There are ten drivers racing for the final two chase positions in the deciding 400-miler at Richmond. Pole-sitter Alex Crapser comes in 22 points back, able to clinch if the starting grid becomes the final result. Bill Werkheiser starts 23rd. John Tharp starts 16th. Bink Lucas starts 27th. Zakk Miller starts 26th. Scott Jackson starts 9th. Logan Sheets starts 30th. Ryan Heuser starts 5th.

Race Results

Points Standings

Race Recap

A lap 9 accident gives Adam Crapser his 11th DNF of the season, and his fourth in-a-row. He and Dave Butterworth glue together on the backstraightaway, colliding into the inside wall and up into Mike Carroll. All three drivers failed to finish inside the top-30.

Alex Crapser dominated the first 100 laps, at least four seconds ahead of the field for nearly the entire run. John Tharp, John Battista and Zach Michael were the only drivers within the same hemisphere as the #04, catching the lapped traffic 20 laps after Crapser would pass them. Surprise drivers Randy Dobbins, Dalton Lucas and Steven Spears remained inside the top-10.

Chase contenders Zakk Miller, Scott Jackson, Jimmie Stevens, Donald Stewart, Logan Sheets and Bink Lucas were all down on speed. All six drivers were down a lap by lap 100, more due to Crapser's dominating speed than anything else. Only 14 cars remained on the lead lap by lap 130.

A Jonathan Skrabacz engine stall on turn-2 brought out the second caution on lap 140. John Battista, Matthew Dominique, Zach Michael, Tony Pizzaro and Ryan Heuser all battled within the top-5 while Crapser pulled ahead for another three seconds. Lap 224 saw Bink Lucas and Kevin Corbat tangle in turn-3 while second-place Matthew Dominique tangled while trying to avoid the accident.

Despite the horrific damage to the rear end, Dominique was the only driver to stay out on old tires and lead the field to the green. Zach Michael worked for a couple of laps to pass by Crapser for second place, making his way by Dominique for the lead on lap 240. He, Crapser and Ryan Heuser would pull away from the field, easily the three dominant cars by the two-third's mark of the event.

Lap 69 saw Craig Lee fall out, finishing 41st for the second time in the last three weeks. Lee was down on speed the entire race, dropping from 14th to 26th and about to be lapped before the explosion. Tony Pizzaro earned the same fate 210 laps later while running in fourth, dropping from 2nd to 5th in the standings with a 36th place finish. Zakk Miller was running a dismal 26th as well before collapsing his chase hopes with an engine failure.

the #138 NOS Energy crew pulled off a miraculous pit stop and came out in front to lead the ensuing restart. A five-lap battle between he and Zach Michael ended with the #20 crossing the finish line to the caution a full nose ahead, putting him to the lead. Everyone but Michael, John Battista and Randy Dobbins would come in for fuel insurance and tires.

A 100-lap shootout to the finish saw the #20 Coca-Cola machine pull out to a hefty two-second lead before Battista put on a charge. He would take the lead seemingly outright with 48 laps to go. Unfortunately, he and Randy Dobbins decided to short-pit, proving their doubts on making it the rest of the way on fuel. Michael is on the same pit strategy, needing to hold off Ryan Heuser, Matthew Dominique and a miraculous effort by Steven Spears to ensure his second victory of the season.

 

Three cars directly behind and added pressure from the lapped traffic ahead proved nearly impossible odds for Zach Michael, also needing to save fuel in the process. He was able to do all three in an unbelievable effort to hold off Richmond king Ryan Heuser and his Quantum Racing counterpart for the vi ... Read more »