A tremendous battle for the top-35 in points overshadows the top-gunners coming into the Russ Charneski 500. Extravaganza big-dog's Scott Jackson, Michael Henson, Jonathan Skrabacz, William Perry, Rob Scarberry, Dakota Wilkins, Dalton Lucas, Dan Johnston, David Butterworth, Aaron Cummings, Ben Geer and Steven Spears all race for their 2023 livelihood in an attempt to secure their starting spots for the remainder of the season. Two-time Champion Jackson will start on the pole, attaining a head start on the mission at hand.
Front-row starters Scott Jackson and newfound Mr. Consistency Donald Stewart roll to the green flag in front of Russ Charneski, who waved the green flag in grand style. After a well-needed bonus point, Zakk Miller passed through both drivers on the bottom lane to capture the lead on lap 2. He would remain there for the entire green flag run.
Johnny Reed Foley, Chauncey Redmond Jr. and Logan Sheets all took their turns behind the #30 car without significant hope of bidding for the lead. After the first round of pit stops, Miller pulled ahead by a staggering six seconds before getting reeled in by Sheets, Bill Werkheiser, Johnny Reed Foley and Chauncey Redmond Jr. He would hold them all off through lap 100.
The second round of stops invited a staggering pit entry by Kevin Corbat, who re-introducing himself to the high-horsepower Extravaganza Mustangs. Points leader Ryan Heuser would suffer a broken oil line, losing 16 laps in the process and dropping to fourth in the standings, re-handing the lead to Dave Miller. Much later on, Bill Werkheiser suffered the only engine fatality of the event, finishing worse than 40th for the second straight week.
Only the second green flag lead change of the evening occurred on lap 109 with an inside turn-1 pass by Logan Sheets. He would be looking for his fourth top-5 in-a-row, a miracle feat considering not qualifying inside the top-20 all season. He would remain up front for five laps.
Johnny Reed Foley took the top-spot on lap 114 on the exit of turn-4, only to hand it back to Sheets two laps later. The two would swap positions once more as we closed towards the third green flag stop, with Dave Miller, Tim McDonnell and Chauncey Redmond Jr. well in tow. Dave Miller would exit with less than a second advantage over Foley, who re-took the spot to win the Halfway Bacon Bonus.
A blown right-rear tire from Michael Henson sent him directly into the path of Ben Geer and Jimmie Stevens, both knocking their front-ends out of alignment. Geer would spin driver-side first into the outside wall, ending his day in the 44th position. Stevens would also fail to continue, finishing 45th and dropping from 14th to 24th in the standings.
Johnny Reed Foley led the field to the green, leading through lap 219 before Dave Miller and teammate Tim McDonnell took over the lead positions. 2019 Texas winner Alex Crapser flew by all three to take the top-spot away before the 100-to-go mark, leading through the remaining green flag cycle. Tim McDonnell would take the lead on a minor short-pit strategy, only to have Crapser nab it back with 52 laps remaining.
Tim McDonnell entered the pits for the final time with 26 laps to go. he pulled off a miracle pit stop over Crapser, who exited in the fourth position while McDonnell came out with a three-second advantage over Craig Lee and Zakk Miller. His gap would evaporate sparingly over the next 10 circuits.
With ten laps remaining, Zakk Miller was on the prowl. He had cruised past Craig Lee for the second position just a couple laps earlier and forced his way side-by-side with McDonnell for the lead with nine laps to go. He would clear him on the exit of turn-2, staying at least a car-length ahead of Lee and McDonnell for the remainder of the race.
Ryan Heuser sits atop the points standings for the first time in seemingly ages. This time last year he was sitting out after a crash at Homestead, watching Trae Larkin drive his car with moderate success. He will start 44th tonight after a devastating turn-1 flip in qualifying. Up front, Scott Jackson wins the pole with a 196.693 mile-per-hour lap! This is the boost he needed to turn his season around, qualifying 30th or worse in three of the first five events and failing to record a top-5 so far. Third-in-points Donald Stewart will start on the outside front row, looking to continue his hot-streak of top-13's to begin the season. 45 cars and 45 starts will take the field once more at Texas! Here is the race for the top-35 in points:
26. Ziggy Moonglow: +60 27. Matt Raboin: +58 28. Chauncey Redmond Jr.: +53 29. Scott Jackson: +44 30. Michael Henson: +36 31. Jonathan Skrabacz: +34 32. William Perry: +22 33. Rob Scarberry: +10 34. Dakota Wilkins: +9 35. Dan Johnston: - ----------------------------------------------- 36. Dalton Lucas: - 37. David Butterworth: -33 38. Aaron Cummings: -35 39. Ben Geer: -36 40. Steven Spears: -47
A horrifying qualifying crash entering turn-1 sent the #138 into a frenzy for the ages. After a hard rear impact and flipping three times, Ryan Heuser walked out of his racecar with only a limp and a bruised-up right knee. He is already good to go for tonight, with icepacks galore in the pit area. Ben Geer also suffered a crash exiting turn-4, gridding 45th in the field after finishing second in the 34-lap pre-qualifier. Heuser will need to traverse through the field to maintain his points lead. Geer will need the run of his life to gain his 36-point disadvantage from the top-35.
