Wade Nygaard Picks Up Top 10 at S.D. Sprint Car Nationals

Friday served as a preliminary night with two sets of heat races determining the top 16 in passing points and locking those drivers into Saturday night’s A-main. Nygaard not only moved forward in both heats, he picked up his first heat win of the season in his second heat.

“We were lucky to go forward in both of our heats,” said Nygaard. “The track was kind of hard to get a hold of and passing was a hard thing to do. Goal number one was to get enough passing points to get locked into the feature and we achieved that.”

Wade tied for fourth in passing points out of the 37 Sprints in action at the completion of night one. However, the tie breaker went to Jack Dover, which put Nygaard inside of the third row in the fifth starting position for the 30-lap main event.

After A-main hot laps, Nygaard was content with the set up and confident heading into the big show.

“We didn’t change anything on the car except the tires,” he explained. “Unfortunately, sometimes the tires grow and shrink the wrong way and they went the wrong way for us. On the get go of the feature, you had to roll through the corner pretty well but the car wasn’t able to do that. I tried searching for another line before the rubber laid down and each time I searched around the track, I’d lose a spot or two. The rubber laid down pretty quick and once that happened, we got in line and it was over.”

Wade took the checkers in the 10th position to mark his first top 10 of 2018.

The tentative plan for this weekend will be a two-night swing at I-80 Speedway in Greenwood, Neb. on Friday with the Carpetland Nebraska 360 Sprint Series presented by Malvern Bank and Knoxville Raceway on Saturday with the 360.

“I-80 is one of the favorite tracks, actually,” said Nygaard, who recorded a top five finish at the four-tenths mile clay oval. “We do pretty well there usually. It’s a nice facility and it’s always pretty racey. As far as Knoxville, we are still chasing the set up. I’ve been talking with a few people trying to get us going in the right direction. Hopefully it works out for us and we can get something somewhat comfortable and competitive.”

2018 Stats:
Race: 4
Wins: 0
Top Fives: 0
Top Tens: 1
Heat Wins: 1

Wade and the entire crew would like to thank their great sponsors for their continued support!
Auto Finance Super Center
C&M Ford Sales, Inc
Valley Oral & Facial Surgery
Ground Round Grill & Bar-Grand Forks, ND
Dakota Cat
Tammy Howard, Greenberg Realty
Superior Steering Wheels
Energy Release
Northland Custom Woodworking
Bosh Enterprises
Rider Racing Engines
J&J Auto Racing

📸 by Speedway Shots