Southwell Holds Off Phipps

Series leader Todd Southwell ended a six-race victory drought Saturday night with a wire-to-wire victory in the Lucas Oil Super Late Models race at Irwindale Speedway.

Andrew Phipps, who was making a bid for a fourth consecutive victory, was in second throughout the 75-lap race on the half-mile track, finishing 0.968 of a second behind Southwell.

Southwell had the second-fastest qualifying time behind Phipps, but started on the pole under the track’s inversion system. Phipps started second.

The race got off to a rough start. Phipps broke before the green flag and a restart was ordered. On the restart, a collision damaged the hood of the Stephen Peace’s car, but racing continued under a green flag. Peace remained in the race with the damaged hood, which was later removed, and finished 10th.

Jesse James, host of the Discovery Channel vehicle transformation series “Monster Garage,” won the Pick Your Part Figure 8 race after starting on the pole as the result of a random draw.

-- Steven Herbert