MALTA – Marc Johnson is a man on a mission.

Determined to win his first modified point championship since 2019, Marc Johnson won a wild battle with Neil Stratton and drove to his third win of the season in the 35-lap NAPA Modifieds feature Friday night at Albany-Saratoga Speedway.

Johnson, who started 12^th in the 31-car field, used a late restart to get the lead away from Stratton and quickly pulled away to win by nearly three seconds over Stratton, who had his best finish of the season, and Matt DeLorenzo, who made a late run to earn a spot on the podium.

“We worked our butts off this week,” said Johnson in victory lane. “I hurt a motor last week and took a big hit in the points, so I took out some of my aggression tonight.”

Restarts played a big part in Johnson’s victory. Despite starting 12^th, he was sixth after just four laps, thanks to three yellows, the third which came out on lap five.

Three laps later, Johnson slid up in front of Don Ronca to take over fourth, and one lap later, he took the outside to get around Jack Speshock, who had been running third, behind James Meehan, who started on the pole, and Stratton.

The leaders caught the tail end of the field on lap 13, and then avoided disaster on lap 17, when Rich Ronca lost power coming down the front straightaway and was hit by Todd Ryan. The three leaders were right behind the mishap, but all scattered to keep their positions.

On the subsequent restart, an incident in turn three sent defending champion Demetrios Drellos off on a hook, and bunched the field again. This time, when starter Rich Petersen threw the green, Stratton pulled a slide job on Meehan in the fourth turn to get the lead to complete lap 17, and as the three leaders then went into the second turn, Johnson and Meehan banged together, which allowed Speshock, who had been sitting fourth on the restart, to make his way around Johnson into third.

But Johnson wasn’t going to be denied. He got under Speshock coming out of the second turn to go back into third on lap 21 and three laps later, the yellow was out again, as Peter Britten and David Schilling, who were battling with Mike Mahaney for the same piece of real estate, were involved in an incident in the first turn, with both Britten and Schilling spinning around.

Johnson jumped into second on the restart, cleared Stratton coming out of the second turn and had the lead for good when he hit the start-finish line to complete lap 25, leaving Stratton to settle for second, while DeLorenzo and Meehan battled for third.

Talking about the early restarts, Johnson said, “I just had to use the opportunities I had.”

Johnson earned a top prize of $3,000 through sponsorship from NAPA Auto Parts.

Stratton looked at his second-place finish philosophically.

“Another one got away from me,” he said. “But at least the car was good. It was just going to be a matter of who could pull off the sliders tonight.”

Tim Hartman Jr. is having the best season of his career, and it continued Friday night when he won the 25-lap sportsman feature, which paid $1,000 through sponsorship from Emerick Associates. Hartman Jr. started 15^th and wasn’t thinking about a win until a caution came out with three laps to go. That was the break he needed, as he then rocketed by David Baranowski Jr. and picked up his second consecutive win and fifth overall at Albany-Saratoga.

The sportsman also competed in the Four States Enterprises Dash for Cash, with Travis Witbeck winning the $200 bonus.

Three was also the magic number for Beau Ballard, who picked up his third victory of the season in the 25-lap pro stock feature, which paid $1,000 to win through sponsorship from A-Z Property Management. Ballard, who is running a full schedule at Albany-Saratoga for the first time, took the lead away from Rob Yetman on lap 19 when the leaders were in traffic. Ballard used the slower car of Russ Alloggio as a pick in the third turn and hit the starting-finish line with the lead. Yetman finished second, with Kim Duell third.

Sticking with the theme of the No. 3, Tanner Coon chalked up his third win of the year in the 20-lap limited sportsman feature, and walked off with $500, courtesy of Gary and Patricia Van Alstyne.

Coon, who started fifth, got a big jump on a restart on lap 13 to take the lead away from James Galarneau. He then got another big break on lap 19, when back-to-back yellows created a single-file restart, which allowed him to stay in front of Galarneau and Dakota Green.

Jimmy Duncan also sat in victory lane for the third time this season as the conclusion of the 20-lap street stock feature, which paid $500 to win through sponsorship from Ghent Wood Products. A caution flag on lap seven bunched up the 15-car field, and the next time around, leader Mark Burch, Duncan and Chris Stalker came out of the fourth turn three-wide. Burch still had the lead going into the second turn, but Duncan had all of the momentum, snatched the lead and drove away for an easy win.

A sudden storm washed out the four-cylinder feature, which was going to be a tribute to the late Randy Senecal. That race will be rescheduled at a later time.

NAPA MODIFIEDS: MARC JOHNSON, Neil Stratton, Matt DeLorenzo, James Meehan, Ryan McCartney, Jack Lehner, Peter Britten, Jack Speshock, Justin Stone, Mike Mahaney, Kolby Schroder, Don Ronca, David Schilling, Rich Scagliotta, Robert Bublak Jr., Josh Masterson, CG Morey, Brendan Darrah, Ronnie Johnson, Demetrios Drellos, Jessey Mueller, Garrett Poland, Rich Ronca, Todd Ryan, Chris Bisson, Derek Bornt, Matt Depew, Kris Vernold, Tom D’Angelo, Eric Mack, Scott Huber.

DOUG WHOLEY’S IDEAL EXCAVATING SPORTSMAN: TIM HARTMAN JR., David Baranowski Jr., Michael Wagner Fitzgerald, Scott Duell, Dylan Madsen, Travis Witbeck, Brendon Gibbons, Pat Jones, Mike Coffey Jr., Craig Wholey, Derrick McGrew Jr., Jon Miller, Taylor Wason, Mike Ballestero, Bryce Breault, Mike Benson, Taylor LaPlante, Chris Crane Jr., Dan Grignon, Daryl Nutting, Cody Ochs, Scott Bennett, Dylan Grogan, Jeff Washburn, Zach Buff, Tyler Rapp, Chris Jakubiak, Drew Cormie.

SARATOGA MASONRY SUPPLY PRO STOCKS: BEAU BALLARD, Rob Yetman, Kim Duell, Rich Crane, Jason Casey, Kyle Hoard, Slater Baker, Chucky Dumblewski, Shane Henderson, Brandon Emigh, Caden Dumblewski, Pete Vila, Russell Alloggio, Mike Baker.

HAUN WELDING LIMITED SPORTSMAN: TANNER COON, James Galarneau, Dakota Green, John Santolin, Chase Zimmer, Nick Brundige, Mike Block, Jordan Hill, Dan Seguin, Nick Arnold, Cordell Younger, Keith Pelkey, Craig Coons, Dan Odell, Colton Emigh, Dana Palumbo, Damon Anderson, Sara Arnold, Nick Auspelmyer, Matthew Gebo, Lucas Duncan, Mike Baker.

CORNELL’S AUTO PARTS STREET STOCKS: JIMMY DUNCAN, Chris Stalker, Al Relyea, Mark Burch, PJ Cram Jr., Josh Hemming, Josh Bussino, Dan Madigan, John Filarecki, Ray Pierre Jr., Dan Buell, Chase Thompson, Matt Mosher, Tim McFarland, Jason Barrett.