Bobby charged from fourth in the early going to win the $12,000-to-win World of Outlaws 40-lapper Thursday night at Spoon River (IL) Speedway. The victory is his 39th with the tour, tying him for sixth on the series’ all-time wins list.
Starting second and on a harder compound than most of the field, Bobby slipped to third at the launch and then to fourth within the first five laps as softer tires came to life. A lap-nine restart jump-started the climb: he reclaimed third, then swung to the top groove on lap 10 and began to roll.
By lap 13, Bobby powered to second down the backstretch, 1.3 seconds behind the leader. He erased that gap by lap 15 and fired sliders over the next two circuits, each time close but not quite clear. A lap-18 caution reset the deck, and Bobby kept the pressure on as the laps ticked away.
The race swung decisively on lap 26 when Bobby sent a slider into turn three to take the lead for good. He stretched the margin to 2.4 seconds by lap 31 before another yellow bunched the field. On the final restart, he eased away to take the checkers by two seconds.
“I love this racetrack, when it’s like that. I grew up racing here a lot. That’s the old Spoon River right there,” Bobby said. “There was a little bit on top, but you had to really hang your tire off the edge to get it. But it was there, and then you had the moisture line around the bottom. We definitely got them on tires tonight for sure. That helped a lot. I think I was really the only one out there on that harder tire. It worked out, but bad fast race car.”