Strand is Seitz Runner-up After Winning Fifth NLRA Series Championship

East Grand Forks, Minn. (Sept. 11, 2024) - Dustin Strand capped off a successful season at River Cities Speedway last weekend by winning the Howie Schill Memorial on Thursday night which clinched his fifth NLRA series championship. Strand went on to complete the weekend of the 18th annual John Seitz Memorial as the runner-up, pulling even on multiple occasions late in the 92-lap race.

Strand entered Thursday night at River Cities for the relocated Howie Schill Memorial ahead of Howie's son Cole by 54 points in the season-long NLRA points chase. After winning his heat race Strand started fourth in the 27-car feature field which was whittled down from the record breaking 60 entries to start the night.

Strand moved up to third and restarted in that spot following a lap two caution. Strand took the runner-up spot in the laps following the caution and remained within striking distance of race long leader Mike Greseth through the midway point of the 30-lapper.

A second caution with 11 to go cleared the way for the lead duo though Strand continued to stalk Greseth as the closing laps drew near. Coming to the two to go signal, Strand snuck underneath Greseth and took the lead at the flag stand. Strand led the final three circuits to score his ninth River Cities Late Model win of the season, 18th overall, and his fifth NLRA series championship.

Strand entered Friday night with a front row starting spot in his 15-lap qualifying heat race. With passing points being the way to get locked into the big show on Saturday night, Strand basically needed to win the heat to lock himself into the 92-lap finale.

Strand won his heat and made the top eight in points which gave him a redraw spot for the 20-lap 'Go Hard or Go Home' pole dash. Strand drew the six pill and passed two cars to earn a starting spot in the outside of the second row for Saturday night's main event.

Strand also finished as the runner-up in that night's Big Al Delaine Memorial Modified main event. Strand charged from seventh to second in that feature.

Strand remained in the fourth spot through the lap 32 fuel stop and remained inside the top five throughout the final 60 laps of the race.

Strand grabbed a podium spot as the final third of the race began after a three-car battle with Chad Becker and Aaron Turnbull in traffic. A series of cautions with a dozen or less laps left saw Strand and Turnbull swap the second spot on multiple occasions though Strand went on to take the spot for good following the final caution with seven to go.

Strand pulled even with Cole Searing a few times on the final restart but fell just short of the victory, finishing as the runner-up.

“We had a heck of a battle with Aaron [Turnbull] there for a while and all three of us were right together,” Strand said post-race. “I saw, on that last restart, Aaron had a pretty good run above Searing and thought “well that's my only prayer” and I stoked it in there and I got ahead of him a little down the straightaway, but I was just a little too free to run up there and once he found that he was gone, but that was a heck of a race.”

Thanks to all of our great sponsors who help get us here!
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2024 Stats (Late Model):
Races: 37
Wins: 18
Top 5’s: 29
Top 10’s: 31

2023 Stats (Modified):
Races: 10
Wins: 3
Top 5’s: 8
Top 10’s: 8