Several of the top short track Extravaganza athletes will show off their short-track skills for the first time in 2023 at Richmond Raceway! The first race under a mile in length produces the greatest odds for grass-roots drivers to cross the checkered flag as the winner. Richmond dominator Ryan Heuser will start on the pole, looking to regain the points lead he lost last week at Texas.

Race Results

Points Standings

Race Recap

Over one-hundred thousand screaming fans flash the speedway with cameras up and buckles down! Heuser led the field to the green in grand style as the bottom line prevailed, giving he and Matt Raboin the 1-2 spots entering lap #2. Towards mid-pack, three and four wide racing prevailed in an attempt to gain that early track position.

Points Leader Dave Miller started the event in the 41st position, gaining ground early by clinching the top-30 by the 20th circuit. By lap 40, Heuser and Raboin were a couple seconds ahead of the rest of the field, with Tony Pizzaro and outside pole-sitter Adam Crapser battling for the third position. Lapped traffic on lap 72 gave Raboin the advantage entering turn-1 and took the top spot away for the events' first lead change.

Two laps of side-by-side action at the front saw Heuser nab the lead back from the #87 just a couple of laps later. They would remain nose-to-tail for the remainder of the run before a piece of debris from the #26 car brought out the first yellow flag on lap 90. Raboin would beat Heuser out of the pits, earning himself his second lead of the evening.

The #87 would dominate the second run out of the gate, leading the field by over a second through lap 150. Heuser would make a pass in turns 3 and 4 for the lead as they battled lapped traffic again, this time with Zach Michael and John Battista on their tails in a four-car breakaway for the top-spot. Michael and Raboin swapped the second position multiple times before the #20 prevailed, giving us the first different 1-2 order of the race just before the halfway point.

Zach Michael earned his five bonus points on lap 180, taking the advantage as Heuser drifted up the racetrack entering turn-3. The #39 machine flew by as well, setting himself up to pass Michael just one lap later. A battle for the 10th position would end the progress, seeing Alex Crapser and Rick Jackson spin towards the outside wall in turn-3. Both cars received minimal damage from the accident, and would miraculously remain in the lead lap for the remainder of the event despite the misfortune.

During the green flag run, points leader Dave Miller lost three laps fixing the damage to a blown right-front tire, finishing 39th and dropping to third in the standings. His teammate Craig Lee hoped to capitalize on the misfortune by taking the points lead, but blew up just a few laps later, finishing dead-last and dropping to 12th in the standings. Tony Long would also fall to the engine bug, a small misfortune to an otherwise excellent start to his season.

The green flag flew out after the Jackson-Crapser incident brought out the second yellow flag of the race. The #39 and #20 dominated the run, pulling away from Raboin, Adam Crapser and Heuser who were all entrenched in a battle for third while racing around the faster lapped-traffic. On lap 256, Zach Michael took the lead away from John Battista, but not in time to lead the halfway bacon bonus.

The Tony Long stall on the exit of turn-2 brought out the third caution flag of the evening. Battista was able to beat Michael out of the pit road after a masterful pit stop by the Wendy's crew. Fourth place Ryan Heuser suffered a loose wheel on the restart, coming into the pits during the waving of the green flag and lost a lap to the field. He would never get it back, finishing 23rd on the day after leading 117 laps. After the restart, Ziggy Moonglow blew an engine directly in front of Tim McDonnell, ending the night for the #02 while losing the Rookie of the Year battle to Chauncey Redmond Jr., who finished 23 spots ahead. McDonnell's damaged car would drop him to 28th after an easy top-20 night.

John Battista looked to end the streak of different winners in 2023 while dominating the second-to-last green flag run. A short-pit strategy with 50 laps to go gave Tony Pizzaro and out-of-knowhere one- ... Read more »