The popcorn flies into the air like pellets from a Remington 700. Rick Mast would be proud! So would "Toucan" Sam Elliott; watching Markell Murphy win the Rockingham pole for the second time. Dalton Lucas starts on the outside, with Championship contenders scattered throughout the starting grid. Murphy looks to make it two-straight victories at The Rock!
Steven Spears taps the wall! Dalton Lucas and Geno Sphere spin trying to avoid, with Tony Long pounding the inside wall. Zach Michael gets clipped by the Kingsford #444, bashing the rear-end after a Piper Cherokee smash from behind! Long and Geno fail to continue. Michael continued on, dismayed after failing to traverse through the 44-car morass. He came in only 78-points back. Will the Coca-Cola #20 Mustang remain competitive?
Team Danger Zone teammates Zakk Miller and pole-sitter Markell Murphy led the field through the initial 45-laps. A mortifying crash for the points leader! Johnny Reed Foley pound-cakes the outside wall after a Clorox swipe from Donald Stewart. Tony Pizzaro clipped the #55, sliding him up the racetrack in a battle for the 12th position. Foley's right and left side lay incapacitated with bent steering, with Stewart limping to a 35th-place finish. Will the AC-Delco #3 Chevrolet remain competitive?
Miracle-man Michael Henson races Markell Murphy and Rockingham dominator Ryan Heuser for the lead. Heuser would eventually take it, navigating past the lapped car of Logan Sheets to nab a bonus point and take advantage of the points leaders' misfortune. The #138 NOS Energy team came in 138 points behind Johnny Reed Foley for the Championship, seemingly insurmountable with Pettit and Michael bockading their title path. Surprisingly, The #20 Coca-Cola Mustang rides unhindered with a sheared rear-end. Foley can barely keep pace with the last lead lap car.
Jonathan Skrabacz, Jimmie Stevens and Chauncey Redmond Jr. battled defiantly for the 35th position! The Castrol #48 pulverized the inside wall, breaking the concrete into chunks of glorified powder, choking the fans in the infield campground. "It tasted like chalk" said local-man Jim Stipple. "The frontrstetch got popcorn. We got the wall!" Skrabacz would finish 43rd. Up front, Ben Geer, Zach Michael and Ryan Heuser all took turns leading the field.
Bink Lucas took the top-spot back before the 100-lap mark. Alan Nesfeder immediately stripped it away, leading only his 15th lap since Nashville in June. The #78 Coke-Zero Chevrolet pulled away from the field, entering the pits with a five-second advantage over John Tharp. Miracle-man Adam Crapser went a record-breaking 92 laps before coming in, stealing Ken Pettit's strategy of leading a lap early. The #8 Marley machine would never make it. After the stops, Heuser, Tharp and Nesfeder battled defiantly for the top-spot. Nesfeder would pull away again.
A seven-second advantage over Adam Crapser! The Packers machine pulverized through the field with much fresher tires, but could not catch the Coke-Zero man. Ken Pettit passed Nesfeder to re-take his lap under the same strategy. His fate would not be so lucky. Pettit's #8 Chevrolet got tapped by John Tharp, slamming into the rear of Timothy McDonnell and back up the racetrack. Nesfeder mutilated the "Legend" logo on deck lid, ending both races after the blow. Nesfeder's advantage was gone; out after pure domination. Pettit was 24 spots ahead of Zach Michael and 27 ahead of Johnny Reed Foley before the crash. In fact, he was the points leader at the time of impact. Pettit would finish 38th.
Zach Michael's damage earlier in the event couldn't withstand the pressure, limping home to 34th while the day was done. This provided new life for Quick-Silver teammates Ryan Heuser and Craig Lee, John Tharp and Zakk Miller to win the title! Up front, Adam Crapser and Matthew Dominique alternated the top-spot several times from laps 210 to 280. John Battista, Alex Crapser and pheno-man Steven Spears occ
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The kernels are poppin'! Johnny Reed Foley, Ken Pettit and Zach Michael ain't stoppn'! 78 points divide the top- three Championship contenders, with Foley looking for victory #8. #8 Ken Pettit and Zach Michael finished 5th and 6th here in the spring, with Foley out with a blown engine. Look for better luck to befall the AC-Delco squad. Spring winner Markell Murphy sweeps both Rockingham poles, looking to make it 2-for-2! Marvel-man Dalton Lucas occupies the outside, hoping to extend his Bristol and Martinsville luck to The Rock. Foley grids 37th. Pettit starts 16th. Zach will kickoff dead-last after a near-spin off the tight turn-2 corner. Good luck to all 45 teams in the Pop Secret Microwave Popcorn 400!