It's a dead-heat for 35th in the standings coming to the final race before provisional cutoffs. Every year, the top-35 point-getters from race 7 through 36 are guaranteed a starting spot in the field. Four drivers who qualified for every race last season come into Texas outside of the provisional cutoff, and several others are narrowly inside the bubble. Dalton Lucas, Dave Butterworth, Aaron Cummings, Steven Spears and Ben Geer (if he qualifies) will be racing for their lives in an attempt to secure themselves a secure future in the Extravaganza Series.
26. Ziggy Moonglow: +60 27. Matt Raboin: +58 28. Chauncey Redmond Jr.: +53 29. Scott Jackson: +44 30. Michael Henson: +36 31. Jonathan Skrabacz: +34 32. William Perry: +22 33. Rob Scarberry: +10 34. Dakota Wilkins: +9 35. Dan Johnston: - ----------------------------------------------- 36. Dalton Lucas: - 37. David Butterworth: -33 38. Aaron Cummings: -35 39. Ben Geer: -36 40. Steven Spears: -47
Mello Yello is currently sponsoring the #51 and #65 entries, both outside of the cutoff. Allstate and High Octane Racing are also in trouble, with Dan Johnston and David Butterworth needing a good finish at Texas to preserve a starting spot during the nearby short-track stretch.
Four different winners during the first four races has replicated the diversified competition of 2022. One thing that hasn't changed is the Quick-Silver Motorsports domination, leading 31% of the season's laps combined despite not crossing the checkered flag in first. Look for that to possibly change at Atlanta.
Craig Lee, Zach Michael and Tony Pizzaro dominated the weekly practice sessions, though couldn't stop an out-of-nowhere pole lap by Rookie of the Year leader Ziggy Moonglow. He would start on the pole for the first time in his Extravaganza Series career, leading the first four circuits. Tim McDonnell, Zach Michael and Tony Pizzaro would share their turns at the front for the next several laps.
There were four lead changes during the first 40 miles of the event. The latest came from points leader Dave Miller, who had catapulted his way from the 14th starting stop to the lead on lap 23. He and Pizzaro would trade the 1-2 positions numerous times, tagging along John Battista and Matthew Dominique. This would remain the top-4 after pit stops on lap 60.
Before he had a chance to lead a lap, Rockingham winner John Battista demolished his engine while running in 3rd at the end of the backstraighaway. Lucas Racing is known to run races without the RPM chip, possibly attributing to the failure. He would finish 45th on the day. Miller and Pizzaro pulled away from the field afterwards, before contact between Rick Jackson and Zakk Miller sent the #44 for a tailspin on the frontstretch dog-leg. Jackson received no damage, though struggled to re-accumulate the track position for the remainder of the race.
Miraculous pit work by Chauncey Redmond Jr.'s crew put him atop the board. He's in search of his second-straight top-5 finish after a disastrous start to his rookie campaign. Ken Pettit would take his first lead of the race several laps after the restart, looking as well to turn his season around at one of his most dominant racetracks. Both stints were short-lived, with Johnny Reed Foley and Craig Lee leading the field through lap 208.
Foley looked even stronger than last year, winning this event in a last-lap pass over Tony Pizzaro to end the Race-2-Win victory streak at the facility. This season, Pettit was the only driver who could compete in the equipment after the halfway point, leaving Foley and the QSM brigade as the dominant factors again. It would be a common theme so far in 2023. On lap 208, Ryan Heuser took his first lead of the race, giving all three Quick-Silver cars a lap led.
