The Chicago faithful raise their orange juice canisters into the stratosphere! Ryan Heuser and Tony Pizzaro come in one race away from Championship exile, both 200+ points out of 10th place Dave Miller. A high-horsepower facility might be what the doctor ordered. They will start 2nd and 38th, ready to ground-and-pound the competition.

Race Results

Points Standings

Race Recap

Zakk Miller occupies his second pole of the season! 45 drivers take the green flag to kick-start the second-half, with Ryan Heuser taking the point on lap-2 to earn his league-leading 15th race led of 2024! This may be the turning point of their disastrous campaign, with Pizzaro, Rick Jackson, Timothy McDonnell and John Battista also lurking for their first victory of the year.

Donald Stewart spins on the backstretch! Contact from third-in-points John Tharp cleans out the Clorox man, with David Butterworth out of control in turn-3 trying to avoid the melee. Steve Inkman, Ziggy Moonglow, Cristian Torres, Matthew Dominique, Matt Raboin, Dave Miller, Alan Nesfeder, Steven Spears, Dalton Lucas, Markell Murphy and William Perry all suffered major damage in the accident. Inkman, Butterworth, Moonglow and Donald Stewart all fell to the garage. The #55 earned his third DNF in five events, dropping from 10th to 26th in the standings since Gateway last month.

Craig Lee obliterates an engine after leading the field to green! The attrition rate brings the field to a modest 41 cars, with the #101 dropping from 6th to 10th in points despite his stellar early speed. Points leader Johnny Reed Foley narrowly led the 11th lap, re-tying Heuser for the most races led in 2024. John Battista would take the spot away with a constant three-wide battle for the fifth position.

Tony Pizzaro, Bink Lucas and Dakota Wilkins led their share during the first green flag run. Dakota gravitated from the 16th starting position to take the lead after a Timothy McDonnell spin brought out the yellow. From lap 62 to 103, only Zach Michael had enough motor to keep up with the Colorado Rockies Chevrolet; in search for their unprecedented fourth victory of 2024!

An Alex Crapser turn-1 spin on lap 103 brings out the second yellow flag of the night. Just afterwards, John Tharp, Tony Gunk, Jimmie Stevens and Jonathan Sktabacz endure an enormous accident with imperial devastation to the Kelpo Dodge's driver-side door. Tony Gunk walked out under his own power after John Tharp's annihilation, citing the glory of Kelpo cereal as the sole reason for his survival. Up front, Dakota Wilkins would dominate the show; earning the Halfway Bacon Bonus while stretching to a three-second advantage over Ken Pettit.

Two accidents on the same lap between Molemar Diggs, Dave Daniels and Dan Johnston trapped Ryan Heuser two laps down after a short-pit strategy went awry. Another devastating blow to the #138 who can't catch a break with a dip net! He would crawl through the attrition to finish 22nd, still 29th in the standings. More devastation occurred after the restart, sending Geno Sphere into a wall-scraping extravaganza alongside the frontstretch crowd! Tony Pizzaro made a desperate four-side move underneath Geno, Dan Johnston and Tony Long; clipping Cristian Torres and impaling the entire back-half of the field. Long flipped over five times and came to a stop on the turn-1 apron. He was unhurt. Bill Werkheiser, Markell Murphy, Matt Raboin, Molemar Diggs, Rob Scarberry, Willliam Perry, Jonathan  Skrabacz and Trae Larkin were also involved in the accident. Most would fail to continue, with Raboin's #87 dropping from 8th to 14th in the standings.

Two-thirds of the field took the restart with 93 laps remaining. Dakota Wilkins and John Battista battled murderously for first place, with the Wendy's Chevrolet earning the spot on the outside with 84-to-go. A Zakk Miller spin ten laps later would bring out the final caution flag, dropping the Bepis man to the 14th position. Only Battista, Wilkins, Zach Michael, Johnny Reed Foley, Ken Pettit, Bink Lucas, Rick Jackson, Dave Daniels, Logan Sheets, Scott Jackson, Trae Larkin, Dan Johnston and Miller remained on the lead lap.

A four-car breakaway to the finish saw Battista, Wilkins, Pettit and Foley pull away from the rest of the pack! Pettit would be the first to pit with 27-to-go, and would exit the pits as the points leader! Disaster would strike for Foley, slamming into the lapped car of Chauncey Redmond Jr.; destroying his radiator and ending his night in the 31st position. He would come out of Chicagoland just five points behind Pettit for the standings lead. Just afterwards, Battista and Wilkins came in, coming out 2+ seconds behind Pettit with slightly fresher tires.

Ken Pettit struggled ferociously to get by the lapped car of Dalton Lucas! Wilkins had made his way by Battista, and caught the rear-bumper of Pettit with 8 laps-to-go. He would make his way by with relative ease, only for Pettit to counter-strike one lap later in turn-1! He couldn't make it stick. Pettit would hold off Battista to keep five points ahead of Foley in the standings. Dakota WIlkins would win his fourth race of 2024!

Another extraordinary effort from this Lucas Racing satillite team! The #77 Blazin' Pedals Racing Chevrolet has the greatest Speedway package in Extravaganza, in shades of Bill Elliott's NASCAR dominion of the 1980's, and Harrison James's "Nuclear Power Plant" during his protracted Championship stretch. It is Dakota's fourth victory of 2024, leading the league in wins by himself for the second time this season. He will also climb to 6th in the standings in search of their first Extravaganza Series chase birth. Congratulations to Dakota, crew chief Joe "Novacane" Densham and the rest of the Blazin' Pedals Racing organization for another fantastic victory!

2024 Tropicana 400 Video