Russell Charneski has been cleared to race this weekend after some vigorous impacts at Atlanta. The most violent was the drivers-side impact with Tony Pizzaro, causing the already destroyed Activision machine to fall into the clunker category by races end. It is a welcome distraction for the #17 team, as the initial headlines were pertaining to their reckless abandonment. Tim McDonnell is quoted as having "no concern" for his possible injury, stating that "his injured head should have been a warning sign to park".
The 2019 Folds of Honor QuikTrip 500 started off with QSM Teammates Ryan Heuser and Craig Lee dominating the field, racing hand-in-hand or the lead during the first-half of the initial fuel run. For them, it would be the pinnacle of their race.
Between 5th and 15th, the racing remained 3-wide during same fuel run. There would still be enough draft to keep up with the Quicksilver cars, keeping about 25 different cars in serious contention early.
After a Russell Charneski and Dale Rosendaul crash in turn 3, Heuser, Lee, Matthew Dominique, Rick Jackson, Tim McDonnell, Tony Pizzaro, Zach Michael, John Battista and Alex Crapser all get busted for passing the pace car before entering the pit road. These top-9 cars would have to take a stop-and-go penalty, and spend the rest of their race trying to get their lap back the only way they can: The hard way.
A series of incidents were to be expected with the intense racing, partially caused by the 9 fastest cars trying to get their lap back. The first one again involved Charneski, who made contact with Adam Crapser entering turn 3. Russ's car flew down the track into Tony Pizzaro, sending both cars flipping wildly while Alex and Zach parted the seas. Craig would also get involved in the incident. The second crash was the most mentally devastating, as Charneski again got rear-ended by Rick Jackson on the front-stretch. The #17 would clip Tim McDonnell and send him hard into the wall and over Rick's roof. Both cars were an inch away from getting their lap back too, a chance that neither would receive again. The final big wreck was started with Zakk Miller and William Perry making contact in turn 1, sliding them into the entire field. Bill Werkheiser slammed Miller upside-down as Scott Deutsch did the same for Dan Johnston. Jonathan Skrabacz would also receive severe damage from the incident.
Ken Pettit and Matthew Dominique dominated most of the race. The former was steady throughout, while Matthew was one of the three lucky ones to win their lap back. Zach Michael and John Battista were the other two, and both would play a part in the final laps.
On the final pit-stop, John Battista was the first car to take on two-tires instead of gas and boy did it pay off. He was strong enough, and smart enough, to push Pettit away from the faster Matthew Dominique As the laps winded down. With a late-race caution and a 6-lap shootout, the gap would close.
Dominique restarted 5th and charged immediately, passing Michael and Donald Stewart before catching Battista. With 2-laps to go, the two would race side-by-side as Pettit pulled away. The #39 was able to hold his ground on the high-line to finish second while Ken Pettit and the Bob Marley crew cross the line with the Folds of Honor victory. Congrats to Ken, crew chief Slim Horton and the Race2Win team for an excellent win!
Steven Spears is undergoing collarbone surgery after a devastating catch-fence accident in final practice on Saturday. Team Sacramento has commented by saying they have no plans to race this weekend after the setback to their driver, giving Squall Motorsports and Philip Parker the final spot into the show. Everyone on the team is in shear devastation and grief, especially crew chief Lamar Hill, who commented on the points situation and the commitment to only Spears. Rookie Donnie Exide missed the Atlanta race in 1996 after an impressive top-10 finish in the Daytona 500 as well. He went on to have a 12-year career in the N.O.R.L., something Spears hopes to achieve after his inevitable comeback.
The 2019 Daytona 500 started off in grand style with Lucas Racing teammates John Battista and Alex Crapser starting on the front-row. Race favorite Rick Jackson qualified outside of the top-10, with Rocket Ryan Heuser directly behind the teammates looking to become the lap-1 leader.
The lead-swapping commenced early, as Johnny Reed Foley, Tim McDonnell and Ken Pettit all began their eventual double-digit laps-led totals. The three-wide racing would ensue even after the first round of pit-stops.
Ryan Heuser would lead the field down to the pits on lap 69, with only teammate Dan Johnston receiving damage after contact from Johnny Reed Foley coming into his stall. The leaders would come out in a pack of 8, with a huge pack behind ready to chase them down.
Huge crash on lap 102 after Tony Pizzaro takes out the field! Pizzaro was on the front-stretch apron and merged into Cristian Torres, sending Jimmie Stevens, Scott Deutsch, David Butterworth and Jonathan Skrabacz into a frenzy for the ages. Stevens would make hard side-contact with Torres in the infield trying to avoid the wreck, as Pizzaro flew through the deep-infield grass at 190 mph, merging into turn one violently.
