After a fifth place finish in April at the paved 3/8 mile Bullring at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, Chad Boat and team came into the Father’s Day weekend race with high expectations. It always seems to help the second time you can come back to a track and race, and Chad was up to the challenge.

With only limited practice, Chad rolled out to qualify and turned his best performance to date, qualifying third in the 25 truck field and was easily the fastest rookie driver. The top six qualifiers also race in the trophy dash, which Chad started third and finished fourth in the six lap “Dash for Cash”, which was won by fast qualifier and pole starter Lee Hatch.

Chad lined up on the inside of the second for the 75 lap main event. At the drop of the green flag the trucks raced side by side for several laps, with Chad racing on the inside of the #18 truck of Darrin Young. Young managed to squeeze by Chad at the end of lap three, and Chad settled into a rhythm in the fourth position and with his sights set on the top three trucks. With the top four trucks running nearly identical times, Chad looked to be running a smart, patient race as they passed the halfway mark. After a short yellow on lap 40, the field bunched up and Chad really appeared to be working well, pressuring the third place truck for the position. A spinning truck brought out another yellow on lap 44, and Chad appeared ready to make a charged for the finish.

While under the yellow on lap 46, Chad’s Billy Boat Performance Exhaust Dodge Dakota lost power for no apparent reason. Several attempts to restart the engine failed, and Chad was pushed to the pits with a failed distributor.

“It’s disappointing to drop out when we were running so well”, Chad said after the race. “I felt like my truck was just getting better and better, and I could see the leaders starting to get loose. My crew chief Randy Nelson gave me a great truck tonight. Hopefully we can go to Orange Show in two weeks and make up for this DNF.”