Johnny Reed Foley wins the pole by over a tenth, looking to climb back into the standings after two devastating races. Points leader and race favorite Rick Jackson qualifies fourth. John Battista comes in only six points behind with arguably the best powerplant in all of Extravaganza! This will be the race that will make or break Championship hopes. Look for a non-chase contender to prove victorious at Talladega!
Current Points Positions (Race 30 of 36) 1. Rick Jackson: - 2. John Battista: -6 3. Dave Miller: -38 4. Matthew Domninique: -129(+4) 5. Zach Michael: -143(+2) 6. Craig Lee: -180(-2) 7. Alex Crapser: -191 (+3) 8. Tony Pizzaro: -193(-3) 9. Johnny Reed Foley: -208(-3) 10. Donald Stewart: -216(-1)
Points leader Rick Jackson comes in an astronomical 83 points ahead of the rest of the pack coming into the 30th race of 2022. Martinsville may prove to be his Achilles heal with short track ace John Battista on the prowl looking for his second victory of 2022. Rick will probably fall short on his first, entering one of his less favorable racetracks on the schedule. He will grid 9th. Battista and Dave Miller will start 15th and 39th.
Ryan Heuser started the day on the pole and took no time to pull away from the field. Alex Crapser, Tim McDonnell, Logan Sheets and John Battista each battled for the second place position as the leader ahead already caught lapped traffic. Surprisingly, his teammate Craig Lee dropped from 22nd to last to become the first car one lap down.
The attrition rate manifested in pure agony during the early going. The high temperatures caused Bink Lucas and Stephen Lowe to become the first two casualties of the afternoon. Lowe pulled off a miracle fourth place qualifying effort, unable to capitalize on what could have been a career-changing day.
The battle for second remained firece as Alex Crapser took over the spot in hopes of catching Heuser, who was a whopping four seconds ahead. Green flag stops occured around the 1/3rd mark of the event with leader Heuser the last to come in. Despite not letting anyone else earn a bonus point during the cycle, he would relinquish his four second advantage on the field.
Pitting several laps later with a slight tire advantage did not manifest for Heuser, who lost the lead for the first time to Tim McDonnell on lap 190. It would be the first time McDonnell led double-digit laps in two-straight races all season, looking to dig deeper inside the top-20 in points and earn his first victory of the season. He won the rain shortened event in 2020, looking to re-chase down Heuser after leading 17 circuits.
A hard-nosed crash on the exit of turn-4 nearly took out the points leader on lap 240. Chase contender Donald Stewart missed the pit road after stalling his engine, forcing him to stop on the racetrack while the leaders traversed around in a frenzy for the ages. Third place Alex Crapser, Rick Jackson, Aaron Cummings and Craig Lee were all involved in the accident after failing to find their way through. Alex would persevere to finish 4th after minimal damage, while Jackson limped to 20th with a heavy rear end wound. Lee and Cummings were unable to finish the event. Jackson would lose points to both John Battista and Dave Miller, though still kept his points lead by the end. Craig Lee dropped from 4th to 6th in the standings. Alex Crapser bounced from 10th to 7th and looked stronger than ever after the incident. Stewart was able to continue on but occupied the 10th-in-points spot after limping to 31st. A John Tharp and Bill Werkheiser incident on the ensuing restart caused 6th-in-points Johnny Reed Foley to downshift to 1st while avoiding the accident, expiring his engine. He would drop to 9th in the standings in what looked to be his year to win the crown.
The next green flag run became a hard-fought battle between Ryan Heuser and John Battista for the top spot. Both took sinuous paths through the lapped traffic, each taking advantage of bad breaks and passing the other several times. By the end, these two would combine to lead 473 of the 500 total laps, with Heuser clinching the most.
Winding down to the 100-to-go mark and the two were still in a dead-heat for the victory. The #39 and #138 pulled ahead of Dalton Lucas, Alex Crapser, Matthew Dominique, Alan Nesfeder and Bill Werkheiser by over seven seconds, showing no mercy on the field. Ramshackled points leader Rick Jackson was mired just inside the top-20, possibly giving Battista the lead in the standings with a victory today.
Lap 392 saw a crash off of turn-2 just ahead of the two leaders. Third place Dalton Lucas stalled off the corner, causing Ben Geer, Matt Raboin and Jimmie Stevens to pileup attempting to avoid the Little Caesars chevrolet. Heuser darted low, coming to a complete stop to avoid the accident. Battista traversed to the high line and barely squeaked through. He would be the leader coming to the restart.
This week will entertain the 65,000 capacity crowd at the famed Martinsville Speedway. Surprise winner Markell Murphy shocked the world in the spring after defeating the Jackson family and the entire Race-2-Win contingent. Matt Raboin is looking to sweep the short tracks by earning a victory at Richmond and Bristol already in 2022. He will be among the favorites to capture the checkered flag. No shock to see Ryan Heuser on the pole, the only one to eclipse the 18-second barrier during the session. Hard-luck Alex Crapser and winless Tim McDonnell look to turn their season around after qualifying 2nd and 3rd. Points leader Rick Jackson will grid in 9th position with chasers John Battista and Dave Miller starting 15th and 39th. Rick comes in 83 points ahead of Battista in the standings, averaging a 5th place finish during the first three races. If he can continue that pace it will ensure his fourth Championship crown, a welcome miracle after missing the chase in two-straight seasons. Good luck to all at Martinsville!
