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LEGENDS YOUNG LIONS: DYLAN PRESNELL IS CHAMPION WITH 4 WINS!

Dylan Pressnell was on a mission during the 2008 Winternationals: win and win big. That is exactly what he did during the first four rounds in the Young Lions division, taking all four victories and locking himself in as the champion with one race yet to go.

Since he had the title locked up, the final race he moved to Semi-Pro, where he finished fourth. That allowed another driver to take the Young Lions victory, and that was Austin Leitner, who scored his first career Legends win.

Nick Stroupe, Bryce Walker and Ronnie Bassett all ran strong during the Winternationals, which gave them second through fouth respectively in the points chase.

YOUNG LIONS: DYLAN PRESNELL CLOSES OUT WINTER HEAT WITH FOUR VICTORIES

The 2007/2008 Winter Heat Series for the Young Lions saw a dominate performance from Jimmy Heavlow, who ended the eight-race season with four wins, two seconds, a third and a fourth-place finish.  The only other driver to come close to a stellar record was Dylan Presnell, who entered Saturday’s final event with three wins.  Presnell capped off his season tying Heavlow in the victory column by winning the eighth race of the series.

DyEarly on, Presnell had pressure on his back bumper by Ronnie “The Rock” Bassett, Jr.  Late in the race though, it was lapped cars that caused some of the havoc on the track.

“At first I had ‘The Rock’ right on my back bumper,” said Presnell.  “I was scared he was going to spin me out, but he didn’t.  Then Truex (Ryan Truex) got around him, so I wasn’t as worried.  Towards the end I was pulling away from them.

“The lapped cars that were spinning out came back on the track and cut down right in front of us, so it was a little difficult getting around them, but it ended up ok.”

Truex, who had finished second in the last three attempts he has made in the Winter Heat, once again had to finish second, this time to Presnell.
“In practice today I was junk, so to get second is a lot better than I thought I was going to get,” said Truex.  “The #04 (Bassett) raced me clean.  I just wish I had something for the #83 (Presnell).  I had him for a little while. I was right on him and a lapped car got in the way.  There is nothing you can do about it.”

Truex was a little upset over the lapped cars, feeling his chances were taken away to get to Presnell because of them.

“A couple of them try to race you like they are the leaders,” said Treux.  “They are slow and shouldn’t even be out there.  If you spin out four times you should be black flagged and shouldn’t even be out there.  It is stupid.”

For Presnell, ending the Winter Heat Series season with a victory was extremely satisfying.

“It is awesome,” said Presnell.  “I love this track and I am just glad I got one at the end of the year.”

ing into this weekend’s Winter Heat double at Lowe’s Motor Speedway, Jimmy Heavlow served notice he was looking to sweep the road course events for the Young Lions division in the series. With the first two under his belt, Heavlow looked like a lock for the four-race sweep, but pressure from behind caused him to drive off track in the final road course event, blowing his chance to be undefeated.

Dylan Presnell took the final road course victory in Winter Heat competition this season. (LN Photo)
Saturday the sweep looked good for Heavlow. His #3 Legends Car was stout, even in the wet.

“It was a pretty gnarly race,” said Heavlow. “This time for the for the heat races I guess they decided to run our whole class. Our first heat race it was pretty wet so we decided to put rain tires on and I think that gave me a big advantage and helped me come up through the field. I won that one. In the second one we came up to second. The track was kind of wet and just didn’t have enough time.

“In the feature it was really wet. We left our rain tires on and the car was just all over the place. You just had to be so smooth with your right foot and luckily I did that and I started to pull away. I kept my momentum up and took it home.”
Sunday Heavlow wasn’t able to get a huge lead on the field as Dylan Presnell and Ryan Truex closed in late in the race. With just a few laps remaining, Heavlow blew the chicane, driving straight through, forcing a position penalty by the officials.

“I was hoping for the win,” said Heavlow. “It’s the hardest thing to do is to lead. I guess I came in there too hot and locked my front breaks up. I missed the chicane; just pushed straight. I thought you only had to give back room but they (the officials) made us get back two spots. My car was just really loose. I did the best I could for today.”

Presnell’s pressure on Heavlow paid off, giving him his first road course career victory in the Young Lions division.

“I was second right behind him (Heavlow) and he ended up running through the chicane so I got around him,” said Presnell. “I was just so happy to see the checkered flag. It’s awesome. We haven’t been running good here at the road course. This is my first road course win. This is just awesome.”

Rockingham, NC. (Jan. 13, 2008) – Race weekend number two of the 2008 season is over at Rockingham Speedway and seven new winners from the INEX sanctioned Legend, Bandolero and Thunder Roadster divisions have been added to the track’s wall of winners on the rockinghammotorsportspark.com website. They will join the nine winners from last week, including two repeat winners, Christian Pahud and Thomas VanWingerden. Sixty-five drivers from all over the country were on hand for the event. Read full article

Dylan wins the first race of the Winter Heat Series: Young Lions Division at Lowe's Motor Speedway in Charlotte, NC.

Stewart Cooper, crew chief of Braun Racing's #38 Great Clips NASCAR Busch Series car, and Greg Purkey of Purkey Motorsports in Concord, NC., congratulate Dylan as he climbs from his racecar after taking the checkered flag and winning the race. This was the first race of an 8-race series called The Winter Heat, held at the 1/5 mile track at Lowe's Motor Speedway in Charlotte, NC.

Dylan Presnell Drives to Victory in Fifth Legends Race Start.

SEVIERVILLE, TENN. – After a long winter’s wait, 12-year-old Dylan Presnell finally had the birthday that let him start racing his Legends car. Only five races into the new season, he scored his first win in the No. 83 Legends car.

After several years of racing in Bandoleros, the straight-As honor student rising seventh-grader planned to race in Lowe’s Motor Speedway’s Winter Heat series for Legends cars but insurance regulations prevented a move to the bigger, faster cars until after his twelfth birthday. That birthday came just in time for him to race in front of the vast crowd on Coca Cola 600 pole night at Lowe’s Motor Speedway. “I remember I got spun out again,” said Presnell. “They put you right to the back,” so he had a finish he doesn’t even try to remember. read full article