Chad Hillier Pevely summary

Hillier Races Past Eight Cars at I-55 Raceway

PEVELY, MO (July 7) -- Kevin Gobrecht Rookie of the Year contender Chad Hillier drove the #5C DIRT Inc. Maxim into 13th place from inside the 11th row in Saturday's Harris 40 at I-55 Raceway.

Hillier moved past World of Outlaws veterans Craig Dollansky, Dion Hindi, Justin Henderson and Jason Sides during the opening lap and passed fellow rookies Jason Martin and Sam Hafertepe Jr. later en route to his 17th top-15 finish of the season.

"We didn't qualify all that great, but we caught a break in the heat race when something happened to (Terry) McCarl and we moved up to the third row," Hillier said. "We got into the first corner there and got into third (passing veterans Chad Kemenah and Justin Henderson) and just maintained it from there. That got us into the feature."

Hillier's 107.155 MPH qualifying lap was the 24th-fastest in the 30-car field. The only driver to win all three sprint car championships at Skagit Speedway finished third in the Third Heat Race.

"It took us a while to get going in the feature, but we dodged a few things and stayed out of trouble and managed to finish in the top 15," Hillier said. "We weren't great, but we were good. It was nice to get out of the heat race and not have to run the 'B.' It was a pretty good night. We ran a different car than we ran at Huset's, and it worked a lot better. It was more like the one we had earlier in the year. It was a lot more comfortable right from the start."

Hillier's strong run pushed him to within two points of Jeremy Campbell in their battle for 18th place in the World of Outlaws point standings.

Hillier is looking forward to Wednesday's Brad Doty Classic at Limaland Motorsports Park and this weekend's Knight Before the Kings Royal and Kings Royal races at historic Eldora Speedway. Saturday's $50,000-to-win Kings Royal will be telecast Sunday at noon EDT on ESPN2.

"Now we go to Limaland and the Kings Royal, which is usually exciting," Hillier said. "I've never been to Limaland before, so we'll see how that goes. Brad Doty is very good for the sport, so it will be good to honor him at the Limaland race. We've been to Eldora twice this year. Any time you go to a track, you want to learn from your mistakes and run better than the time before. Hopefully, we'll be better this time."

Hillier ran 10th in the "B" Feature at Eldora Speedway April 13th, then raced past eight cars on his way to a 17th-place finish in the main event at "The World's Fastest Half-Mile" June 2nd.

-credit: dirt-inc