Byron wins Slinger Nationals

With $20,000 on the line, the gloves came off July 12 during the WABAM Slinger Nationals at the Slinger Speedway as budding rivals Ty Majeski and Luke Fenhaus traded paint late in the 200-lap feature, allowing William Byron to slip by and claim the victory.

The intense battle for the lead between Majeski and Fenhaus with less than 15 laps to go found both cars sideways numerous times as Byron methodically worked the outside lane to try to pass both of them.

Byron scraped the wall twice himself, but it paid off with 13 laps to go when the Fenhaus and Majeski cars got out of shape enough to let the visiting NASCAR Cup Series star clear both for the lead. California standout Derek Thorn closed in to join the lead trio.

When Byron scooted out front, Fenhaus took second after the struggling Majeski cleared out following a shot from Thorn, who advanced into third.

In the final laps, Fenhaus closed in slightly on Byron but was unable to mount a serious challenge.

Fenhaus was second, followed by Thorn, Austin Nason and NASCAR Hall of Famer Matt Kenseth.

Florida’s Stephen Nasse was sixth, followed by Jeremy Lepak, Casey Johnson, Jeff Storm and Jacob Nottestad, who led the opening 88 laps.

“I’m out of breath, and I don’t think I’ve ever driven that hard. The guys did a great job at the halfway break as we were really loose in the first segment. Ty (Majeski) and Luke (Fenhaus) were doing such a good job on the bottom. I felt like they got a little bit checked up, and I was like I have to try the top and see if I can at least get to their door,” Byron said from victory lane.

“The first time I got there, I hit the wall a little bit and I actually caught the wall about six times. I was able to work the top in turns one and two and three and four was OK as long as I could get off turn four but man, that was fun.”

Fenhaus said it was a difficult race.

“It was tough. We were just beating and banging for 100 laps. It sucks we raced Ty (Majeski) like that, but he would have done the same thing for $20,000 and I think he would’ve got me back if Thorn wouldn’t have pushed him out of the way. That kind of saved me and got me out to second, and then we just had to finish the race.”

“We just survived,” Thorn said. “We were able to come on there at the end and had good speed. We unfortunately couldn’t chase the leaders down but at least we had a fighting chance.”

“It is what it is,” Majeski said after leading a race-high 97 laps before his battle with Fenhaus. “Luke (Fenhaus) has a ton of talent and he will win a lot of races. He had the best car, and I thought if he would have played his cards right he would’ve won the race, but he didn’t.”