2024 Chase Results (Seven Events)
Points Standings (After 32 of 36 Events) 1. Johnny Reed Foley: - 2. Ken Pettit: -67 3. Zach Michael: -78 4. Ryan Heuser: -138 (+2) 5. Craig Lee: -147 6. John Tharp: -153 (-2) 7. Zakk Miller: -186 8. Timothy McDonnell: -294 (+2) 9. Alex Crapser: -350 10. Rick Jackson: -356 (-2)
Bodies roam the Atlanta Motor Speedway awaiting the mass of tungsten and driver flesh to coagulate in 200 mile-per-hour style! One man called it a "death trap on concrete". There is no concrete on Atlanta, but there is a pit stall where the crew has to jump over bushes to reach the racecar! John Battista occupies that stall. Zakk Miller will grid along-side after earning his fifth pole of the 2024 campaign.
The early laps saw candy bar wrappers and bars themselves fly across the windshields. "I didn't know birds pooped brown" said Craig Lee. It was a Three Musketeers! Ryan Heuser took the early advantage from Zakk Miller on lap-3, hoping to narrow a 96-point gap between he and points leader Johnny Reed Foley. All ten Championship contenders showed signs of early speed.
Winless-wonder Logan Sheets took the lead on lap-7. The Quaker State #58's hopes are to dethrone John Battista and Matt Raboin from 11th in the standings. Both drivers are heavily associated with Valvoline and Valvoline accessories. Quaker State looks upon them with fury and disdain. Both Battista and teammate Alex Crapser would chain-link past the #58 on lap-16, solidifying their oil-warfare supremacy.
Points leader and "Memphis Blues" man Johnny Reed Foley took the lead on lap-22. It would be the AC-Delco's 19th race led in 20 events, hoping to cash their stride with an Extravaganza Series crown! Craig Lee and John Battista fought the #3 for the lead, only for Foley to climb his way back. He could not prevent Ken Pettit from leading a lap, with "Marley Man" coming in only 8-points behind in second. Last Week's winner and third-in-points man Zach Michael also maintained his presence at the front.
A horrible break for Dakota Wilkins, Michael Henson and Tony Gunk; falling to the wayside after engine trouble. Rick Jackson endured the same hindrance, limping around at minimum speed to keep his title hopes alive. Up front, Timothy McDonnell was once again a contender! The #22 Caterpillar Volkswagen dominated the stint, leading all 54 laps before a Chauncey Redmond Jr. short-pit put the #64 atop the heap. Redmond, McDonnell, Zach Michael, Johnny Reed Foley and Craig Lee were the front-runners through the halfway mark, with the #20 Coca-Cola Mustang earning the Halfway Bacon Bonus!
Former Race-2-Win teammates Rick Jackson and David Butterworth tangled on lap-180. Jackson would fail to continue, ending his Championship bid with a 41st-place finish. Butterworth limped home to 31st. The ensuing restart saw Chauncey Redmond Jr. tap John Battista on the quad-oval exit. Battista saved his Wendy's machine through the infield apron, with the #64 barreling into the path of Bink Lucas and Matt Raboin. Lucas and Redmond failed to continue. Raboin crawled his way to 34th; well off the pace for the remaining circuits.
Ben Geer, Adam Crapser, Matthew Dominique and Timothy McDonnell led the field to the green with 125 laps to the distance! Discover Card's "Swipe of the race" was given to Ryan Heuser, traversing through lapped traffic to swipe McDonnell for the lead. A three-wide masterpiece handed Markell Murphy the top-spot, driving the car he ran at Texas and Michigan to similar success. Fan-favorite Dan Johnston fell ill with transmission issues, finishing 42nd.
Second-in-points man Ken Pettit inherited the lead while Johnny Reed Foley nibbled in the 10th position. By lap 230, Foley was inside the top-5. Pettit
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For the first time in Extravaganza Series history, the same two teams bookend the field in qualifying! Team Danger Zone and Lucas Racing's Zakk Miller and John Battista occupy the front-row. Adam Crapser and Markell Murphy grid in last, bottoming out after hitting the tar-strips on corner entry. Johnny Reed Foley, Ken Pettit and John Tharp stand alone as Team Danger Zone and Quick-Silver Motorsports hope to tag-team to the Championship crown! A seven-car battle for the title initiated by a four-race stretch starting with Atlanta, then Rockingham, Phoenix and Homestead. Zakk Miller triumphs over points leader Johnny Reed Foley to earn his fifth pole of 2024. Last week's winner Zach Michael starts in the 16th row, with points leaders Johnny Reed Foley and Ken Pettit needing to work their way outside of the top-10. Johnny Reed Foley and Ryan Heuser come in as the favorites to win the 2024 Dunacell 500!
