Points leader Rick Jackson comes into Bristol with his league-leading 12th and 13th top-5's of the season at Darlington and Las Vegas. He has miraculously gone without a victory in 2022, but does possess the points lead by 43 over Quicksilver counterpart Dave Miller. They will both start outside of the top-10 coming into Bristol, under the lights!
Race Results
Points Standings
Race Recap
A miraculous record-breaking qualifying lap gave John Battista the lead coming to the green flag. It was short-lived after a miraculous high-line pass by Aaron Cummings put the #51 to the lead for only the third time this season. He would lead 10 total laps in the early going while swapping the top-spot with Battista multiple times.
Matt Raboin took the advantage in the early go and easily pulled away from the field. He gained seconds on the continuing second place battle and started to lap some of the chase contenders before lap 100. The first one to go down was Donald Stewart, who entered the event third in the standings.
Johnny Reed Foley fell just before the first caution flag after a David Butterworth stalled engine. He would fortunately find his way to a top-20 finish despite the early setback, but was unable to re-gain his lap. Leader Matt Raboin was involved in a pit-road accident and lost a lap repairing the damage. He would earn his way to a 12th place finish after a hard-nosed struggled to regain his lap late in the going.
Ken Pettit and Craig lee battled for the lead up front before the first crash of the event. Ken Joynt and Alan Nesfeder made contact entering the corner, sliding across the racetrack into Markell Murphy. Dan Johnston, Michael Henson and chase contender Alex Crapser would slam into the accident, with only Henson finishing inside the top-30.
A multitude of the leaders pitted, sending Tim McDonnell up front to lead the pack to the green. Rick Jackson made his move 24 laps into the run and passed McDonnell for the top-spot, who led double-digit laps for the first time since Charlotte in May. Zach Michael, Dakota Wilkins and Jackson swapped the lead as we headed towards the 400-lap mark.
A career day for Dakota Wilkins made his run at Lime Rock Park look like mashed peanut brittle without steroids. He passed Jackson with 105 to go, leading 6 laps and promoting his name to the elite enterprises of Extravaganza. He would relinquish his advantage to Craig Lee, who looked to gain some momentum after a disappointing finish at Las Vegas.
A Dalton Lucas stall brought out the caution on lap 420. A Jimmie Stevens spin on the ensuing restart bunched the field back, awaiting a 70-lap shootout to the checkered flag. Zach Michael made his move to the front with 58 laps to go with the grand prize in mind. He and Lee are backed up in the standings after a devastating Las Vegas performance, looking to earn maximum points and make up the distance on Rick Jackson.
Lee took the lead back five laps later, finding himself mired in lapped traffic while Michael and John Battista race behind for second place. A crash between Randy Dobbins, Dan Johnston and Rod Weston brought out the final caution flag with 32 laps to go. Neither driver would finish inside the top-25.
Points leader Rick Jackson started in 6th while Aaron Cummings, Dakota Wilkins, Michael, Battista and Lee mbattled for Bristol supremacy. The Wendy's machine took over the spot with 19 laps remaining but failed to pull away. Lee made his final bid for the lead 8 laps later and took it outright as the top-5 spread out. Cummings would pull off his first top-5 finish since Darlington of last season, finishing a miraculous 5th on the day.
A remarkable display of driving puts Craig Lee on the list of two-time winners this s
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