One of the greatest spectacles in Extravaganza goes in in a shower of sparks. The 2021 Daytona 500 will see some crazy action tonight, and there will be fireworks displayed in spades. Don't ridicule the drivers for their talent, as they are the best 45 in all of Extravaganza, awaiting their opportunity for glory.
The first section of the race saw pole-sitter Matthew Dominique up front for no time at all. John Battista got by, and then the pack severed through. John Tharp, William Perry and Ryan Heuser all saw their shots at the front.
During the first 75 laps of the event, Steven Spears, Mark Guthrie and John Tharp all went out with engine failures. It was a brutal way to go, with Spears finishing second in his duel, waiting his claim that he belongs in the Extravaganza Series. He ends up finishing last. John Tharp was one of the fastest cars in the field, only to prove that he cannot win his third straight Daytona 500.
The first green flag run was right at 50 laps. By the end of the cycle, John Battista, Mark Murphy and Brian Lowe were 1-2-3 way ahead of the second pack. With Battista's Wendy's horsepower, the second pack nearly took 10 full laps to catch up.
The first caution of the night was caused by a spin in turn 2. Drafting in the last lead-lap pack, Scott Deutsch and Stephen Lowe made contact, sending the Mark Heron machine into Tony Long. All four cars would spin, and all four cars would finish outside the top-35 by the end of the day.
The next green flag run saw Dave Miller, Tony Pizzaro and Rick Jackson exchange stabs at the lead. The QSM bunch was still in tow, with Lucas Racing teammates John Battista and Bink Lucas up front for the entire run. Jimmie Stevens and Ken Pettit also had great horsepower, keeping up with the pack with no issues.
The big-one occurred after the halfway point. Zach Michael and Alex Crapser made contact between turns 3 and 4. Zach clipped his teammate Mark Murphy and Johnny reed Foley, sending them for a tailspin while Tony Pizzaro struggled through the crash. Tony Long and Tim McDonnell both made hard impacts with the #18 towards the end of the incident. Fortunately, Pizzaro and McDonnell would still scurry to top-10 finishes, while the rest of the drivers involved failed to place in the top-30.
The next run saw Matt Raboin dominating the field, eventually leading the most laps in the race. Coming in for the final round of pit stops, Ryan Heuser and Zach Michael made contact on pit entry. This sent the #20 careening into te path of Brandon Raines. The two smashed, as the wreck ensued towards the infield grass.
The final stage of the 2021 Daytona 500 was dominated by Ryan Heuser, John Battista, Jimmie Stevens, Craig Lee and Matthew Dominique. The restart saw 11 lapped cars in front of leader Ryan Heuser, and it took over 10 laps to scatter through. By the end, Dominique made a pass underneath Craig Lee with two laps to go.
On the final lap, Alex Crapser got a heavy push from the #2 car of Jimmie Stevens. He high-tailed passed the Quantum Racing machine and into the lead. The dead-air of the 32 and #25 racing side-by-side caused Crapser to pull away by a couple car-lengths, giving him the advantage he needed to stay up front coming off of turn-4.
To the checkered flag, Crapser won t
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John Tharp is going for 3-in-a-row in the Daytona 500. Showing relative signs of life during the 2nd Daytona Duel, he is not the favorite to win it again. He will be starting 17th in the field, which where the PHR teams normally qualify during the restrictor-plate events. Ryan Heuser and John Battista come in as the heavy favorites. Heuser dominated most of the Bud Shootout and won his Daytona Duel, while Battista was easily the fastest car in the first Daytona Duel. Dark-horses coming in include Ken Pettit and Steven Spears, who are the only other drivers to score a top-10 in the last two 500's. Tony Pizzaro and Johnny Reed Foley also looked strong during speedweeks. Quantum Racing has picked up the pace as well. It will be interesting to see who can avoid the big wrecks, and find themselves racing in the front-pack by the end.
World renowned short track racer Steve Inkman has finally earned his shot at racing in a top-tier series. At 45 years old, Steve has won an estimated 1000+ races across local short tracks on dirt and asphalt in the Mid-West, New York, and Southern United States. He is currently ranked at #6 in the country, just shy of the #1 ranking he has maintained through the 2000's. "It is finally time to take that chance." says Inkman. "Daytona is the powerhouse of speed, and I need to be part of the show while I'm still competitive." He will start last in the event, but look for him to stay in the draft and earn his dues against the top-dogs of Bonanza.
