Faced with a car he called “almost a little too comfortable” over the first half of the race, Coons held off a charge from teammate Tracy Hines after a blistering tire and vibration nearly cost him the point, the same position he held for all 30 laps.

The blowout-turned-too-close-for-comfort race started on the first lap, when Coons – the outside polesitter – blasted past polesitter Mat Neely as the field dashed into Turn 1. By the end of the lap, Coons had established a seven-car margin, but that cushion was immediately eliminated on Lap 2, when the caution flew for debris on the main straightaway. It was the only caution for the event.

Coons reestablished his dominance on the next green flag, and opened up a half-straightaway lead by the end of the lap. He continued to distance himself and, after lapping cars as early as Lap 9, was ahead by more than a straightaway as the race neared the halfway point.

It was then – on Lap 14 – that the red flag was displayed for the only time during the evening for the Sprinters. Daron Clayton, known for his high-riding style, flipped going into Turn 2, stopping the field for approximately 10 minutes.

The break wasn’t one Coons wanted to see. He noticed a faint smell of rubber, and could vaguely feel the tire blistering.

And it didn’t get any better on the restart either. Now faced with a vibration, Coons was unable to garner the same lead he had over the first half of the race. Neely continued to stay within a second before Hines set his sights on the front.

The New Castle, Ind. native – scheduled to compete for the Hoffman Racing family mostly on pavement – began reeling in the leader. Hines dropped low in Turn 3 and slid in front of Neely to take second, and was within a handful of car lengths of Coons by Lap 26.

That margin continued to dwindle lap after lap, and by Lap 29, Hines had his nose on the Coons’s tail tank. The pair sat nose-to-tail on the white flag lap, and Hines made his last-ditch effort on the entrance to Turn 3.

He slid in front of Coons but drifted up enough to allow the Tucson, Ariz. native room to get back by, and Coons responded with a three-car length lead as the checkered flag flew.

It quickly got to Coons after the green flag was displayed for the final time that he needed to step on the throttle – hard – and when he saw Hines in second on the scoreboard, it was go time.

“I got a little vibration after the red flag and just was waiting until the tire blew, but it never did,” Coons said. “I glanced a the scoreboard and when I saw Tracy got into second, I knew I had to go. I was just counting the laps at the end there. I figured if Tracy got along side me, he would race me clean.”

The achievement was almost what Coons said big.

“This place has not been a good place for me in the past, but this is a big win for me, personally,” Coons said. “A lot of people have worked with me here, and I have it a little more figured out.

“Toward the end of last season, we changed our baseline setup, and that changed a lot of things. I wasn’t sure if they (Hoffmans) would have hired me back for this season, but I think they saw that I responded with the different setup, so that really helped.”

The win wasn’t just big for Coons either. It was the first time in the 70-plus-year history of racing for the Hoffman family that the team finished one-two.

Trailing Hines – in a similarly painted No. 69 entry – were Dave Darland, Jay Drake and Kevin Huntley. Drake’s fourth-place finish came after an accident in his heat race, forcing him to compete in the 12-lap semifeature, in which he took the victory.