Contact between Aaron Cummings and Bill Werkheiser sent the #6 spinning up the racetrack into the path of Tony Pizzaro. Pizzaro crunched the wall hard into the turn-1 barrier, while Werkheiser spun rear-first into the #12 and parked directly into the racing groove. The rest of the field narrowly squeezed by. Both drivers would finish 40th or worse by the finish, but miraculously limped to the checkered flag without a DNF tag on their stat-sheet.
Some drivers took two tires and an extra half-can of fuel, while others were able to fill the tank with only one can. Craig Lee, Randy Dobbins, Scott Jackson, Ben Geer and Markell Murphy found their way to the front with the excellent fuel mileage, with former leader Heuser starting 6th. A couple of three-wide battles for the lead between Matthew Dominique, Adam Crapser and Johnny Reed Foley provided bonus points for all, but in the end the #3 came out on top with seemingly the fastest car in the field. He would stay there for the remainder of the green flag run, towing Crapser away from the rest of the pack.
Adam Crapser entered the pits with 54 laps to go, narrowly inside the fuel window to the finish. Foley entered his stall two laps later, coming out of the pits in third behind Logan Sheets and trailing the #4 Packers machine by three seconds. Both Crapser and Sheets have never won an Extravaganza Series race. It took nearly no-time for the #3 and #58 to catch Crapser, passing him just 10 laps into the run. Foley re-took the lead one final time with 37-to-go, with dark-horse Cristian Torres suddenly a contender for the victory in the third position.
A miracle qualifying run by Ziggy Moonglow puts him on the pole for the Cracker Barrel 500! It couldn't have come at a better time, entering Atlanta at a respectable but not safe 29th in the points standings. He failed to qualify better than 37th during the first three events, but has overcome all odds to find the 206.889 mile-per-hour speed. Can he stay up there? Last week's winner John Battista will join him outside the front row.
Half-Dollar Motley won the first ever Atlanta race in Extravaganza Series history back in 1960. After a re-configuration and several repaves over the years, the Race-2-Win team has dominated the spring Atlanta event over the last several years:
2019: Ken Pettit 2020: Tony Pizzaro 2021: Rick Jackson
Last season saw Rick Jackson lead 137 laps, while Tony Pizzaro narrowly lost to a last-lap pass by Johnny Reed Foley at the finish. Ken Pettit's 2019 victory was his last, in hopes of turning his disastrous 2023 season around at the facility.
After four events, only three drivers have finished better than they have qualified in every race:
1. Dave Miller 2. Donald Stewart 3. Zakk Miller
All three drivers will start 14th or lower on the grid at Atlanta, giving themselves decent odds to continue their streak.
Last season's first Rockingham event saw a ton of unusual names at the forefront, with two High Octane Racing cars inside the top-5 for the first time in their brief history. It was the day that Donald Stewart, Bill Werkheiser and Bink Lucas set the tone for their unprecedented successful 2022 seasons. With Dalton Lucas and Cristian Torres gridding inside the top-3, expect more of the same in the 2023 Jiffy Pop 400.
The green flag flew for the 393-lap event with Rick Jackson at the helm and Dalton Lucas ready to pounce. Jackson was able to flourish, leading lap 1 while Lucas succumbed to the pressure and drifted back. His teammate John Battista took the lead for the first time on lap 24 and remained there for the rest of the green flag run.
A cataclysm of the ages roared towards the rear of the field. Three and four-wide action throughout provided the impetus for Zakk Miller and Trey Larkin to earn 20+ positions during the first 30 laps and propell themselves out of danger of going a lap down. Larkin would eventually fade, while Miller stayed strong all race to earn a 10th place finish.
An enormous sunshine provided sizzling temperatures and an enormnous attrition rate. Alan Nesfeder, Matt Raboin and Cristian Torres all fell out early, bringing the entire Detroit brigade into sheer despair. Torres dropped from 12th to 21st in the standings due to the failure.
A pit road crash between Tim McDonnell, Matthew Dominique and leader John Battista destroyed the #22 and #25 machines. McDonnell came in third in the standings in persuit of a revival season, running in 6th at the time of the accident but finishing 40th. Dominique would crawl to 38th position, as both drivers would lose their streak of leading a lap during every event of the season.
John Battista suffered rear-end damage after getting clipped by McDonnell's front-end on pit road, losing the lead to Tony Pizzaro. The #12 would dominate the middle portion of the event, leading by nearly 10 seconds at the one-third mark of the race. Teammate Rick Jackson suffered an engine failure while running in second place, expanding the gap for Pizzaro while Jackson dropped from 6th to 16th in the standings.
