We move West to the famed Watkins Glen in upstate New York. Dave Miller looks to hold off Matthew Dominique, Craig Lee, Matt Raboin, Alex Crapser and Rick Jackson from taking over his 10th-place bubble position in the standings with only three races left in the regular season. All these drivers have to do is stay on the racetrack for 90 laps to ensure their chase status remains alive.

Race Results

Points Standings

Schedule

Pole sitter Zach Michael took the lead through the esses on lap 1. Zakk Miller made several attempts to pass on the second-half of the course, pressuring the #20 for the early lead. He would take the top-spot exiting the inner-loop on lap 4, as John Battista and Tim McDonnell battled for fourth.

Tim McDonnell was three-wide entering the inner loop for the lead between Zakk and Craig Lee. Tim and Zakk made contact on exit, nearly spinning the CAT machine into the tire barriers. Fortunately, all three came out okay as Tim and Craig continued to battle for first.

After a lap side-by-side, Tim came out with the advantage. They would race for the lead again four laps later, racing side-by-side for another full lap before Craig took the top-spot exiting the inner loop on lap 19. He would stay there for another 12 laps before a Cristian Torres "spin-and-go" on the backstretch brought out the second caution.

Alex Crapser, David Baldinger and Dalton Lucas all stayed out under the caution. Ryan Heuser was the first car on fresh tires to take the lead, passing Alex at the halfway point. From there, Ryan, Scott Jackson and Zach Michael would pull away from the field.

In the middle of green flag pit stops, Jack Paynter and Adam Crapser made contact through the esses. Paynter's car slammed into the outside guardrail and rode the wall to a stop, ending his day and perhaps his quest at the Rookie of the Year title. Meanwhile, this would cycle John Battista, Craig Lee and Scott Jackson to the front after making their pit stops before the yellow.

After dominating the middle portion of the event, Ryan Heuser made an unscheduled pit stop on lap 76 before blowing up while exiting the pits. It was a devastating blow to the six-time winner this season, finishing 40th and falling 209 points behind points leader Pizzaro when the day is through. He has still not officially clinched his chase birth.

Matthew Dominique, William Perry and Ken Pettit also suffered issues during the final stages. Matthew spun off of turn-1 after contact with Johnny Reed Foley. William and Ken touched while scrambling to pass lapped on the backstretch, both knocking the inside wall in the process. Ken's #8 machine would expire from damage suffered in the incident, while William would continue on slightly hindered after the near-flip.

On the restart with 15 laps to go, Craig Lee went through the gears faster than leader John Battista and took the spot away. The ensuing restart with 7 laps to go saw Matt Raboin make the same move, passing Craig before the inner-loop. Zach Michael would pass the #101 for second one lap later.

Coming to 5-to-go, Matt and Zach were battling for the win. Zach dive-bombed the outer-loop and made it stick, flying underneath the #87 machine and racing side-by-side through the next three corners. Matt would concede the lead to Zach entering the esses with four laps to go and never looked back.

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