lap times less than .500 seconds apart, so this wasn’t going to be a runaway. Shane Denney started third.
At the green flag, Stanley used strategy and fresh tires to leap out to a lead, one he would hold till the finish, was unfortunately under caution due to a wreck.
“Luckily I had a warm-up in the GTS race, so I was already ready to go,” Stanley said. “I knew the track conditions. I just had to get the car set up with some fuel and some tires. Based on the way start happened, we had the faster Spec3 cars right in front of us. I was able to get a really good start and get close with them in their dicing in the first couple of laps and draft off of them on the straightaways, which helped me improve my lap times. I wanted to stick with them, but not get in the middle of their race in case something happened, and just use their tow to pull me down the straightaways and set some good consistent times.
That left the duel of the race to Shannon McCue and Steve Brewster, who started from last due to a dyno infraction on Friday. The two swapped the lead in the laps leading up to the double yellow, when fate smiled upon Brewster, who was in second when the full-course caution came out.
“It was a terrific race between Shannon and me,” Brewster said. “We went back and forth a couple of times. I caught the double yellow at the right time, but we finished the race under double yellow, unfortunately. I caught him back on the hill and I got a good run through 4 and got around him again, so it was pretty exciting racing.”
Despite the less-than-exciting finish, third-place McCue was all smiles afterward.
“Steve and I had a great race,” McCue said. “We were back and forth the whole time. It seemed pretty even. I made a mistake, back in Turn 1, and he was right there and we were door to door going up the hill and the yellow flags came out and that was it.”