Johnny Reed Foley and Craig Lee can nab twenty top-10's on the year! Foley, Ken Pettit, Ryan Heuser and John Battista already scored ten top-5's. Zach Michael, Craig Lee, Alex Crapser and Tony Pizzaro are two away. Dakota Wilkins is one victory from tying Foley for the most with six. Zakk Miller passed Foley for the most poles with five! Foley is 232 laps led from 1,500. Ryan Heuser is 171 from 1,000. Ken Pettit and Zakk Miller are tied for least DNF's with two. Foley, Ken Pettit, Zach Michael, John Tharp and Zakk Miller each have a realistic chance of completing 10,000 laps in 2024!
A remarkable outbreak of hives incapsulates the crowd! Bee hives fell from the upper deck, landing on the heads of race-fans as they scurried into the parking lot, climbing whatever trees or poles they could. Unfortunately there were more hives up there! The exterminator "literally just one guy in an astronaut suit" took out the entire school of bees in one swig on Friday night. Now we can look forward to Championship style racing! Ken Pettit comes in 22 points ahead of Pole-sitter Craig Lee for the lead.
It was a Hard Day's Night for Dakota WIlkins and Bink Lucas, hitting the wall in catastrophic style during qualifying. A Quick-Silver Motorsports front-row took the green flag only to be robbed by the Bepis machine to lead lap-2! By the twelfth circuit, Race-2-Win Motorsports teammates Rick Jackson and Tony Pizzaro battled it out for the 1-2 spots, with Logan Sheets the only driver to keep up with the duo.
Bill Werkheiser blew an engine to bring out the first caution. Most likely his last race at the facility, he would return to Georgia to represent the state in any way he can, using his airstrip to feed the community that gave him more than he could swallow whole. Alex Crapser took the advantage well after the restart, dogging the Fenway Frank machine for a lap-74 pass. Craig Lee would renegade back to the second position before a John Tharp spin brought out the second yellow. An immaculate 360 through the front-stretch infield nearly dismantled his Championship dream.
Horror in turn-3 sent shockwaves through the colossium. Dakota Wilkins sabotaged the catchfence after contact with William Perry! His car metamorphisized into the wire and back onto the asphalt a-pillar first. The damage rating was recorded at 9869. Miraculously, he was lifted on a gurney cart with all five fingers waving into the air. The crowd pulled together and saluted him back. Bink Lucas throught they were waving for him! William Perry slid hundreds of feet down the embankment and into the turn-4 apron upside-down. Neither car would continue.
Craig Lee took his second swipe at the lead before the Wilkins-Perry incident. He would drop back to 9th after a slow pit stop, with Johnny Reed Foley taking the top-spot from Tony Pizzaro to lead his 18th race in the last 19 events, setting the pace Caravan held many years ago. Foley came in a whopping 56-points behind Lee, gaining ground after a 15th-place starting spot traversed him to the front as Lee dropped back. Points leader Ken Pettit struggled to stay inside the top-30, keeping the Championship race wide-open.
Alex Crapser and the Pennzoil #04 re-took the top-spot on lap 107, hoping to keep his season alive after four-straight finishes outside the top-25. Miracle-man Cristian Torres occupied the second spot, with Ben Geer and Jimmie Stevens battling with Ryan Heuser in a David vs. Goliath matchup of champions. By the end of the halfway pit cycle, Timothy McDonnell flew from 9th to first after a short-pit strategy. Former teammate Ben Geer and Bink Lucas came out second and third, with both Lifesaver Racing entries inside the top-5 for the first time in millennia. The Twinkie-man occupied the lead on lap 163, earning the Halfway Bacon money in popular style.
Craig Lee and Jeremy Hebel go for an enormous spin on the front-stretch! The man second in points careened the outside wall while battling the rookie for 11th place, spinning back onto the racetrack into Jimmie Stevens. The #2 Ampio Mustang pulverized the front of Lee's car, sending debris everywhere for drivers to avoid. Chauncey Redmond hit the #2 and spun into Markell Murphy, ending both nights. Championship contender Timothy McDonnell crashed into the rear of a stopped Rod Weston attempting to avoid the accident. The #22 Caterpillar Volkswagen was running in the third spot. Now he was out, dropping to 10th in points while Lee fell to 5th.