Current Points Positions (Race 29 of 36) 1. Rick Jackson:- 2. John Battista:-83(+3) 3. Dave Miller:-85(-1) 4. Craig Lee:-129 (+4) 5. Tony Pizzaro:-139(+1) 6. Johnny Reed Foley:-151(-2) 7. Zach Michael:-155 (+3) 8. Matthew Dominique:-181(-1) 9. Donald Stewart:-183(-6) 10. Alex Crapser:-248(-1)
Points leader Rick Jackson comes into Bristol with his league-leading 12th and 13th top-5's of the season at Darlington and Las Vegas. He has miraculously gone without a victory in 2022, but does possess the points lead by 43 over Quicksilver counterpart Dave Miller. They will both start outside of the top-10 coming into Bristol, under the lights!
A miraculous record-breaking qualifying lap gave John Battista the lead coming to the green flag. It was short-lived after a miraculous high-line pass by Aaron Cummings put the #51 to the lead for only the third time this season. He would lead 10 total laps in the early going while swapping the top-spot with Battista multiple times.
Matt Raboin took the advantage in the early go and easily pulled away from the field. He gained seconds on the continuing second place battle and started to lap some of the chase contenders before lap 100. The first one to go down was Donald Stewart, who entered the event third in the standings.
Johnny Reed Foley fell just before the first caution flag after a David Butterworth stalled engine. He would fortunately find his way to a top-20 finish despite the early setback, but was unable to re-gain his lap. Leader Matt Raboin was involved in a pit-road accident and lost a lap repairing the damage. He would earn his way to a 12th place finish after a hard-nosed struggled to regain his lap late in the going.
Ken Pettit and Craig lee battled for the lead up front before the first crash of the event. Ken Joynt and Alan Nesfeder made contact entering the corner, sliding across the racetrack into Markell Murphy. Dan Johnston, Michael Henson and chase contender Alex Crapser would slam into the accident, with only Henson finishing inside the top-30.
A multitude of the leaders pitted, sending Tim McDonnell up front to lead the pack to the green. Rick Jackson made his move 24 laps into the run and passed McDonnell for the top-spot, who led double-digit laps for the first time since Charlotte in May. Zach Michael, Dakota Wilkins and Jackson swapped the lead as we headed towards the 400-lap mark.
A career day for Dakota Wilkins made his run at Lime Rock Park look like mashed peanut brittle without steroids. He passed Jackson with 105 to go, leading 6 laps and promoting his name to the elite enterprises of Extravaganza. He would relinquish his advantage to Craig Lee, who looked to gain some momentum after a disappointing finish at Las Vegas.
A Dalton Lucas stall brought out the caution on lap 420. A Jimmie Stevens spin on the ensuing restart bunched the field back, awaiting a 70-lap shootout to the checkered flag. Zach Michael made his move to the front with 58 laps to go with the grand prize in mind. He and Lee are backed up in the standings after a devastating Las Vegas performance, looking to earn maximum points and make up the distance on Rick Jackson.
Lee took the lead back five laps later, finding himself mired in lapped traffic while Michael and John Battista race behind for second place. A crash between Randy Dobbins, Dan Johnston and Rod Weston brought out the final caution flag with 32 laps to go. Neither driver would finish inside the top-25.
Points leader Rick Jackson started in 6th while Aaron Cummings, Dakota Wilkins, Michael, Battista and Lee mbattled for Bristol supremacy. The Wendy's machine took over the spot with 19 laps remaining but failed to pull away. Lee made his final bid for the lead 8 laps later and took it outright as the top-5 spread out. Cummings would pull off his first top-5 finish since Darlington of last season, finishing a miraculous 5th on the day.
A remarkable display of driving puts Craig Lee on the list of two-time winners this s
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John Battista attempted a setup so daring he couldn't see out of the windshield, easily shattering the Bristol track record. "I had a graph on the steering wheel telling me when to steer. I turned left when the chicken stain on the wheel was at 30 degrees. It worked. We used this setup at our Lucas Racing test facility in December."
Points leader Rick Jackson led 31 laps and finished second at Bristol in the spring. He already has a 43-point advantage on the rest of the chase field after two-straight top-5's to begin the final ten-race stretch. John Battista absolutely shattered the rest of the field in qualifying with a new track record 131.173 miles-per-hour, continuing his current domination. He led the most laps at Vegas last week, and has led for five-straight events. Battista has 9 top-10 finishes in his last 12 races, and an average qualifying start of 4.8. He will share the first row with Aaron Cummings, who pulled off a miracle lap en route to his second top-10 start of 2022. He may be one of the independents who can compete for supremacy at Bristol. Can the rest of the chase field mow down Rick Jackson? We will find out under the lights!
