Eight drivers come into Martinsville within 100 points of the lead in the 2023 standings. Leader Tony Pizzaro comes in on the outside front-row after his victory at Bristol, with Matt Raboin on the pole after two-straight top-5 outings during the short track stretch. Look for higher speeds and more attrition as we run under the lights, with one extra car in the field from previous seasons.

Race Results

Points Standings

Race Recap

Lucas Racing went 1-2-3 for the first time in their history just a couple of weeks ago at Richmond. They enter this event scattered throughout the starting order and see minimal hope of perfecting the same feat. Up front, pole-sitter Matt Raboin led the first 11 laps before a Ryan Heuser spin after contact with Matthew Dominique brought out the first caution.

A fuel-only stop for Zach Michael and a two-tire change for Dakota Wilkins put them into the 1-2 positions on the restart. During the pit stop, a hard collision between fourth-in-points Dave Miller and sophomore driver Bink Lucas put both of them out of the race. Dave would drop to 9th in the standings, with Bink continuing his streak of zero top-10's in 2023.

Fantastic racing for the second position was in full view of the 200,000 capacity crowd while Zach Michael defended his lead in grand style. Wilkins, Tim McDonnell, Matt Raboin, Johnny Reed Foley and Alex Crapser all took swipes underneath the quarter panel of the Coca-Cola #20, but to no avail. Chauncey Redmond Jr., Cristian Torres, Zakk Miller, Tony Long, Adam Crapser and Matthew Dominique all benefited from Zach's defensive strategy to keep the lead, with 12 cars within two-seconds at the top.

41 cars remained on the lead lap through lap 90 with the hard-fought racing up front. That would change when Alex Crapser finally took the lead away on lap 91, pulling ahead immediately and navigating through Dan Johnston and Bill Werkheiser at the rear. Zach Michael would have to pit for fuel just before a Ken Pettit and Steven Spears spin, making him the third lapped car after the second yellow.

Johnny Reed Foley took the lead after the caution flag and led through lap 188. A Cristiano de Sa engine failure forced him to stop in the racing groove, directly into the path of Ken Pettit in a horrifying impact. Steven Spears, Bill Werkheiser and top-10 drivers Tony Pizzaro, Matthew Dominique, Craig Lee and Adam Crapser all pulverized into the accident with no foresight whatsoever. Pizzaro miraculously continued to finish 12th with a damaged front end, while Dominique, Lee, Crapser and Spears all fell out with extreme radiator damage. Lee and Dominique would drop to 15th and 16th in points, with Adam falling from 2nd to 4th.

Foley would continue to lead the field after the ensuing restart, looking to pull away from the field again before a literal devastating blow. An obliterated right-front tire handed the lead to rookie leader Chauncey Redmond Jr., keeping the top-spot through the halfway point to win his first career bacon bonus. John Battista would take his first lead of the night on lap 262, chipping away from his 38th qualifying position all race long.

Obliteration from Kevin Corbat, who has qualified for his fourth-straight Extravaganza event, brings out the fourth caution flag just before the lap 300 mark. Battista had jumped to an 8-second lead after the long green flag run, erasing it to zero and forcing pressure from William "Tex" Perry after the restart. Perry had been quietly inside the top-10 after the big turn-4 accident, taking the lead away on lap 352 in an attempt to win his first Extravaganza race in nearly a decade.

In what can be considered a career-saving season for Tex, he would lead a whopping 55 laps after short-pit strategy helped swap the top-spot between he and Battista for the next 100 laps. It was the first lap Tex has led since Lime Rock Park last season, and the first double-digit lap led performance since Darlington of 2021, when he was teammates with John Tharp in the #85. Battista's long-pit strategy would pay off, putting Tex to the tail end of the lead lap after a crash between Ryan Heuser, Markell Murphy and John Tharp on the frontstretch.

Two more caution flags helped put 11 cars on the lead lap, including David Butterworth in 3rd, William ... Read more »