Madera, CA

When the day began, no one would have guessed that Lance Tatro would be driving a racecar.. at least not this given day. The day had been planned as normal, meaning he would arrive at the track to help Lance Jackson with set up, or driving style or something like that.... and then for sure as the radio guy or spotter. But the day quickly turned when Lance Jackson took a spill and pulled his arm out of socket. 

After realizing the day was about to change, and luckily Tatro had brought his suit to hot lap Rodriquez's car, he quickly got in and tried to get adapted to a car he had never even sat in. "As much work as I have done on this car, I had never had to climb in it..." Said Tatro. 

After one hotlap session, Tatro said he realized that there was a ton of clarity between what Jackson was going through and what he was feeling in the car. However, with a familiar crew and common language between them all, Jon , Todd and Lance Jackson were able to help get the car close enough to be competitive.  

With a little time under the seat, Tatro got better and faster. Qualifying 3rd via some aggressive adjustments, and 2nd in the heat (coming from the back) and then winning the combination feature with the open sprint cars. Tatro took the lead from the green, besting Donnie Large Jr into turn 1. Then spent the next 15 laps battling AJ in what looked like 2015 all over again. According to Tatro, "I was in a car I have never driven and even talked to AJ earlier and told him that this wasn't about he and I all over again" but somehow when two old foes take the track at the same time, it seemed destiny. Both Tatro and AJ were clean, but the fans had to be loving it, as the two jostled until finally taking control in the later laps, and shortly after AJ exited with motor issues. Tatro stood strong even through 2 restarts against the higher powered Sprint cars and went on to win the combined event.