The old man Bill Werkheiser is on the pole for the second straight year at the new facility. With young driver Molemar Diggs winning the Bonanza Series race at the old racetrack, perhaps the near-elderly Bill can win at the modern arena. He's got 300 laps to hold off the rest of the field and break the half-decade winless streak.

Race Results

Points Standings

Race Recap

Cristian Torres suffers a blown piston on the grid as the rest of the field blows by. Joe Mersdorf and Adam Beresford make their first Extravaganza Series start, already passing their first car before taking the green. In the first 16 laps, Werkheiser would lead 13 circuits, sharing 3 with former teammate Dave Miller.

John Battista made a three-wide move entering turn-1 to take his first lead of the race. He, Werkheiser and Johnny Reed Foley swapped the top-spot several times before the #6 took the helm for the rest of the green flag run. Ken Pettit and Jimmie Stevens ended the pit cycle 1st and 2nd after a short-pit strategy.

Trae Larkin was having an excellent run in the 8th position before blowing a right-front tire in front of the field on lap 71. Tony Long ran into his rear, drifting into Johnny Reed Foley and squeezing Chauncey Redmond Jr. into the outside wall. Ben Geer pulverized the #3, with Matt Raboin ricocheting the Twinkie #29 into the path of Tony Pizzaro. Aaron Cummings, Dave Miller, Logan Sheets, Geno Sphere, Rob Scarberry, Mark Heron, Jonathan Skrabacz, Dalton Lucas and Alex Crapser all received damage attempting to avoid the accident. Pizzaro, Geer, Redmond and Lucas would all fail to continue.

Congestion on the ensuing restart created contact between Ryan Heuser and Adam Crapser, sending the #4 into a tailspin towards the outside wall. Crapser careened off the barrier and well into traffic, getting slammed by William Perry with Michael Henson directly behind. The #144 spun into the path of Johnny Reed Foley. Foley's front end was demolished, with Henson getting bodyslammed into a flip and landing with sparks along the outside wall. All four drivers would retire from the event.

Matthew Dominique led the field to the green in hopes of a long green flag run to weed out the damage. Ken Pettit re-took the lead immediately with he, Zakk Miller and Jimmie Stevens traversing the top-spot numerous times through lap 111. Pettit tries to end his winless streak, starting from the Atlanta spring race in 2019.

One car able to avoid both crashes without damage was Ryan Heuser, struggling outside the top-20 before the attrition rate set. Once he got through the carnage, Heuser became the fastest car in the field and flew by the top-10 with relative ease. By lap 112, he was the leader, losing it only once to Miller before his green flag stop.

Matthew Dominique attempted a short pit strategy, coming out with a three-second advantage over the #30 and #138 to steal the halfway bacon bonus away. Heuser progressed his way to the second position after passing the #25 with Ken Pettit pulling away, only to blow his engine and spin into the outside turn-3 wall. He would lose the points lead to Timothy McDonnell's buy-a-ride #02 after an eventual 33rd place finish.

Ken Pettit has absolutely dominated this event, leading a race-most 120 laps by the end of the day. He would stay up front through lap 200 before losing it to Zakk Miller in the pits after the Heuser accident. He would gain it back a lap after the restart, meandering through cars at the tail-end of the lead lap to lead the field by lap 222.

An accident between Alex Crapser and Markell Murphy brought the caution out one final time on lap 270. The ensuing restart saw Rick Jackson in the second position. He had been among the last of the cars to pit after every green flag stop, sacrificing tires for fuel mileage all race long. By the end, Rick stayed in sequence to prove he had the fastest car in the field all along. He would swap the lead with Zakk Miller several times before the Bepis mobile dropped back. Pettit and Craig Lee were less than a second behind coming to the final lap.

Ken Pettit made one final charge entering turn-3, but to no avail. Rick Jackson would cross the line in first to win his second race of the season, jumping to 7th in the standings after starting the year with only two top-10's in his first 11 races. Congrats to Jackson, crew chief Falco Lombardi and the entire Race-2-Win organization for an excellent victory!

2023 Bepis 400 Race Video