Cunningham holds off Mutoh

Polesitter Wade Cunningham rebounded from a crash in the morning qualifying session and led every lap to win the first Corning Twin 100. Cunningham, who earned the pole with his time from Saturday's qualifying, held off a late charge from Hideki Mutoh to claim his first win of the season and fifth win of his career.

1. (1) Wade Cunningham, 29, Running $23,000
2. (4) Hideki Mutoh, 29, Running $17,000
3. (2) Alex Lloyd, 29, Running $13,500
4. (5) Phil Giebler, 29, Running $11,000
5. (10) Bobby Wilson, 29, Running $10,500
6. (3) Daniel Herrington, 29, Running $10,000
7. (12) Jaime Camara, 29, Running $9,750
8. (7) Richard Antinucci, 29, Running $9,500
9. (16) Mike Potekhen, 29, Running $9,000
10. (11) Andrew Prendeville, 29, Running $8,750
11. (9) Jonathan Klein, 29, Running $8,500
12. (14) Stephen Simpson, 29, Running $8,000
13. (18) Brad Jaeger, 29, Running $7,750
14. (13) Logan Gomez, 29, Running $7,500
15. (15) Sean Guthrie, 29, Running $7,000
16. (19) Joey Scarallo, 29, Running $6,500
17. (20) Arie Luyendyk Jr., 29, Running $6,000
18. (24) CR Crews, 29, Running $5,000
19. (23) Ken Losch, 29, Running $4,000
20. (21) Jon Brownson, 29, Running $3,000
21. (17) Chris Festa, 8, Contact $2,000
22. (6) Robbie Pecorari, 7, Spin $1,250
23. (8) Ryan Justice, 1, Spin $1,000
24. (22) Doug Boyer, 0, DNS $1,000

Race Statistics
Winner's average speed: 105.997 mph
Time of race: 55:19.2394
Margin of victory: 0.0758 of a second
Cautions: 2 caution flags for 5 laps
Lead changes: 0
Lap leaders: Cunningham 1-29.
Point standings: Lloyd 425, Mutoh 311, Wilson 259, Cunningham
230, Camara 211, Potekhen 205, Festa 190, Klein 176, Pecorari 170, Gomez 166.

Quotes

WADE CUNNINGHAM (No. 27 Automatic Fire Sprinklers, winner Corning 100 #1): "It feels like we belong here (in Victory Lane). We've had quick times and a couple of good showings, but really put it together today." (About a closer finish than expected): "I've been pretty loose on the high-speed stuff all day, and I was just taking it easy and just forgot about how much momentum we're really carrying there, so I could see Hideki coming. I downshifted and just had to drag him a little bit to the flag. I wasn't really too concerned. I'm just happy we got the win."

HIDEKI MUTOH (No. 55 Panther Racing, finished second): "I was right behind Wade (Cunningham). And I tried to pass him as he came every lap. But I couldn't make it. And the last lap looks like I got close to him. So I tried again, but it didn't happen. I still have tomorrow, so I'll go for it.

ALEX LLOYD (No. 7 Lucas Oil/Isilon/Sam Schmidt Motorsports, finished third): "We really messed up today, to be honest. We just had no straight line speed. Once Hideki got around me, that was it. We were so slow on the straights that overtaking was almost impossible. We used up all of our tires reeling back in the leaders midway through the race. By the time I got there, the tires were gone. It's disappointing. We had a car that was physically capable of winning the race. If we just would have done a very small thing, we could have been in Victory Lane today."

PHIL GIEBLER (No. 12 Playa Del Racing, finished fourth): "It was a very competitive, tough race for everybody out there. From the very beginning, it was very tough. My Playa Del car took a few laps to get going. Once we got the tires heated up and everything going, we started to settle back in. It was good, and I was running good lap times. We've just got to work on it a little more. I had an eventful race. I moved up to fourth pretty quick. I almost got passed on one of the restarts. We all got bottled up. I almost got passed but I stayed in front, of (Daniel) Herrington I think it was. On the next restart, I got (Alex) Lloyd. That was really good. I thought I had more for (Hideki) Mutoh and I was focusing on him and (Wade) Cunningham. Lloyd made a pretty good move on me on the hill of "The Boot". I just had to give him room. There was nothing I could do at that point once he was committed. He was faster and was definitely going to pass me at some point. I struggled to keep Bobby Wilson behind me the rest of the way so I tried to stay consistent. The car was pretty tough to drive consistently. It's something we have to work on for tomorrow. Hopefully we'll find a little more speed to compete for the top three. That's the best finish for Playa Del Racing yet."

BOBBY WILSON (No. 1 Ocala Gran Prix, finished fifth): "I had a good race going there with Phil (Giebler). I started 10th and made up some ground. The car was pretty good in some areas. I got a little bit of aero push when I started getting close behind Phil. I had to save the car for the end, and I put together the best laps of the race at the end. I used it all up. Phil was right there the whole time, and I came up a car length behind him. That's how it goes."