MALTA – Normally, starting deep in the pack on a slick, blackened-over race track is the kiss of death.

Not if you’re Jack Lehner.

Lehner overcame a 16^th starting position to come away with his third victory of the season in Friday night’s 35-lap NAPA Modifieds feature at Albany-Saratoga Speedway.

Lehner wasn’t the only top-five finisher who had to come from deep in the field. Runner-up Peter Britten padded his point lead after starting 18th, and Marc Johnson finished third after starting 15^th. In fact, all of the top five finishers started 15^th or worse, which is unheard of in dirt track racing.

“I just had to avoid the carnage at the beginning,” said Lehner, who has three wins in a single season at Albany-Saratoga for the first time in his career. “I knew we had a good car.”

The carnage on the slick track began early. On lap four, Demetrios Drellos and Kolby Schroder made contact coming out of the fourth turn and locked together in the front straightaway, with Drellos heading to the pits, done for the night.

Two laps later, a handful of cars stacked up in turn four when Josh Masterson fell off the pace, bringing out another yellow.

Oh, yes, there was also action up front. After starting third, Ronnie Johnson had the lead after just two laps, but his lead only lasted until lap nine, when James Meehan, who had started ninth, moved out on the point.

A yellow on lap 10 helped Lehner get under Johnson coming out of the fourth turn to take over the No. 2 spot, and a restart after yet another caution on lap 14 put Lehner in position take the lead coming out of turn four on the restart.

Meehan did his best to protect the bottom, but on lap 19, he didn’t have enough to hold off either Britten, who took over the No. 2 spot, or Marc Johnson, who followed Britten and now sat third.

But that’s also where they finished, because Lehner was able to pull away, despite another restart with 10 to go.

“I knew I had two of the best in the business behind me, and I couldn’t make any mistakes,” said Lehner. “I knew the sprint cars were going to push the cushion out, and it was going to be hard to run the top,” he added. “I told my guys if I could get it to roll through the middle, through the black, that’s how the race was going to be won.”

The sprint cars Lehner was talking about was the only appearance of the Empire Super Sprints at Albany-Saratoga during the 2024 campaign, and Danny Varin took advantage of it, posting his first ESS win ever at the Malta track. Varin went from fifth to second on a restart on lap 11, and then pulled off a perfect slide job on Justin Porier to get the lead coming out of the fourth turn on lap 13.

“I’ll tell you what, this is a phenomenal racetrack,” said Varin. “It was elbows up all night.”

Matt Tanner crossed the finish line second, with Poirier third.

Dan Grignon came away with his first win of the season in the 25-lap sportsman feature, and took home the top prize of $1,000 through sponsorship from Crane Outdoor Power Equipment. Grignon started third and held off Chris Crane Jr. and Cody Ochs to return to victory lane for the first time since July 14, 2023.

Jason Casey picked the perfect time to notch his second pro stock win of the season, walking off with a $1,500 payday through sponsorship from JCO Plumbing and Heating. Casey, who started sixth, only needed seven laps to get to the front and appeared on his way to a comfortable victory, until Beau Ballard made thongs interested in the closing laps, with Casey holding off Ballard by a car length. Brandon Emigh finished third, despite bringing out a caution on lap three for spinning around between the third and fourth turns.

Rich Crane won the Four States Enterprises Dash for Cash, beating Emigh to the finish line by .022 seconds to get the $200 bonus.

Chase Zimmer won the 20-lap limited sportsman feature, his first win at Albany-Saratoga since opening night in April. Zimmer, who started 11^th, went from third to first on a restart on lap nine and pulled away for an easy win over Mike Baker, who had the best limited sportsman finish of his career.

Josh Hemming held off a late challenge from Chris Stalker to record his first win of the year in the 20-lap street stock feature. Stalker put some serious pressure on Hemming late in the race, but clipped the inside barrier in the fourth turn with two laps to go, when Hemming had his hands full with lapped traffic.

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

DOUG WHOLEY’S IDEAL EXCAVATING SPORTSMAN: DAN GRIGNON, Chris Crane Jr., Cody Ochs, Taylor Wason, Daryl Nutting, Dave Baranowski Jr., Chris Jakubiak, Pat Jones, Scott Duell, Dylan Madsen, Taylor LaPlante, Tim Hartman Jr., Brendon Gibbons, Derrick McGrew Jr., Mike Coffey Jr., Connor Crane, Jon Miller, Michael Wagner Fitzgerald, Dylan Grogan, Zach Buff, Mike Benson, Drew Cormie, Bryce Breault, Tyler Rapp, Elliot Lussier, Justin Comes, Chad Gregory, Mike Ballestero, Travis Witbeck, Alex Palmer-Sawyer, Craig Wholey, Scott Bennett.

SARATOGA MASONRY SUPPLY PRO STOCKS: JASON CASEY, Beau Ballard, Brandon Emigh, Rich Crane, Kim Duell, Kyle Hoard, Rob Yetman, Caden Dumblewski, Shane Henderson, Slater Baker, Chucky Dumblewski, Pete Vila, Pete Stefanski, Jordan Modiano.

HAUN WELDING LIMITED SPORTSMAN: CHASE ZIMMER, Mike Baker, Nick Auspelmyer, Tanner Coon, Dakota Green, Nick Brundige, Dan Seguin, Steve Burch, Nick Arnold, John Santolin, Owen Lewis, Alex Smith, James Galarneau, David Zelker, Jordan Hill, Lucas Duncan, Sara Arnold, Sloan Cherko, Damon Anderson, Colton Emigh, Bob Laware, Dan Odell, Matthew Gebo.

CORNELL’S AUTO PARTS STREET STOCKS: JOSH HEMMING, Chris Stalker, PJ Cram Jr., Matt Mosher, Mark Burch, Jimmy Duncan, Tim McFarland, Dave Cook, Damian Ward, Dave Madigan,

EMPIRE SUPER SPRINTS: DANNY VARIN, Matt Tanner, Jordan Poirier, Jason Barney, Davie Franek, Billy Van Inwegen, Jordan Thomas, Chad Miller, Emily Van Inwegen, Josh Pieniazek, John Smith IV, Dale Gosselin, Jeff Trombley, Lacey Hanson, Floyd Billington, Dylan Menditto, Tommy Moreau, Fred Proctor, Alex Bergen, Trevor Years, Shawn Donath.