Brickyard 400 Qualifier
The top-11 make the Brickyard 400! 42 teams from all walks of racing attempt to field a car in the Crown Jewel event at Indianapolis later this week! This 80-lap qualifier will feature dozens of drivers attempting to make their first Extravaganza Series race at one of our highest venues. Molemar Diggs finished 9th last season to earn his first career Extravaganza Series start. Now, he is a full time Rookie of the Year leader!
Geno Sphere took the green on the pole! A huge accident on lap-2 sent Scott Drake pulverizing into the outside wall! Rod Weston just made his return, making contact with the #71 while clipping Bernard Person in the rear. Steve Inkman, who's made every Extravaganza Series start in 2024, dropped five positions from the first lap and could not avoid the sliding #56 NAPA Dodge. Inkman would limp through 36 more circuits before a gearbox issue took him out completely. He, Drake, Person, Nigel Ramasawmy, Patrick Cowgill and Ron Stout all were involved in the accident. None could make it close to the top-11 transfer spot.
Leader Geno Sphere took four tires on his pit stop while everyone else took fuel only. He would drop to 28th on the lap-7 restart with Tony Long, Rob Scarberry and Jonathan Skrabacz leading the field to the green. The #15 Budweiser Chevrolet attempts to repeat his victory from one year ago. He would hold them off through lap 16 before Philip Parker took the advantage. Rob Scarberry took his first lead on lap 27.
Mark Heron has qualified for the last two Brickyard 400's, eclipsing a top-20 finish last season. The Energizer #01 would take the lead three laps before halfway, relinquishing the spot to come in for tires and gas. Amazingly, nobody attempted to stretch out their fuel to nab the Halfway Bacon money, handing Heron the top-spot just before the mark. A tag-team effort between Geno Sphere and Steven Spears put the #444 back up front! His four-tire strategy paid off, traversing through the field to reach the lead pack before the halfway pit stops. Spears would take the lead two laps later.
Steven Spears ran top-3 in this event one year ago before a blown tire decimated his efforts, forcing him to miss the Brickyard 400 field. That same fate would fall to Tony Long on lap 48. A blown right-rear tire while running in the 9th position sent Jaxson Vaccher, Scott Deutsch and Doug Spark into a frenzy to avoid the nearly stopped #15. They would all wreck attempting to avoid, with Vaccher failing to continue on and Long limping home and failing to make the Brickyard 400. Up front, Aaron Cummings took a splash-and-go to assail from 25th place to the top-spot! He would lead the field through lap 57 before Steven Spears, Jonathan Skrabacz, Philip Parker and Chauncey Redmond Jr. flew by him with relative ease on the fresher rubber. Jonathan Skrabacz took the advantage away with 20 laps-to-go.
Chauncey Redmond Jr. passed the Castrol #48 exiting turn-2 with defiant speed! Miracle-man Dave Daniels came out of the weeds to pull Philip Parker by him, hoping to rectify for his teammates accident with a Sim World Motorsports victory! It was not to be. The #64 Patriots Chevrolet passed by Daniels with 6-to-go, then taking the top-spot for good after clearing Parker exiting turn-2. From there, nobody could catch the Wizards of Speed man!
Chauncey would cross the finish line first for the first time in his Extravaganza Series career! For the transfer spot, Aaron Cummings ran out of fuel while running in 9th, having David Courtney hold off a hard-charge from Frank Womack to earn the 11th and final spot! Courtney, Redmond, Philip Parker, Steven Spears, Jonathan Skrabacz, Ziggy Moonglow, Dave Daniels, Geno Sphere, Kevin Corbat, David Baldinger and Rob Scarberry all raced their way into the Brickyard 400 in immaculate style! Race winner Redmond finished second to Zach Michael in the Crown Jewel event one year ago, hoping to win his first career Extravaganza Series race later this week! Congratulations to Redmond, crew chief Cortez Strong and the entire Wizards of Speed Racing organization for an excellent victory!
