3/23/2024
Five Flags Speedway
Oh Boy-ett! Pensacola Driver Makes Triumphant Return with Outlaws Win
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Oh Boy-ett! Pensacola Driver Makes Triumphant Return with Outlaws Win to Start Big Weekend, ’24 Season
By Chuck Corder
5flagsspeedway.com reporter
Welcome back, race fans. And, to the point, welcome back, Logan Boyett.
Injuries and other setbacks sidelined the veteran in 2023 at Five Flags Speedway. Boyett announced his return with authority Friday night.
The Pensacola veteran driver, of multiple divisions at Five Flags, dominated the Faith Chapel Outlaws 35-lap feature to christen the 2024 season and Night 1 of The Big Weekend.
“I was able to drive it and make it turn a little bit,” Boyett said. “We struggled today. The car was the tightest it has ever been.”
The three days of racing continues today when the Story and Bleich Crown Stocks open their season ahead of tonight’s nightcap with the ARCA Menards Series East Pensacola 150. It all sets the stage for the Pensacola 200 on Sunday when the ASA STARS National Tour returns to the famed half-mile asphalt oval.
Boyett has already enjoyed a big weekend. He led by more than a straightaway for most of the 35 lapper and took the checkered flag with a 6.5-second lead against runner-up Gary Goodwin. Outlaws Snowball Derby champion Derrick Griffin finished third.
One-by-one, Boyett went up and down Victory Lane, shaking hands with Goodwin, Griffin and their respective teams. It’s easy to see his time away has given Boyett a deeper appreciation for the sport he loves.
“I was nervous I was not going to be able to do it anymore,” Boyett said in a refreshing moment of candor.
Boyett took a violent hit last spring at a race in North Carolina.
“I got put into a wall last year, and I haven’t been right since,” he said. “But I’ve been getting better the last couple of months.”
Boyett looked as if he hadn’t missed a second Friday night. Already sporty in the opening laps, he took the lead following a restart with three laps complete and never looked back.
Boyett continued to pound pavement and pad his lead to wider margins as the laps ticked away. Everybody else was racing for second.
That honor Friday belonged to Goodwin, a journeyman driver whose runner-up was his best career Outlaws finish at Five Flags.
“This is my first time to make it to the podium,” he said. “I’m very proud of all my team who helps me with the car.”
*The Dock on Pensacola Beach Sportsmen
James Patrick picked up where he left off in 2023.
The Mobile driver won the last two The Dock on Pensacola Beach Sportsmen features of the year at Five Flags Speedway, including the Sportsmen race at the Snowball Derby.
Patrick made it three Sportsmen features in a row Friday night, winning the 25-lap feature in a thrilling duel with fellow Alabama driver B.J. Leytham as the three-day Big Weekend got underway. Despite winning flag-to-flag, Patrick had to withstand numerous battles from Leytham, Brannon Fowler and Darryl McDonald III.
Leytham scraped the wall but managed to finish second while Maddox Langham was third in his first defense of last season’s track title.
“I saw B.J. get into the wall,” Patrick said. “I think he had the faster car, the better car tonight. But there’s not a day that goes past that I’m not in the garage doing something to (the car). We’ll see how it works out the rest of the year.”
Leytham swiped second from Fowler on the opening lap. The four-time Sportsmen track champion tried to reclaim it from Leytham, but the handling of Fowler’s famed, white No. 00 was uncharacteristically off Friday.
“I was pretty even with James, but I over drove it and got into the wall,” Leytham said. “Everybody works so hard on all these cars.”
Langham rounded out the podium despite having some major mechanical issues with his No. 1.
“I felt like we had a hot rod,” he said. “I felt like we could get up there with James and B.J. But on Lap 15, it kept popping outta gear.”
Lloyd’s Glass Pure Stocks
Maddox Langham went from being flat-out exhausted to utter jubilation in less than a half hour.
That’s what a trip to Victory Lane to close opening night Friday at Five Flags Speedway. He began the evening with a third-place result in defense of last year’s The Dock on Pensacola Beach Sportsmen track championship. The Irvington, Ala., driver climbed into the No. 97 of defending Lloyd’s Glass Pure Stocks track champion Robert Barber and captured the 20-lap feature as The Big Weekend opened at Five Flags.
Mason Johnston finished runner-up and Ben Cranford rounded out the podium.
“I wanted to see how I stacked up with these guys,” Langham said, explaining the events that had him driving Barber’s ride Friday. “I was scared at the end. Mason was coming up quick. But I got it done.”
He topped a six-car field that saw two cautions, including one with two laps left that added a bit of intrigue. Johnston took a peek under Langham as they dove into Turn No. 1 following the restart with 18 laps complete.
Langham was able to keep him at bay, narrowly edging Johnston at the flag stand. He pulled himself out the window and slapped the roof ferociously.
“He always taught me clean racing is better than wrecking and win,” Johnston said of his grandfather and longtime racer Okie Mason. “I feel like we would’ve had our shot with a couple more laps. The car was good; it just won’t restart. But, man, it was quick once we got two or three laps in.
“Coming from the back to the front was a lotta fun. I’d do it again in the next race if they’d let me.”
Article Credit: Chuck Corder
