Swanson enjoying first Silver Crown season with Nolen Racing

<p>It’s possible, some would say likely, that a prominent race car owner will someday make Kody Swanson an offer too good to refuse.</p><p>Gene Nolen both dreads and looks forward to such a day.</p><p>“He’s the best driver around right now. Kody can race a car hard and has his own way of doing things,” said Nolen, owner of Whiteland-based Nolen Racing. “He’s competitive, has a nice personality and is great at racing.”</p><p>If the 31-year-old Swanson sounds too good to be true, he’s lived up to it through the first five races on USAC’s Silver Crown schedule. Swanson, in his first season running the series as a member of Nolen Racing, leads the points standings with 320.</p>[sc:text-divider text-divider-title="Story continues below gallery" ]Click here to purchase photos from this gallery<p>It’s been a year of transition for Swanson, whose four Silver Crown titles (2014-15, 2017-18) so far all came as part of DePalma Motorsports, based in Lima, Ohio. Car owner Tony DePalma chose to cease operation while riding such tremendous momentum, citing time with family and other possible business ventures as the main reasons.</p><p>Swanson began racing for DePalma Motorsports in 2014, the combination virtually unbeatable whether competing on pavement or dirt. He already had a professional relationship with Nolen, giving the owner his first Little 500 sprint car title at Anderson Speedway in May 2018.</p><p>Now he wants to give Nolen his first Silver Crown championship.</p><p>“It’s been good,” Swanson said of being at Nolen Racing. “This is my first year running with Gene full time on the Silver Crown series. It would be neat to follow up his first Little 500 win with his first Silver Crown championship.”</p><p>&quot;The toughest challenge was that I had been with the same team for so long. One of the things that helped is we’ve already worked together with the sprint cars. Silver Crown is a different series. It’s only 12 races, so you have to be pretty good at all of them.&quot;</p><p>Swanson has been dominant. He won at Toledo Speedway in April and at Memphis International Raceway in May. On Friday night, he finished second at Williams Grove Speedway, a half-mile clay oval in Mechanicsburg, Pennsylvania.</p><p>He ran the fastest lap in the race (23.04 seconds on Lap 81) and was only 0.612 of a second behind Brady Bacon at the checkered flag. In May he won the Little 500 for the third time, making Nolen Racing a winner in consecutive years.</p><p>The next Silver Crown race is June 28 at Madison (Wisconsin) International Speedway, a half-mile semi-banked oval.</p><p>Swanson credits the entire Nolen team with having a hand in his success.</p><p>“It’s more than just a working relationship,” Swanson said. “Gene and Bill Tranter (engines), Rick Laughlin (prep/maintenance) and Kevin Noblitt (prep/tires) are the core four. There’s really some veteran makeup there and a lot of other people who pitch in and do a great job as well.”</p>