{"id":14666,"date":"2012-10-23T17:18:31","date_gmt":"2012-10-23T17:18:31","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/karnac.com\/flanews\/?p=14666"},"modified":"2012-10-23T17:18:31","modified_gmt":"2012-10-23T17:18:31","slug":"lanigan-looks-to-cap-spectacular-season-at-peak-motor-oil-world-of-outlaws-world-finals-presented-by-napa-auto-parts","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/karnac.com\/flanews\/front-page-news\/lanigan-looks-to-cap-spectacular-season-at-peak-motor-oil-world-of-outlaws-world-finals-presented-by-napa-auto-parts\/","title":{"rendered":"Lanigan Looks To Cap Spectacular Season At PEAK Motor Oil World of Outlaws World Finals Presented by NAPA Auto Parts"},"content":{"rendered":"

Presumptive 2012 World of Outlaws Late Model Series Champ Has Never Won At The Dirt Track At Charlotte<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

\"\"CONCORD, NC \u2013 Oct. 22, 2012 \u2013 Darrell Lanigan has entered the PEAK Motor Oil World of Outlaws World Finals Presented by NAPA Auto Parts with the World of Outlaws Late Model Series championship already in his back pocket, and he\u2019s gone into the season-ending spectacular locked in a dramatic battle for the points title.<\/p>\n

Not surprisingly, the 42-year-old star from Union, Ky., prefers the decidedly less-stressful first option, which happens to be the way he\u2019ll go racing in this year\u2019s PEAK World Finals Presented by NAPA on Nov. 1-3 at The Dirt Track at Charlotte. Thanks to his record-breaking 2012 campaign, he\u2019ll clinch his second career WoO LMS crown when he drives through the pit gate of the four-tenths-mile oval.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a lot less pressure on a guy to go down there and not have to worry about where he finishes,\u201d said Lanigan, who cemented the 2008 WoO LMS championship by simply showing up for the PEAK World Finals Presented by NAPA and two years later lost the title to Josh Richards of Shinnston, W.Va., in a down-to-the-wire thriller. \u201cWe always go there to win the race, but being in a point race definitely gives you something else to think about. I\u2019m glad that this year the points are done so we can just go there to win the race.\u201d<\/p>\n

With Lanigan carrying a gargantuan 194-point lead over defending WoO LMS champion Rick Eckert of York, Pa., into the two 50-lap, $10,000-to-win A-Mains that comprise the full-fender portion of the PEAK World Finals Presented by NAPA, he has no need to count points. His entire focus will be on winning at The Dirt Track \u2013 something he\u2019s never done in 18 career starts there.<\/p>\n

Lanigan\u2019s best finish at The Dirt Track is third, in both the 2007 World of Outlaws Late Model Showdown and the finale of the 2010 PEAK World Finals Presented by NAPA, the latter a race that saw him charge forward from the 21st<\/sup> starting spot but fall four points shy of stealing that year\u2019s WoO LMS title from Richards. His Charlotte history also shows three fourth-place finishes (both ends of the \u201909 World Finals, WF opener in \u201910) and two fifth-place runs (finale of \u201907 World Finals, \u201812 WoO LM Showdown on Oct. 10), and he was in contention to win the 2008 Colossal 100 until a broken rearend knocked him from the runner-up spot with 10 laps remaining.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t know what our problem has been there,\u201d Lanigan said of The Dirt Track. \u201cWe run pretty decent there, and we\u2019ve finished in the top five quite a bit, but we just haven\u2019t been able to get our program right for early in the night at that place for some reason. It seems like we get ourselves behind too much there and have too much to overcome in the feature.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have been working this week on some stuff to try and get better there and we\u2019ll see what happens. Finally getting a win at Charlotte would definitely be a great way to cap the season off.\u201d<\/p>\n

And make no mistake \u2013 it has been an unforgettable season for Lanigan. He\u2019s literally rewritten the WoO LMS record book, setting new standards for A-Main wins in a single season (15), alltime victories (now at 41) and consecutive triumphs (six straight in one sizzling July-August stretch). He also won an unprecedented three 100-lap World of Outlaws events this year, capturing the Jackpot 100 at West Virginia\u2019s Tyler County Speedway, the USA Nationals at Wisconsin\u2019s Cedar Lake Speedway and the Down & Dirty 100 at Michigan\u2019s Berlin Raceway.<\/p>\n

Lanigan\u2019s 2012 WoO LMS statistics simply boggle the mind. Consider just a sampling of what he\u2019s accomplished:<\/p>\n

* His 15 wins have come at 15 different tracks \u2013 ranging in size from a quarter-mile to a half-mile \u2013 in 12 states and one Canadian province.<\/p>\n

* His win percentage after 38 A-Mains sits just shy of 40 percent, at .395. No other regular in the national tour\u2019s modern era (2004-present) has put up a win percentage of even 30 percent. (Richards\u2019s .281 percentage in 2011 ranks second to Lanigan.)<\/p>\n

* He has an astounding 31 top-five finishes (15 wins, four seconds, six thirds, three fourths and three fifths) and 35 top-10s in 38 A-Mains. Eckert ranks second in both categories with 19 top-five and 33 top-10 finishes.<\/p>\n

* He is tied with Eckert for most fast-time honors (five) and tops the list of heat-race winners (16).<\/p>\n

