Michael Lewis Holds Off Dakoda Armstrong for All-Star National Midget Win at Anderson

The All-Star National Pavement Midget Series thrilled fans in its inaugural event at Anderson Speedway, with Michael Lewis taking the win after a late-race duel with Dakoda Armstrong.

Lewis led all 100 laps of the Pavement Midget feature, but that didn't lead to a leisurely cruise to victory. Mired in lapped traffic during the closing laps, Lewis fended off Armstrong in a tense battle on the tight quarter-mile for the win.

After a string of runner-up finishes, Lewis was hungry for a trip to victory lane. However, seeing Armstrong enter the fray put that win in doubt late.

"I've had four seconds in a row," said Lewis. "I saw that orange car, and I was like, dang. The lapped cars were having a race of their own, so you can't expect them to move. They were running so hard that I couldn't afford to really try anything.

"I was treading lightly to catch the lappers. There was really nowhere to go. When I saw Dakoa, I just had to try to be defensive as much as I could. I wasn't going to crash passing a lapped car. To beat Dakoda here, that's pretty unbelievable."

Even the closing laps were an emotional roller-coaster for Armstrong in his runner-up finish. First thinking he would not be able to challenge for the win while running low on fuel, even he was surprised to find himself with a last-gasp shot at the lead.

"First of all, I've got to congratulate him and thank him," said Armstrong. "He actually took care of my car all week for me. I think he probably helped me too much, because we were pretty good there.

"It just took us a while to get going through traffic. We kind of pushed it on fuel, just knowing we'd have to get trhough traffic. At the end there, I was starting to run out of fuel. With about 10 to go, I kind of gave up, just hoping we'd make it. We got in such traffic, I tried there at the end. It just wouldn't come off the corners. It was starting to stumble on me pretty bad."

Kyle Hamilton, the All-Star Pavement Midget Series winner at Lucas Oil Indianapolis Raceway Park in June, rounded out the podium in the event. While he battled some handling issues, Hamilton was thrilled to get a chance to race with the series at Anderson after this event was postponed due to weather from its original date in July.

"Unfortunately, got a little tight at the end. My brakes started to fade really bad. Once I realized what was going on, we just had to salvage what we could. It was great to run 100 laps here. I am glad we got to come to Anderson. When it first got rained out, I was bummed. It's always good to be on the podium."

Kyle O'Gara finished fourth, with Nathan Byrd rounding out the top five. Chase Locke, Jake Trainor, Chase Cabre, Joe Liguori and Kyle Steffens completed the top 10.

There was no shortage of star power in the 26-car field for Saturday's race. Other notables included Hailie Deegan, finishing 12th in her All-Star National Pavement Midget Series debut, and three-time World of Outlaws champion Sammy Swindell, who finished 17th.

-Photo credit: Anderson Speedway

All-Star National Pavement Midget Series 100 Unofficial Results