By NICHOLAS DETTMANN
Four former champions with 11 victories and some newbies highlight the
44-car preliminary field for the 36th Superseal Slinger Nationals
presented by Miller Lite.
Lowell Bennett, Nathan Haseleu and Conrad Morgan are among the former
champions entered for the race, which will again pay $10,000 to the
winner, plus lap incentives. Also back, coming out of retirement is
Rich Bickle Jr.
Bickle, a four-time champion, won the race in his last appearance in
2013. Bennett is aiming for his record-tying sixth Slinger Nationals
title. Matt Kenseth has the record, but will not race. Morgan won
Nationals in 1999.
Among the newbies in this year’s field is NASCAR Camping World Truck
Series star Johnny Sauter. It will be his debut at Slinger. His
nephew, Travis Sauter, will also compete in his first Slinger
Nationals.
Also making his Slinger debut is Bobby Pierce.
Pierce, 18, is a dirt late model national champion and on Saturday
wrapped the month-long UMP Summer Nationals championship, becoming the
youngest driver to accomplish the feat.
Ross Kenseth will make his sixth appearance at Nationals, trying to
win it for the first time. The 22-year-old son of Matt Kenseth, is
fresh off a sixth-place finish in his NASCAR debut June 21 with the
XFINITY Series at Chicagoland Speedway. Ross Kenseth also won the ARCA
race at Michigan on June 12.
Two of the seven Alan Kulwicki Development Drivers will compete (Ty
Majeski and Steve Apel) as well.
Follow Nicholas on Twitter @dettmann_wbdn

Preliminary entry list
As of Friday, July 10
*=former champion
No.     Driver
0D      Ryan DeStefano
03D     Paige Decker
04D     Natalie Decker
2B      Lowell Bennett*
3H      Tommy Hromadka
5J      Casey Johnson
5S      Travis Sauter
5       Johnny Sauter
7D      Johnny DeAngelis Jr.
7S      Paul Shafer Jr.
9B      Braison Bennett
9L      Tim Lampman
11M     Race McComb
17J     Brian Johnson Jr.
17GP    Gregg Pawelski
17P     Dale Prunty
17G     Grant Greisbach
22P     Dennis Prunty
25K     Ross Kenseth
26      Chris Blawat
32      Bobby Pierce
35D     Travis Dassow
38H     Jeff Holtz
38W     Nick Wagner
39M     Andrew Morrissey
40T     Curt Tillman
43K     Matt Kocourek
45      Rich Bickle Jr.*
48K     Brad Keith
51A     Steve Apel
61E     Jerry Eckhardt
66M     Dave McCardle
72S     Randy Schuler
75W     Fred Winn
87H     Nathan Haseleu*
89E     Mike Egan
89F     Ryan Farrell
91M     Ty Majeski
92M     Conrad Morgan*
93F     Dave Feiler
97S     James Swan
98B     Rob Braun

Schedule of Events
(all times tentative and subject to change)
9 am Pit Gates Open
9:30 – 11 am Super Late Model Tech Inspection (Mandatory)
11 – 4:30 pm Late Model
11 – 1:00 pm Practice Super Late Model
Noon – Spectator Gates Open
1 – 1:20 pm Practice Late Model
1:20 – 2:40 pm Practice Super Late Model
2:40 – 3 pm Practice Late Model
3 – 3:15 pm Tire Scuff Super Late Model
3:30 pm Drivers Meeting (Spotters Stand)
4 pm Qualifying (SLM 3 laps 12 locked in; LM 2 laps)
4:30 pm Hospitality Suites 1 and 2 open
5 pm Hospitality Pavilion opens (Miller Lite Guests)
5 – 6:20 pm Entertainment (after qualifying)
6:20 pm Opening Ceremonies, National Anthem and Qualifying Awards
6:45 pm Super Late Model Qualifying Race (18 cars, 30 Laps, 4 advance)
7 pm LM Feature, SLM Semi (18 cars 30 laps 2 advance)
7:50 pm SLM Feature Driver Introductions
8:12 pm Command to start engines
8:14 pm Green Flag for 199 lap SUPERSEAL Slinger Nationals presented
by Miller Lite 10-Minute Break at Lap 99