* He\u2019s swept a program \u2013 fast time, heat win and A-Main victory \u2013 three times: Feb. 10-11 at Georgia\u2019s Screven Motor Speedway; June 17 at Eriez Speedway in Hammett, Pa.; and July 14 at North Central Speedway in Brainerd, Minn.<\/p>\n

* He will become the first driver in the tour\u2019s modern era to lead the points standings from start to finish and he\u2019s in position to surpass his own 2008 record for largest points margin by a champion (160 points).<\/p>\n

* He has led 623 of this season\u2019s 2,115 A-Main laps. Tim McCreadie of Watertown, N.Y., sits second on the list with 163 laps led.<\/p>\n

* He has just two DNFs this season (14th<\/sup> place on April 27 at North Alabama Speedway due to damage sustained in a tangle and 18th<\/sup> place on July 10 at South Dakota\u2019s Black Hills Speedway due to an overheated engine), and on only one occasion was he lapped during an A-Main (Aug. 18 at Michigan\u2019s Merritt Raceway).<\/p>\n

* He has failed to qualify through a heat race just three times and used two provisional starting spots.<\/p>\n

* His WoO LMS earnings currently sit at $318,400 \u2013 a superlative $8,378.95 per race! \u2013 and, with the inclusion of his $100,000 champion\u2019s check, could top $430,000.<\/p>\n

What\u2019s more, even with the title secured and so many records already established, Lanigan can make some more history during the PEAK World Finals Presented by NAPA. He will bid to become the first driver to sweep both of the weekend\u2019s WoO LMS A-Mains and join Richards as just the second World of Outlaws regular to capture a World Finals feature event since its birth in 2007.<\/p>\n

\u201cI didn\u2019t realize Josh (in \u201908) is the only Outlaw guy to win (during the World Finals),\u201d said Lanigan. \u201cI guess that shows how tough the competition is. There are a lot of good cars down there \u2013 that race draws one of the best fields you\u2019ll see anywhere all year. When you win (a World Finals A-Main), you\u2019ve done something.\u201d<\/p>\n

Stationed behind the wheel of his familiar Cornett-powered Rocket car, Lanigan figures to be the driver to watch during the PEAK World Finals Presented by NAPA. Just think of the cherry he could put on top of his 2012 season if he\u2019s able to win the season-ending A-Main on Saturday night (Nov. 3) before a standing-room-only crowd and a national television audience watching on SPEED.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt would be nice to have the stage by yourself,\u201d Lanigan said when asked about the prospect of concluding the weekend by holding the championship and<\/em> race-winner\u2019s trophies. \u201cI\u2019d love to end the year like that, but if it don\u2019t happen that way it\u2019s no big deal. We\u2019ll still get to celebrate a championship and we\u2019ll still have had an unbelievable year.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe work extremely hard on our program and it definitely paid off this year. We know that we\u2019ve earned what we got this year. You gotta work hard to make it happen.\u201d<\/p>\n

The PEAK Motor Oil World of Outlaws World Finals presented by NAPA Auto Parts begin on Thurs., Nov. 1, with the big Qualifying Night featuring two rounds of WoO Late Model and Sprint Car time trials and two sets of Super DIRTcar Series big-block Modified heats. Each division\u2019s first round of qualifying will apply to Friday\u2019s program and the second round to Saturday\u2019s racing card.<\/p>\n

The Late Models and Sprint Cars will compete in full programs (heats, Last Chance Races, A-Mains) on both Fri., Nov. 2, and Sat., Nov. 3, while the big-block Modifieds will contest Last Chance Races and 40-lap features each evening.<\/p>\n

Racing action is scheduled to get the green flag at 6:05 p.m. on Thurs., Nov. 1, and 5 p.m. on Fri., Nov. 2, and Sat., Nov. 3.<\/p>\n

Tickets for the Peak World Finals Presented by NAPA can be obtained by logging on to www.charlottemotorspeedway.com<\/a> or calling 1-800-455-FANS. Three-day packages are available for the bargain price of $69 and $24 for children 13-and-under.<\/p>\n

For more information on the WoO LMS, visit www.worldofoutlaws.com<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Fans can also follow the WoO LMS on Twitter at Twitter.com\/WoOLateModels <\/a>and Facebook at Facebook.com\/WorldofOutlaws <\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Presumptive 2012 World of Outlaws Late Model Series Champ Has Never Won At The Dirt Track At Charlotte CONCORD, NC \u2013 Oct. 22, 2012 \u2013 […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"publish_to_discourse":"","publish_post_category":"","wpdc_auto_publish_overridden":"","wpdc_topic_tags":"","wpdc_pin_topic":"","wpdc_pin_until":"","discourse_post_id":"","discourse_permalink":"","wpdc_publishing_response":"","wpdc_publishing_error":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[22,3,59],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-14666","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-featured","category-front-page-news","category-lucas-oil-late-model-dirt-series"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/karnac.com\/flanews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14666","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/karnac.com\/flanews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/karnac.com\/flanews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/karnac.com\/flanews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/karnac.com\/flanews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=14666"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/karnac.com\/flanews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14666\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":14668,"href":"https:\/\/karnac.com\/flanews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14666\/revisions\/14668"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/karnac.com\/flanews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=14666"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/karnac.com\/flanews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=14666"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/karnac.com\/flanews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=14666"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}