It was a showdown of championship-like wreck-avoidance after the horrors of Darlington last week. Tony Pizzaro was able to race with two cracked ribs, a fractured right shin and a mild concussion. On the sidelines was Steven Spears, who won his one-week suspension case appeal on Thursday due to the incident and his history at Texas, but missed the show anyways.

Race Results

Points Standings

Schedule

Alan Nesfeder won the pole in convincing fashion, but lost the lead to Tony Pizzaro and Tim McDonnell on laps 7 and 8. Bill Wekheiser and Rick Jackson swapped the lead a couple of times before green flag pit stops. 

Tony Pizzaro, Rick Jackson and Ryan Heuser led the entire 70-lap stint before another round of pit stops. By the days end, Pizzaro would lead 42, Heuser 34, and Rick a race-leading 119.

Lap 216 saw Tony Long and Mark Murphy make contact, sending the #15 A&W machine through a series of spins before getting clobbered by Dale Rosendaul. Both drivers' days would come to and end. Surprisingly, this was the first caution of the race.

The restart saw only 17 cars on the lead lap with 113 laps to go. Craig Lee and Tim McDonnell led the charge, but the rest of the field loomed near and ready to take some action.

After Tim and Craig got passed, it was a complete free-for-all. Between lap 236 and 272, Rick Jackson, John Battista and Scott Jackson swapped the lead eight times before the final round of pit stops. Battista went on to finish fourth. Rick and Scott finished 3rd and 9th respectively.

Despite the lack of yellows, the race stayed very close as six drivers stayed in reach of the victory. Unfortunately, the amount of green flag laps put on the engines ended Ben Geer and Mike Carroll's day just before the finish.

Craig Lee was the first to come in for tires on lap 277. Ten laps later, Ryan Heuser was the final driver to take four tires. The waning laps would decide which end of the spectrum would have the advantage.

Craig came out of the pits with a near-four second lead on the rest of the field, who was led by Rick Jackson. Eight other cars on the lead lap were attempting to follow his lead and find the right strategy to catch the #101.

The strategy became obvious by the time Ryan blew by Rick with 17 laps to go. He still had a 2.5 second gap behind his NOS teammate, but the four fresh tires made it easier to pass lapped traffic and find his was to the bumper with four laps to go.

Crossing the line with three laps to go, Ryan dove underneath of Craig and flew by for the lead in turn 1 with relative ease. From that point, it was a cruise-control drive for the victory, earning his first victory of the season and taking the points lead for the first time since his 2018 championship. Congrats to Ryan, crew chief Mustard Mahoney, and the entire Quicksilver Motorsports team for an excellent victory!

Russ Charneski 500 Video, Part 1

Russ Charneski 500 Video, Part 2