Walt Flowers and Glenn Kaufmann make contact on lap 166, sending both cars hard into the outside turn 1 wall. Kaufmann received heavy front end damage, nearly putting his car into the garage area while Flowers and Dan Johnston race on with moderate aerodynamic issues.
Alex Crapser and Zakk Miller are out! The outside-pole sitter had a handling issue, while the ignition box on Zakk Miller's car blew to smithereens with only 2 laps to go. What a horrible way to go!
To the finish, after diving past the lapped traffic of Glenn Kaufmann and Scott Deutsch, the race went on. Tim McDonnel led the last lap before Ken Pettit made a move on the inside heading into turn 2. John Tharp, who had severely benefited from the traffic, came out of practically nowhere to follow Pettit and make his move on the back-straightaway. The #14 would clear him, and never look back. Our Champion of the 2019 N.O.R.L. Daytona 500 is Mr. Zig-Zag himself, John Tharp. Congratulations to John, crew chief King Joe Dawkins and the entire PHR team for an excellent victory!
Drivers who didn't make the field: Kevin Corbat, Stephen Lowe, Brian Lowe, David Courtney, Jaxon Vaccher, Jim Fitzmaurice, Alec Stelloh, Brodrick Wittman, Jacob Stumpf
It was a very competitive Shootout with just about everybody in line for a chance to lead the field. It happened exactly that way, as there was enough slipstream for even the slowest of engines to stay with the pack towards the end. Granted, there were no slow engines in The Shootout.
It was a 50-lap dash to the finish and were three-wide nearly throughout, sending many cars flipping, ripping, and into the garage. Zach Michael and Ben Geer glued together between turns 3 and 4, sending Ben up the racetrack and into Ryan Heuser. Ben went for a ride, as Ryan spectated the disaster with minimal front-end damage. Tony Pizzaro was sandwiched three-wide battling for second and hooked Craig Lee into the field. Rick Jackson and Johnny Reed Foley slammed into them hard, destroying Foley's radiator and sending Jackson flipping over the roofs of the former two. The final wreck mimicked the first one, with John Tharp and Dave Miller tangling out of turn 4 and into John Battista on the outside. Miller would flip, and only Battista would have enough horsepower after the crash to stay competitive. Tim McDonnell managed to avoid the wreck in style, saying to his spotter "The damage is minimal, I can still win".
The Final laps closed down as Zach Michael and Scott Jackson took the point. Zach's day almost ended in disaster with turn 3 contact from John Battista. The field spread out for a couple of laps, as the #20 Home Depot chevrolet was able to use the draft to fly by the field and take second place behind Scott. Zach and Scott were neck-and-neck coming onto the backstraightaway on the final lap. Tim McDonnell was pushing Zach on the inside, but was forced to drift high as Jimmie Stevens made a move to the inside of Tim for third. Speedy was pushing Zach, and Tim was now helping Scott to the finish. In the end, the high-line momentum prevailed as Scott Jackson took the checkered flag. Congratulations Scott on winning the 2019 Big Bud Shootout @ Daytona!
ARCA veteran Bink Lucas flipped wildly on lap 52 of today's Lucas Oil 200 at Daytona, just hours after telling reporters that he was confident in getting his second career victory at the facility. #18 Adam Beresford blew a tire and sent the field into a tailspin for the ages, leaving notable drivers like Bink and Spooner "My Man" Spencer into the garage area. Fortunately, nobody was injured as we continue speedweeks 2019.
Without a ride for the Daytona 500, Philip Parker joined up with veteran Tyler Scott and Tricky Ricky in the GTS Corvette entry for the 24 Hours of Daytona. Team owner Dan Johnston put all of his chips into trying to beat the immortal Frank Womack Mosler's, with driver Rod Weston and the Cowgill's at the top of the heap coming in. They are currently 9th in the class of 14 so far, wishing to persist while the classes ahead endure some trouble. Hopefully, it won't be at their expense.
Today marks the first day of Road Course testing for the Lucas Racing team in a sun-filled January day at Road Atlanta. Temperatures are around mid-40's, as John Battista, Alex Crapser and Dalton Lucas fly around the 2.5-mile facility and record pace. Battista managed to sweep both road races last season, making him the first to do so since Tim McDonnell in 2012. On this day, Crapser topped the charts of the three with a 108.623 MPH lap, proving that JB will have more well-rounded competition come 2019.
A calm nightfall at the outskirts of Daytona, where modern day records are ready to be broken. It was nowhere near Bill Elliott's record, but "Rocket" Ryan Heuser went out at 199.058 mph during testing today, a modern day record for single-car speed. Some of the underdogs could barely crack 196, so as far as it goes now, the rest of the show needs to step up their pace or they will be following the "Rocket Man" all day long come February.