Alan Nesfeder is back in action after a six-race hiatus recovering from injuries sustained at Indianapolis. He was top of the Happy Hour charts, eclipsing the 130 mile-per-hour mark. He was the winner of this event in 2019, looking to add to his 2022 win total to three after a very up and down season. Fellow independent John Tharp won this event in the Spring. Look for another independent team to dominate the masses at Bristol under the lights!
Current Points Positions (Race 28 of 36) 1. Rick Jackson: - (+1) 2. Dave Miller: -43 (+1) 3. Donald Stewart: -78 (+4) 4. Johnny Reed Foley: -97(-3) 5. John Battista: -98 (+3) 6. Tony Pizzaro: -117(+3) 7. Matthew Dominique: -141(-3) 8. Craig Lee: -149(-2) 9. Alex Crapser: -152 (+1) 10. Zach Michael: -160 (-5)
The fourth annual Eddie Money Classic begins with Johnny Reed Foley as your points leader after a 3rd place finish at Darlington. He will roll off the grid fourth today, his exact finishing spot in this event last season. Donald Stewart and Ryan Heuser occupy the front row with qualifying speeds over 192 miles per hour to start the 267-lap event.
The green flag waved with Donald Stewart getting a minor jump on the field. Before long, Rick Jackson and the rest of the front pack charged past Stewart, with Jackson taking the lead on lap 3. The #55 would drop back to 8th while the #44 led through lap 6.
The best handling car in the early-go seemed to be John Battista, who took the lead on lap 7. He and Ryan Heuser maintained a two-second advantage on the rest of the field, drafting away from the pack through green flag pit stops. Heuser caught and passed Battista on lap 84, leading through the next set of stops.
There were no cautions and no drivers out of the race as we headed towards the halfway mark. John Battista flew by Heuser on the outside lane as he came out of the pits, becoming the first two-time leader of the event. Rick Jackson had caught both of them by this point, flying by Heuser and on the charge for the Wendy's Chevrolet.
The first and only crash of the night occured just before the halfway point. Dan Johnston came out of the pits and misjudged his exit, crashing into Craig Lee while points leader Johnny Reed Foley slams into the the #101 from behind. Johnston and Lee collect the outside wall, dropping back down the racetrack into the path of Zakk Miller. Miller slammed hard into the front of Johnston's machine as the rest of the field barely squeezed below the All-State machine. Johnston and Miller would fail to continue, while Lee and Foley limped to 28th and 35th. Foley dropped from 1st to 4th in the standings, with Lee from 6th to 8th.
A familiar foe flew back to the front on lap 136 when Rick Jackson passed by John Battista for the top-spot. Battista earned the halfway bacon bonus and slipped back, giving up the second position to Tony Pizzaro for a Race-2-Win 1-2 show. Pizzaro passed Jackson for the lead on lap 145 and kept it for 39 laps.
Multiple pit accidents destroyed the hopes of several top-names in Extravaganza. A missed pit entry forced Tim McDonnell to drive through the grass, causing mass confusion on the pit road and clipping Scott Jackson as he entered the asphalt. Both cars sustained relative damage and would continue on at a lesser pace. The next pit crash involved Matthew Dominique and Zach Michael. The #25 missed his entry and backed up into his stall, forgetting that Michael's pit was directly in front. In severe misfortune, the #20 was in service and got body-slammed in the front, going a lap down to repair the hood damage after his crew frenzied out of the way. Dominique dropped to 7th in points, with Michael dead last in 10th.
A hard-fought battle between Donald Stewart and Tony Pizzaro saw the first place spot up for grabs with 84 laps to go. Stewart made it by, pulling away from the Race-2-Win bunch in a Cindarella bid for the Championship. He would drop back after the final green flag stops, handing the top-spot back to Pizzaro while he and Jackson fell nearly outside of the top-5.
A debris caution on lap 220 initiated a 44-lap shootout to the checkered flag. It took three laps for Bill Werkheiser to work his way by for the lead, looking to use the momentum of his second place finish at Darlington to earn his first victory in years. Bink Lucas made an incredible three-wide move on the inside lane to pass by John Battista for the third position.
Werkheiser had pulled away by a half-second before Bink made his charge for the victory. He passed Pizzaro with 23-to-go and made several attempts to get by Werkheiser on the inside lane. Finally with seven circuits remaining, Lucas pulverized through turn 1 and flew by the #6 with relative ease.... Read more »
Points leader Johnny Reed Foley lets his miracle season ride with CFM Motorsports. Ryan Heuser comes in as the far odds-on favorite. Good luck at Vegas!
Current Points Positions (Race 27 of 36) 1. Johnny Reed Foley: - (+2) 2. Rick Jackson: -10(+2) 3. Dave Miller: -30(+5) 4. Matthew Dominique: -37 (-3) 5. Zach Michael: -65(+1) 6. Craig Lee: -73(+1) 7. Donald Stewart: -74 (+2) 8. John Battista: -108(-7) 9. Tony Pizzaro: -132(-4) 10. Alex Crapser: -136
