Strand scores runner-up at River Cities before NLRA tripleheader weekend

By Spieker Promotions

EAST GRAND FORKS, Minn. (June 22, 2021) – Dustin Strand raced just once last week, and nearly picked up another feature win as he scored a runner-up finish on Friday night at River Cities Speedway.

Strand started his night last Friday at River Cities with a third place run in his heat race, after starting fifth. This earned Strand the eighth starting spot for the 20 lap main event.
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Strand started moving forward from the drop of the green, improving into the top five by the completion of the third trip around the Bullring.

Strand continued his march forward, taking the runner-up spot on lap number eight, where he remained for the duration of the race, though he was close to taking the lead multiple times in lapped traffic.

Strand chased down race-long leader Brandon Fuller in traffic shortly after the halfway point. The driver of the Carr’s Grain Service / Naastad Acres No. 71 continued to shadow Fuller for the lead until the final caution with two laps to go. On the restart, Strand slid Fuller to momentarily take the lead, but just as he did, third-place runner Joey Pederson snuck underneath both him and Fuller. Strand gave chase to Pederson on the final lap, but took the checkers in second. 

Strand commented on his chances at the victory post-race saying, “Fuller was doing a really good job and I knew he was going to have to screw up for me to get by him. After that last yellow, I went in and hooked a rut wrong, and Joey snuck by both of us. You never know on those late race restarts. For a split minute there I thought we were gonna get it done, but we had to settle for second.”

Strand and the 71 crew will switch their focus to a three-race NLRA weekend starting Thursday night at Norman County Raceway in Ada, MN. The series will continue on to the Devils Lake Speedway on Saturday night, before ending the weekend on Sunday at River Cities during the Greater Grand Forks Fair.

“I really enjoy racing Ada,” Strand said about the weekend. “We haven’t had as much of a chance to race there over the last few years, but I’m really excited to run there. We’re looking forward to getting back to Devils Lake too, because we always have a lot of family and friends out that way, and it’s fairly close to home.” 
The four-time and defending NLRA series champion sits fifth in the standing heading into the weekend, but Strand isn’t worried about the points battle. “We’ll see how the cards stack up at the end of the year,” he said. “We had a few bad nights that put us behind the eight-ball at the beginning of the year. We’re not too wound up in the points deal right now, so we’ll see how things go.”

Dustin and the entire Strand Racing team would like to thank all of their sponsors for their continued support!

Walhalla Building Center, Carr's Grain Service, Keewatin Truck Service, Bemidji Welders Supply, Generations Salon, Q&Z Plumbing, Millenium Chassis, Naastad Acres, Double Deuce Bar & Grill, Shocks by Hammer, Forest Flying Service, Bemidji Marine, Shocker Hitch, Gorsuch Performance Solutions, Bob's Truck Accessories, Flagstaff Nissan Subaru, RHR Swag, Novacek Honey Farms, Wehrs Machine, Energy Release and Matt's Mobile Wash.

​Latest Results:
June 18th: River Cities Speedway
Late Model
Heat: 3rd
Feature: 2nd

2021 Stats:
Late Model:
Races: 10
Wins: 2
Top Fives: 6
Top Tens: 8
 
Modified:
Races: 7
Wins: 3
Top Fives: 5
Top Tens: 7
 
Midwest Mod:
Races: 1
Wins: 0
Top Fives: 1
Top Tens: 1