Gains were made on points leader Ken Pettit after John Battista and Ryan Heuser's 1-2 stint at the Sharpie 500 last week. They enter the final short track of 2023 just 65 and 68 points behind at a facility the #8 team has struggled at during their entire Extravaganza tenure. Now is the time to pounce. All three drivers start between the 11th and 25th positions.

Race Results

Points Standings

Race Recap

The struggling Matt Raboin comes into Martinsville with three-straight DNF's, hoping to rectify their recurring bad luck with a pole position. He and Bink Lucas begin the event side-by-side for the first three laps with Lucas eventually winning the battle. Championship contender Alex Crapser blew a camshaft while running in 12th. He would finish dead last, dropping to 6th in points, 228 back from the lead.

A mortifying crash involving Kevin Corbat sent the entire frontstretch crowd into sheer hysteria! He and Zakk Miller tangled off of turn-3, with both knocking down the inside wall and spinning onto oncoming traffic. Corbat went for a flip-and-a-half, slamming the turn-1 wall head-on while clipping Zach Michael. Donald Stewart hit Corbat's parked car in the middle of turn 2, officially ending the mortifying accident. Miller and Michael would endure and limp to top-20 finishes. Corbat fell out but walked away unhurt. Stewart struggled for the rest of the evening and finished 30th.

The first 75 laps were dominated by Bink Lucas. He would struggle to maintain the speed he had during the initial run, holding off racecars instead of pulling away from the field. Tony Pizzaro, Matt Raboin and David Butterworth all took their shot at the lead, but to no avail as Lucas continued to rack up the laps.

A fast race car by the #8 team sent the points leader from 12th to a battle for the lead on lap 168. Ken Pettit was having the short track race of his life after qualifying 32nd in the spring race here, eventually falling to an accident. He would take the top-spot outright on lap 172 while his two closest Championship counterparts ran 8th and 12th.

Race-2-Win Motorsports occupied the 1-2 positions heading to green flag pit stops around lap 200. Tony Pizzaro entered the pits several laps before Pettit and took his lead away on the fresher rubber. He, Pettit, Alan Nesfeder and Bink Lucas would occupy the top-4 positions for the rest of the run, with Pizzaro earning the halfway-bacon-bonus.

24 cars remained on the lead lap after a Dan Johnson engine failure brought out the second caution on lap 278. Alan Nesfeder was able to beat Pizzaro out of the pits and lead the field to the restart. A Logan Sheets spin on the frontstretch brought out the third yellow flag just a couple of laps in.

Another engine failure by the Lucas Racing team took John Battista away from the fray while running in 8th. This was a severe blow, dropping from 68 points back to 194 after the casualty. Up front Alan Nesfeder would continue his dominance, lapping cars in a hurry with a 7+ second advantage on the field.

An accident on the backstretch involving Rick Jackson, Cristiano De Sa, Jimmie Stevens, Donald Stewart and Jonathan Skrabacz brought out the yellow flag with 110 laps to go. Johnny Reed Foley was the only car that hadn't pitted during the cycle, trapping many cars on the tail end of the lead lap. Both he and Nesfeder would find trouble in the pits as the cautions started to breed. Ken Pettit and Craig Lee inherited the lead back after everything cycled through.

A two-tire stop on the left side during the previous caution put Steven Spears at the front of the field with 60 laps to go. He and Johnny Reed Foley stayed out on older tires, with Foley helping block Lee, Pettit and Bink Lucas from catching the #65 as we drew closer to the finish. Spears would earn 25 laps led before the #101 finally made his move, taking it outright with the #8 following through. He and Pettit would battle it out for the finish, with the #101 having better luck passing the lapped traffic during the waning laps.

The miraculous comeback for Craig Lee continues, crossing the finish line in first to earn his third victory of 2023! Just 15 races ago the #101 team was 19th in points, forcing the hand to release Spook Millikan from the crew chief role. Pokey Reese took over the helm and helped clear those hurdles in grand style, jumping Lee to 12th in the standings after a miraculous run since Sonoma in early June. Congrats to Craig, crew chief Reese and the entire QuickSilver Motorsports organization for an excellent victory!

2023 Old Dominion 500 Video