Two spinouts through the infield grass by Dave Daniels and Dalton Lucas failed to bring out the caution flag before the halfway mark. On lap 229, contact between Alex Crapser and Ryan Heuser entering turn 4 spun the #04 into the outside wall, directly into the path of Tim McDonnell. Both drivers failed to finish inside of the top-30.
The five-second gap between Tony Pizzaro and John Battista was erased. The rest of the field attempted to exploit the two dominators, including Chauncey Redmond Jr., who's miraculous fuel-save strategy roulette-wheeled his way back onto the lead lap. After the restart, Dave Miller was able to capitalize on a fantastic pit stop to take his first lead of the day.
The lead was swapped several times by Miller and John Battista while Dakota Wilkins blew his engine to earn his second DNF of the season. Battista was able to take it outright and pull away from everybody except Redmond, who scavenged through the field with four fresh tires from the caution flag pit stop. Dave Miller dropped to six seconds back, forcing a short-pit strategy late in the going to re-take the lead.
Chauncey Redmond Jr. miraculously tracked down Dave Miller despite the 10-second advantage, forcing a final short-pit by the #90 with 43 laps to go. Miller entered the pits only three laps prior to Redmond and Battista, narrowly re-gaining the advantage by less than a second as the #90 and #39 meandered through lapped traffic on their way to the checkered flag. With 15 laps remaining, Battista took the lead from Miller for good and earned the most laps led bonus from Tony Pizzaro by only four circuits.
A wealthy crowd nearing the 500,000 capacity at Extravaganza's favorite racetrack! The newly re-acclaimed Jiffy Pop 400 (Jiffy Pop 500 in the early days) has been synonymous for excellent finishes and wild card winners. The previous Pizzaro-Heuser domination has been replaced by an ectoplasm of the gods, giving everyone the opportunity to find themselves within the realm of victory. Here was last years top-7:
1. Donald Stewart 2. Bill Werkheiser 3. David Butterworth 4. Dan Johnston 5. Dalton Lucas 6. Bink Lucas 7. Trey Larkin
Rick Jackson pulled off a cataclysmic lap of 162.814 miles-per-hour, a full two seconds over miracle-man Dalton Lucas on the outside front row. Dalton's last top-5 was at this event last season, looking to capture the popcorn in 2023! The winner will get his head dunked by scalding butter. Ryan Heuser comes in as the points leader and the race favorite, despite qualifying 32nd with teammate Craig Lee in the rear. Scott Jackson and Steven Spears also gridded outside the top-30, parallel with their season struggles so far. Here is the cutoff with three races remaining:
30. Dan Johnston 31. John Battista 32. Jonathan Skrabacz 33. Dalton Lucas 34. Ziggy Moonglow 35. Ken Pettit ---------------------------------
36. Ken Joynt 37. Aaron Cummings 38. Scott Jackson 39. Steven Spears 40. Cristiano de Sa 41. Ben Geer 42. Trae Larkin 43. Mark Heron 44. Chauncey Redmond Jr.
Every driver inside the top-42 in points has qualified for the event despite the Bonanza Series companion race. Mark Heron will be out for the second straight week, with Dave Daniels as the only Bonanza regular to make the top-45 field. Good luck at the ROCK!!!!!!
The second night-race of the season is also the second evening event towards the Floridian coastline. 6,000 miles of travel time over the past two weeks saw some of the Extravaganza drivers battle "air sickness", leaving them unable to speak to their pit crews during the practice sessions. "When I opened my mouth there was no saliva. It felt like a spiderweb in my throat" said Aaron Cummings, who comes in an intimidating 40th in the standings. Tony Pizzaro comes in as the points leader, with he and Johnny Reed Foley the only two to record a top-10 in both events.
The Quantum Racing teammates of Matthew Dominique and Matt Raboin start on the front row, taking the green flag in style as the rest of the field prepares for the 267-lap grind to the front. Last week's winner Dakota Wilkins suffers some post-race jitters and scrapes the wall early. The field remained two and three-wide throughout for the first two-dozen laps.
