Dan Frederickson won the Joe Shear Classic and then he lost it in technical inspection with Ty Majeski ultimately winning the second ASA STARS national Super Late Model series championship on Sunday at Madison International Speedway.
Frederickson was fastest in second practice on Saturday but grenaded an engine in that session, misfortune that necessitated an overnight swap and perhaps one that wasn’t as thoroughly executed as it might have been otherwise.
That’s because the violation was for an engine carburetor spacer, which was one inch instead of the half-inch permitted by ASA STARS. Per the rule book:
“Carburetor must be an unaltered 750 CFM 4779, 80528 Holley permitted. Carburetor must pass inspection at any time regardless of temperature. Maximum ½” carburetor spacer permitted on Chevrolet and Ford.”
As a result, Majeski inherited the win, his second in the event following a 2016 victory.
“I hate to win it this way, but it is great to win the race named after my Truck Series crew chief’s father,” Majeski said after learning he was declared the winner. “I am so happy to win this for Joe Jr. He always has some great stories about working with his father and that his dad taught him everything he knows today. It’s an honor win the race named after his father, who is a legendary short track driver.”
Complicating the engine change for Frederickson, no doubt, was that the ASA STARS rule book largely uses the 4bbl carburetor rules used by the Southern Super Series and Champion Racing Association as opposed to the 2bbl used by Midwest Tour.
Teams were permitted to use the 2bbl carb package but only with a weight penalty and only two teams ultimately chose to do that.
For those using the 2bbl rules package, the Midwest Tour rule is written as such:
“Carb Spacer: Spacers can be 1 1/2”max and bores must be circular and perpendicular to the base.”
So, depending on what kind of engine Frederick installed, that could be the complications that his team faced.
Majeski had lost a series of restart duels with Frederickson just ahead of Bubba Pollard, who is now credited with a runner-up finish. He had changed to a backup car after practice on Saturday but that car felt much like the other one did.
“We just wasn’t as bad yesterday as we thought we were,” Pollard said after the race. “We kept searching and working hard to get better. The other car was fine, thought we may be down on motor or something and something going on, but we didn’t, we weren’t that far off. We just kept working hard, plugging away and made some big swings in the last 40 minutes of practice, but really kept to our baseline all year. We got speed and ran in the top three about everywhere we go, and that is all you can ask for then the wins will come. It was a good day.”
ASA National Joe Shear Classic 200
Madison International Speedway
May 7 2023
Ty Majeski
Bubba Pollard
Gabe Sommers
Casey Roderick
Levon VanDerGeest
Gio Ruggerio
Albert Francis
Jacob Goede
Derek Kraus
Jonathan Eilen
Justin Mondeik
Bryan Syer-Keske
Steve Apel
Cole Butcher
Austin Nason
Jacob Gomes
Bobby Kendall
Michael Bilderback
John Denagelis
Jett Noland
Johnny Sauter
Paul Shafer
RJ Braun
Jeff Storm
Andrew Morrisey
Luke Fenhaus
Jordan Devoy
Dan Frederickson (DQ)
