Wade Nygaard Rolls into 360 Knoxville Nationals on Three-Race Win Streak!

By Spieker Promotions

GRAND FORKS, N.D. (JULY 31, 2017) – If there’s a right time to peak, most teams would say it’s at the beginning of August for the Knoxville Nationals. For Wade Nygaard and the Auto Finance Super Center team, they are doing just that.

Last Friday night, Wade picked up his third consecutive NOSA win at River Cities Speedway and sixth win overall.

Wade led all 25 laps around the fast and tacky three-tenths mile clay oval, but heavy lapped traffic kept him from enjoying a comfortable advantage out front.

“There was a lot of lapped traffic and we were on them pretty quick. Sometimes it helps you and sometimes it doesn’t,” said Nygaard in victory lane. “I think I was getting by them pretty decent. A couple times I really had to lock it down in turn four because they would bounce through the ruts and I would have to slam on the brakes. I’m sure that’s when (Austin Pierce) was catching up.”

With Pierce hot on his heels in the last three laps, Wade had to muscle his No. 9N machine around the track to keep Pierce and Jordan Adams at bay. Tacky track conditions led to a choppy racing surface in certain parts of the track.

“Turn four was the worst I’ve seen it in years. You really had to hang on. That’s not good for an old guy like me. The car was really good in the rough stuff and turns one and two were pretty normal. It was fun,” Wade said.

On the final lap, Wade had a close call as a lapped car spun directly in front of him in turn two.

“I saw that they were headed towards the infield and I just thought, ‘Man, I hope there’s not a yellow.’ I knew I was going to miss her, but I was more worried that we would have to do another restart. Usually, there is a preferred line for the restarts, but tonight you had to start in the rough stuff to have the preferred line into turn one, or start in the smooth stuff out of turn four and be stuck on the bottom in turn one.”

With consecutive wins at Red River Valley Speedway, Devils Lake Speedway, and now River Cities Speedway to their credit, the Nygaard Motorsports team will head to Knoxville this weekend to compete at the 27th annual 360 Knoxville Nationals.

“We’re going to do well in the 360’s I think and hopefully we learn a lot during the 360’s to help us out in the 410 Nationals,” he said. “I’ve got a lot of buddies, who have a lot of experience around there, that are helping us out. This will be the first time I’ll have help like this down at Knoxville.”

In his last two previous starts at the 360 Knoxville Nationals, Wade transferred from the D-main to finish 14th in the C-main in 2009 and finished 22nd in the B-main in 2006. Wade has one 360 win on his 2017 résumé, which came at Cedar Lake Speedway with the UMSS Sprints.

Upcoming Events:
August 3-5: 27th annual 360 Knoxville Nationals – Lucas Oil ASCS Sprint Cars
August 9-12: 57th annual 5-Hour Energy Knoxville Nationals – World of Outlaws Craftsman Sprint Car Series

2017 Stats:
Races: 24
Wins: 6
Top Fives: 20
Top Tens: 21
Heat Wins: 6

Wade and the entire crew would like to thank all of their sponsors for their continued support including, Auto Finance Super Center, C&M Ford Sales, Inc, Valley Oral & Facial Surgery, Ground Round Grill & Bar-Grand Forks, ND, Tammy Howard, Greenberg Realty, Dahlstrom Motors Inc.,DeMer’s Stor-All, Superior Steering Wheels, Gary Paulson Farms, Energy Release, Northland Custom Woodworking, Bosh Enterprises!

📸 by Speedway Shots