The first lead change of the night came on lap-3 after a Craig Lee pass towards the outside turn-4 wall shot him to the front. He and John Tharp were a 1-2 punch at the head of the pack for most of the green flag run. Quick-Silver teammates Ryan Heuser and Dave Miller come from the back of the field to join him for another 1-2-3 teammate brigade at the front line, dropping Tharp to fourth while Bink Lucas, Rob Scarberry and points leader Tony Pizzaro narrowly hung on to the pack.
The Homestead fuel-window has dipped several laps in 2023. On lap-57, leader Craig Lee and Tony Long came in to attempt a four-stop pit strategy instead of the usual three. Everyone else followed suit, though Lee's immaculate strategy set the tone for the event after coming out with a six-second lead.
Chauncey Redmond Jr. suffered his second gearbox problem of the season, finishng 44th or worse for the second time in 2023. Tim McDonnell, Dave Miller, Tony Long, Ryan Heuser, Tony Pizzaro and Zakk Miller would all attempt to run down the #101, successfully pulling off the feat after 43 laps. Lee would take it back to win the Halfway Bacon Bonus after the second green flag pit stop.
The lead swapped between Tim McDonnell, Dave Miller and Ryan Heuser as we leaned towards the 100 lap-to-go mark. The first accident of the night occurred on lap 167 when John Battista's engine tore apart in the midst of a disasterous 27th-place effort. It was probably the worst race of Battista's career, mired outside of the top-40 during the first green flag run and placing no better than 25th all night. He would finish 44th on the day, dropping to 31st in the standings. Last week's winner Dakota Wilkins would fall to an engine during the caution flag, leaving three Lucas Racing powerplants in the garage while the rest of the field remained in tact.
The yellow flag erased Ryan Heuser's near four-second advantage on the field. He would lead the next 18 laps after the ensuing restart before points leader Tony Pizzaro made his bid on the outside of turn-2. He would successfully earn his five bonus-points, as the two drivers battled for the top-spot for the remainder of the green flag run.
The strategy that teammate Craig Lee perfected during the first green flag stop was the impetus for Ryan Heuser's short-pit strategy with 42 laps to go. An impossibly fast pit stop by John Tharp put him three seconds ahead of Tony Pizzaro for second place, and only one second behind leader Heuser with a three-lap tire advantage. Pizzaro, Alex Crapser and Logan Sheets would fight hard for the next 40-laps to overhaul the top-2 with a four-second gap to overcome.
A horrifying and literal blow to the points leader while battling for the third position dropped Tony Pizzaro to a 42nd place effort despite his third-straight miraculous run. Crapser, Sheets, Dave Miller and Bill Werkheiser re-formed the second pack in a last-ditch attempt to catch the #138 and #14. Up front, John Tharp took the lead from Ryan Heuser with 31 laps to go.
With 20 laps remaining, Heuser and Tharp remained side-by-side while still maintaining their four-second leverage from the rest of the field. Tharp inevitably took the lead outright one lap later with the fresher Goodyear tires and stayed ahead despite Heuser's draf
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Last year's Champion Dave Miller hopes to hurdle over the 45-car field for the victory, one year after finishing second in both Homestead-Miami events. He comes in 6th in the standings after two races in 2023, finishing 15th and 5th. Points leader Tony Pizzaro comes in with a victory and a second-straight top-10, with fall winner Johnny Reed Foley with the same stat-line only 16 points back. They will start 9th and 22nd on the grid. An incredible qualifying effort by Quantum Racing puts the duel-Viper's atop the board entering the initial Southern-stretch of 2023, a welcome performance for the entire team. They have each recorded a finish of 37th or worse in the first two races, with Dominique blowing an engine while in second-place last week. We'll see how long the powerhouse-duo can stay up there.
Two drivers come into Homestead-Miami with pure determination. Ryan Heuser lost his Championship bid last season while leading this event after a frontstretch accident forced him to miss three races. He comes in 5th in the standings, attempting to eradicate the demonic presence of ghosts from yesteryear. Dakota Wilkins has just come off the race of his life, proving he is no fluke with a miracle 4th-place qualifying effort next to fellow Wisconsin driver Alex Crapser on the grid. An incredible top-10 start by both Ken Joynt and Wilkins puts them halfway through their top-35 goal. Chauncey Redmond Jr., Ziggy Moonglow and William Perry also qualified their way into the show for the third-straight week. Sadly, Mark Heron will watch at home, sitting 37th in points after narrowly missing the field. Scott Jackson is 41st in the standings and looking to pounce. Good luck to all at Homestead!
