Bobby kicked off the Gateway Dirt Nationals in dominant fashion Thursday night, earning a $10,000 victory on the tight 1/5-mile temporary oval built inside The Dome at America’s Center. Bobby started on the pole and led 21 of 25 laps to secure the win and set the tone for the weekend.
Bobby’s front-row starting spot came thanks to his crew’s stellar performance earlier in the evening. Two members of the team posted the fastest time in the pit crew competition, changing the right-rear tire in 33 seconds, the quickest run among the six heat race winners.
When the green flag dropped, Bobby slipped back to second, but it didn’t take long for the “Smooth Operator” to reclaim control. Coming to the flag stand on lap four, Bobby built momentum off the top side and executed a clean slide job into turn one to take the lead.
From there, Bobby never looked back. Through multiple cautions and heavy lapped traffic, he maintained a comfortable advantage over the field, keeping his car smooth and stable around the tight indoor circuit. He led the rest of the way to capture his fifth Dome win of his career.
“I figured the top might have been the fastest lane,” Bobby said. “That bottom is so dang slick. And then the top eventually got slick too. But the lap before I did it (pass for the lead), I noticed that he wasn’t running all the way up on the cushion. And it was probably a matter of time before he found that line. So, I had to do it quickly and whether it was going to be the cleanest one or not to throw it in there. But it was pretty good. Good for here. This place is so tight. But as tight as it is, it has some good racing. And I feel like we had a pretty good car.
I got to give a huge thanks to my guys and that tire challenge there. It made things a ton easier. This win definitely goes out to those guys. They deserved it. All the hard work paid off, getting this car ready. Just an awesome start to the weekend.”