It was one of the most spectacular finishes in the history of the Extravaganza Series. Two drivers came from outside the ranks to battle it out for the final 20 laps, while the rest of the field stood still to watch a first time winner.
Race Results
Points Standings
Schedule
Zach Michael won the pole and battled Tony Pizzaro hard for the first several laps. By the end, it would be a tale of two different races. Thus began the first of many Fenway vs. University moments for 2020.
After a Tim McDonnell spin early in the go, Michael Henson and Zakk Miller stayed out and battled for the lead during the second green flag run. In the meantime, Zach had fallen outside of the top-30 before contact with Dave Butterworth sent him for a flip. He would continue on and finish 35th.
It was the Pizzaro-Heuser show yet again, The two winningest drivers at this track in recent history led a combined 56 laps, all during the 2/5th's stage of the event. On lap 95, Ken Pettit took the point.
Te most dominant driver early on looked to be points leader Johnny Reed Foley, who took Pettit and Heuser three-wide into turn one to take the top spot. He would continue his lead, winding up with 92 total on the day.
Zakk Miller went for a spin on lap 160 after contact with Randy Dobbins. After the hard contact off the turn-3 wall, the #28 machine would limp to a 34th place finish and continue his horrifying season.
On lap 202, Matthew Dominique would be the one to take the lead away from Foley. Him and rookie Mark Murphy swapped the lead several times between lap 245 and 280. They would come in to pit a couple laps later for the final 32 lap run.
Numerous drivers running up front suffered enormously bad luck. Two similar pit road crashes forced Michael Henson and Ryan Heuser to make additional pit stops during the day, finishing 28th and 26th respectively. On lap 262, it ws Rick's turn to fall after a flat tire. By miracle, he would still finish on the lead lap in 23rd to salvage some of his already devastating season.
Johnny reed Foley was poised to dominate the early season in what looked to be another top-5 finish. Contact with Tim McDonnell would call an end to the story, dropping Foley to a horrifying 40th. Matthew Dominique had a very slow pit stop after problems putting on the right-side tires. Surprisingly, Mark Murphy and the rookie pit crew were flawless, and came out in the lead.
Alex Crapser had the best pit stop of the day and wound up in the tire-tracks of the #47 machine. The two were side-by-side for nearly all of the final 22 laps, helping the Pizzaro machine reel up and possibly steal away the victory.
Murphy and Crapser were door-to-door for the final four laps as the #12 attempted to find a way past both. On the last lap, he pushed Mark on the backstretch and had a half-straightaway advantage, though Alex dove deep into turn three to make it even coming out of four. He lost the momentum, as the #47 Red Bull machine drove like the Busch Bonanza veteran he was to an amazing and unexpected first victory! The crowd rose to a standing ovation. Congrats to Mark and the entire NSRA Racing crew for an excellent victory!
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