Coming into Bristol, it was Ryan Heuser on top of the points standings. His record stands tall here, as he looks to retain his momentum with another victory in the Bristol spring race. With a fourth championship possibly in the midst, it is scary to see the #138 back to his dominating self. Unfortunately, the tables would turn the opposite direction.

Race Results

Points Standings

Schedule

The event started with an engine failure at the grid by Matthew Dominique. His last place effort would push him to 12th in the standings. After the green flag waved, Zach Michael went for an inside wall excursion just a couple of laps in. Then it was Alex Crapser, Ryan Heuser and Tony Pizzaro battling for the lead during the first 30 laps. 

Miracle-man Kevin Corbat took the lead on lap 32 during his third start of the season. The Auto-Value Motorsports drivers certainly had their setup figured out, with Jimmie Stevens taking the spot on lap 63. Matt Raboin and Zakk Miller also took turns at the front. Miller would stay there for most of the next 115 laps.

After a Rick Jackson engine failure, John Battista and points leader Ryan Heuser made contact out of turn 4. Battista flew to the inside and back up the racetrack, getting clipped by Heuser again and slamming head-first into the outside wall. Brandon Raines got involved and spun down the racetrack, directly into the path of leader Zakk Miller. Miller slammed him hard, sending Raines for a violent flip and damaging the front end of the #28.

In a miraculous state of affairs, the #28 Oreo crew was able to repair the car to good-as-new status as Miller re-took the lead on lap 210. Donald Stewart and Cristian Torres led a few laps during the stint before points leader Ryan Heuser spun while exiting the pits. Ryan fell back to 4th in the standings after a 40th place effort when the day was done.

Not only did Zakk's crew help fix the front end of his racecar. They seemingly got him out of the pits first during every single stop. It was a herculean effort, helping Zakk lead over half of the laps in the event. It was a welcome turn-around after such a horrific start to the season.

Donald Stewart was in the lead on lap 317. By lap 318, a blow tire sent him to the pits. He would finish the race in 22nd place. Zakk Miller led the next 60 laps before Aaron Cummings charged to the lead with 120 laps to go. The two swapped the top spot a couple times before Cristian Torres and Adam Crapser charged to the 1-2 positions before green flag pit stops.

Towards the end of the pit cycle, David Butterworth smashed the pit wall after making contact with Philip Parker. Ben Geer, Zach Michael and Donald Stewart were the only four drivers not to make pit stops, putting themselves back on the lead lap. Jimmie Stevens was the only lead lap driver who was on pit lane before his pit stop, coming out as the first car with fresh tires. He would be our new leader. He and Aaron Cummings would fight for victory for the next 50+ laps.

On lap 469, John Battista and John Tharp made contact off of turn 4, sending the #39 around for the second time. Battista flew up the track into teammate Alex Crapser, while Tharp squeezed champion Tim McDonnell into the outside wall. Other than Crapser's 18th, neither of them would crack a top-30 finish.

Jimmie Stevens led for the next 25 laps with Aaron Cummings in hot pursuit the entire time. With two laps to go, Aaron blew a tire and came down pit road. It was about to be his best ever short track finish in his long dedicated career, but he wound up 12th. Zakk Miller would try to chase him down for the final two laps.

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