Craig Lee closes to 22 points behind Ken Pettit with just five races to go! The NOS Energy #101 Quick-Silver Chevrolet broke the 200 mile-per-hour barrier for the first time in Extravaganza Series history! 202.881 miles per hour in a caution-free race at Talladega pushed him into next year's Big Bud Shootout and All-Star Race after a victory from the pole. This week, he's on the pole again in hopes of duplicating the effort, and passing Ken Pettit for the lead in the Championship standings! Here are the results for the top-3 drivers since Darlington in May:
The Rookie of the Year battle continues! A 6th place finish at Talladega for Molemar Diggs pushes himself ahead by 175 points over Jeremy Hebel. Steve Inkman earned a top-20 result as well, hoping to cap the season off by qualifying for the final five events. Rod Weston earned his third-straight top-20 finish, earning six on the season despite failing to qualify for thirteen events. Tony Gunk will watch from the sidelines, with Kelpo still on board for 2025.
Points Standings (After 31 of 36 Events) 1. Ken Pettit: - 2. Craig Lee: -22 (+2) 3. Johnny Reed Foley: -56 (-1) 4. Zakk Miller: -88 (+1) 5. John Tharp: -102 (+1) 6. Zach Michael: -124 (+1) 7. Ryan Heuser: -147 (-4) 8. Timothy McDonnell: -206 (+1) 9. Rick Jackson: -240 (+1) 10. Alex Crapser: -284 (-2)
Alabama stands strong! 300,000 fans produce a buzz over the 2.6-mile facility, rooting for their favorite driver to dominate the slipstream! Ken Pettit comes in 16 points ahead of Johnny Reed Foley for the lead in the 2024 Championship standings . Ryan Heuser, Craig Lee, Zakk Miller and John Tharp all trail within 100-points of the Bob Marley Race-2-Win #8. Each of them has enjoyed success at Talladega in the past.
Craig Lee nabs his first pole since the Southern 500 in 2023, locking him into the 2024 Big Bud Shootout! He and teammate Ryan Heuser would lead the initial laps, with only Mark Heron and David Courtney struggling to keep pace with the duo. 43 cars remained in the lead draft through lap-10, with John Battista, Johnny Reed Foley, Jimmie Stevens and Logan Sheets showing speed up front.
The AC-Delco #3 extends his new lap-led streak to two races after taking the top-spot over Heuser on lap-4. He would dominate the stint, with a charge from Dave Miller and Markell Murphy as the only hindrences to his perfect green flag run. Foley would remain atop the leaderboard through his first pit stop on lap-51.
The 2023 Champion has gone down! Ryan Heuser explodes an engine on lap-25, splitting the field in half as they attempt to scurry past on the backstretch. The #138 NOS Energy Chevrolet came in only 45 points back from Ken Pettit. He would exit the race with a last-place finish, dropping to 7th in the standings. Ben Geer and Michael Henson would also drop, with David Butterworth passing Henson for 30th in points. Geer would remain 27th.
John Battista and the Wendy's Lucas Racing Chevrolet came out of the pits as the leader. On lap-60, rookie Rod Weston would get a push from points leader Ken Pettit to earn his first career lap led! It took Rod and the NAPA Sim World Motorsports Dodge 33 starts to complete the feat, also hoping for their third-straight top-20 result. They would finish 19th.
Dave Miller, John Tharp and Adam Crapser all took turns at the heap before ferris-wheeling to the mid-pack. John Battista and Johnny Reed Foley cycled back to the front by lap-70, with John Tharp, Timothy McDonnell and Alex Crapser fighting to lead the half-way lap! 20-cars remained in the lead group, with a pack of six including Craig Lee, Chauncey Redmond, Jimmie Stevens, Zach Michael, David Butterworth and Steven Spears miraculously running them down.
Bink Lucas nabs the Halfway-Bacon Bonus, eating his bacon-wrapped lifesavers in immaculate style! The #5 "Candy Machine" leads it's first laps since Chicagoland, attempting to end a six-race streak of finishes between 20th and 29th. Bink would accomplish the feat with his first top-5 finish since his victory at Texas in March. He would remain at the helm until his second stop on lap-105.
Scott Jackson and Timothy McDonnell were the only drivers to take on two-tires, rendering their long-run status up in the air. The #38 ATEUP Chevrolet was able to maintain the lead out of the pits for a whopping four laps before the pack finallycaught him, handing John Battista the advantage through lap-135. Zach Michael, Molemar Diggs, Scott Jackson, Rick Jackson, Ken Pettit and Timothy McDonnell all took turns at the helm before the 30-to-go mark. Early race dominator Alex Crapser would fall to a flat tire, finishing four laps down and dropping to 10th in the standings.
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