Ryan Heuser comes into Richmond winning the last four events at the speedway. Since 2016, only Quicksilver Motorsports and Quantum Racing have been victorious, two teams who run the same engine package. Ryan will start on the pole and attempt to conquer another short-track crown.

Race Results

Standings

Schedule

On the grid, Ryan blew the transmission and towed back to the pit road. What looked like another dominating run for the "Rocket Man" turned into complete chaos quickly, and handed the show to his teammate Craig Lee who led the first 35 laps. John Battista led the next 27 while Tony Pizzaro closed the green-flag run up top.

Rob Scarberry was the surprise of the show. He had crawled his way from 23rd starting spot to take 4th, just over a second behind second place Pizzaro. Meanwhile, Battista pulled to a nearly 8-second advantage on the second green flag run and had lapped everybody but the top-15.

After the first green flag stops, Adam Crapser and Mark Guthrie tagged heading into turn 3. Both cars slammed the outside wall, though Adam would rebound through the day and finish 6th. The second caution saw 4th and 5th place drivers Scarberry and Johnny Reed Foley make contact in the same corner. Foley would go for a barrel-roll, but recover for a lead lap finish. Just a few laps later, Matthew Dominique and Alex Crapser were involved an a four-wide melee off of turn 2.

Despite Battista and Pizzaro remaining 1-2 for the first 2/3rd's of the event, Craig Lee, Matt Raboin and Tim McDonnell were all hot on the charge staying well within the top-10 for most of the day. John Tharp and Zakk Miller were also well within the shuffle during the later stages. Battista led 102 straight laps before relinquishing the top-spot to Pizzaro after the handling on the race car started to deteriorate. Combined, they led 246 laps and looked poised to dominate the show until the end. 

Craig Lee took 2nd place away from Pizzaro on lap 256. Meanwhile, Bill Werkheiser, Tony Long and Rob Scarberry brought out the next three caution flags. Long went for multiple spins, while Scarberry ended up on his roof after being on the lead lap all day. He would limp to 26th, while Tony and Bill finished outside the top-30.

Scott Deutsch endured a horrifying pit road accident, slipping into his own oil and slamming into the tire-barricades against the inside pit road entrance. He would up okay, but endured his second-straight finish outside of the top-40. Donald Stewart blew an engine on lap 232, and Steven Spears on lap 326 after nearly entering the top-20. All three drivers have yet to finish better than 28th in the first two events.

Battling lapped traffic, Battista flew by Pizzaro on the inside lane on lap 253. Lee followed suit, making his effort at the lead with 110 laps to go. He would succeed, as the #101 and #39 would hash it out for the rest of the race.

During final green flag pit stops with 60 laps to go, Pizzaro and Scarberry made contact entering turn 3. The two cars tangles before Aaron Cummings, Michael Henson and Adam Crapser came in, putting them on the lead lap. Surprisingly, nobody that was on the lead lap went a lap down, making 16 drivers eligible for the victory in the closing stages. With 38 laps to go, Cristian Torres and Randy Dobbins spun out to bring out the final yellow.

The final 20 laps saw John Battista behind the rear-bumper of the NOS Energy machine while Matt Raboin gained tremendous distance from behind. The two crossed the finish line just a half-second apart, with Lee at the helm, earning his first victory of the season and continuing the QSM-Quantum domination at the speedway. Congrats to Craig, crew chief Spook Millikan and the entire Quick-Silver Motorsports team for an excellent victory!< ... Read more »