Geno Sphere dominates the Speedway practices, looking to win his first Busch Bonanza series race up against some of the big dogs. Johnny Reed Foley, Dalton Lucas, Cristian Torres, Steven Spears, Mark Heron, Kevin Corbat and Glenn Kaufmann all entered the show in hopes to sever a Bonanza regular victory. All Bonanza races will be broadcasted on the roof camera of the 6th place qualifier!
27 drivers battle it out to make the 2021 Daytona 500 field, and to earn a front-row starting spot. Logan Sheets, Mark Guthrie, Dakota Wilkins, Scott Drake, Connor Germain, Brian Lowe, Stephen Lowe, Rob Scarberry, Mike Carroll and Jim Fitzmaurice need to finish in the top-5 of the non-provisional drivers to make the show.
Logan Sheets, Steven Lowe, Mark Guthrie, Rob Scarberry and Brian Lowe Advance!
Ryan Heuser and Tony Pizzaro dominated the event early. Michael Henson took the front spot on lap 19, opening up the can of worms that bunched up the field for the rest of the run. Donald Stewart and Jimmie Stevens took turns up front before Pizzaro grabbed it back at the halfway point.
Donald Stewart and Scott Jackson took turns at the helm before green flag pit stops. By the end, there were 9 cars battling for the finish. Scott Jackson, Johnny Reed Foley and Ryan Heuser appeared to be the fastest of the bunch.
John Tharp took the lead with 14 laps to go. Foley dove three-wide underneath he and Heuser and took the top-spot. With 2 laps to go, Scott Jackson was up front with draft help from teammate Randy Dobbins. Dobbins dove underneath entering turn 1 on the final lap, with Heuser on his tail.
Ryan Heuser was three-wide on the bottom lane exiting turn 2 with draft help from John Tharp behind. It was all he needed to cruise to the finish line in first, winning the event and starting 2nd in the 2021 Daytona 500. Logan Sheets, Stephen Lowe, Mark Guthrie, Rob Scarberry and Brian Lowe all finished well enough to earn their Daytona 500 spot! Congrats to them and Ryan for earning a front-row starting spot in the big show!
The first Daytona Duel of the 2021 Daytona 500 commences with many in need of a Daytona 500 birth. Mark Heron, David Courtney, Scott Deutsch, Kevin Corbat, Glenn Kaufmann, Steven Spears, Philip Parker, Jaxon Vaccher, Bink Lucas, and David Baldinger need to finish in the top-5 of the non-provisional drivers to make the show.
Steven Spears, Glenn Kaufmann, Mark Heron, Bink Lucas and Scott Deutsch Advance!
Tim McDonnell, Craig Lee, Rick Jackson, Markell Murphy, Dave Butterworth, William Perry, Matt Raboin, Kevin Corbat, David Courtney, David Baldinger and Dalton Lucas were all up front during the first 10 laps of the event. The three-wide action was severe, and there was a consensus that the race would stay this way for the entirety of the 60-lap race.
John Battista took the lead on lap 11 with draft help from Tim McDonnell. He would stay there until the lap 41 green flag pit stop, car-lenths ahead of the field for the entire run. Coming into the pits, David Courtney slammed the rear-end of Mark Murphy's #47 machine. Both drivers would finish outside of the top-20, and Courtney would not make the show. Kevin Corbat was the first casualty of the event, exploding a tire entering his pit stall and destroying the engine compartment.
Battista got freight-trained after coming out of the pits 2-seconds ahead of the front pack. There were only nine cars left, with Steven Spears as the only go-or-go-homer to keep up pace. Craig Lee and Quantum Racing teamed up to stay up front, as nobody worked with the #39.
On the final lap, Matthew Dominique got a heavy push from Steven Spears and flew by Johnathan Skrabacz for the victory! Spears, Glenn Kaufmann, Mark Heron, Bink Lucas and Scott Deutsch all finished well enough to advance to the big show! Congrats to them and Matthew for his Daytona 500 pole-sitting performance!
The battle for front-row in the 2021 Daytona 500 is here. 55 drivers will fight for 45 starting positions in the big show, with 10 go-or-go homers in each duel. The top-5 of each field will advance to the Daytona 500, while the bottom-5 will sit home. The pressure is even higher for the Mark Guthrie, Rob Scarberry and Steven Spears teams, as they all have realistic expectations of competing for the top-30 in points this season if they can make every race. Expect Bink Lucas, Philip Parker and Logan Sheets to be the dark-horses to steal a spot in the field away.
