A fantastic day at Alabama's greatest motorplex sees 350,000 fans anxious for the arrival of 46 of the fastest racecars in the world. Speeds over 200 miles-per-hour will be constant throughout, with only the roar of the fans out-screaming the echo of the cars. Eight different makes attempt to prove who the fastest racecar in the world is. With the right driver, the winning manufacturer could be propelled to the ultimate height.
The field rolls off the grid with two objectives in mind. One is the points battle between Ken Pettit and Ryan Heuser, each beginning the day 119+ points ahead of their nearest competitors. They will start first and 10th respectably, near the front and hoping to stay ahead of the ensuing chaos for the entire 188-lap distance.
An immaculate pole lap of 205.225 miles-per-hour by title contender Tony Pizzaro puts him at the front of the grid for the third time in 2023. John Battista rolls along the outside row, taking the field in a 1-2 punch of favorites to win the event. Battista is looking for victory #8 on the year, hoping to prevail in his annual pre-season promise of winning double-digit races.
Despite the incredible lap time by himself, leading in traffic proved to be an issue for the #12 Fenway Frank machine, handing the top-spot to Ryan Hesuer by the end of the first lap. He would earn his five bonus points immediately while points leader Pettit meandered through the three-wide traffic towards the middle of the pack. Halfway through the first fuel run, Heuser, Matthew Dominique and John Tharp would all take turns leading the field with the #25 seemingly unstoppable in clean air.
Several drivers lost the lead pack early during the initial green flag run. David Baldinger, Bink Lucas, Alan Nesfeder, Tony Long, Connor Germain, and surprisingly John Battista failed to maintain enough speed to keep up with the pack, falling to the wayside before the 50-lap mark. Up front, Johnny Reed Foley took over the helm after a fantastic pit stop, with Dave Miller and Rick Jackson in tow through lap 80.
Matt Raboin, Donald Stewart and Dave Miller continued to swap the top-spot with Miller eventually eclipsing the halfway bacon bonus on lap 94. A miraculous come-from-behind effort by Ryan Heuser, Ken Pettit, William Perry, Ken Joynt and Markell Murphy pulled their five-car pack from six seconds back to the lead group, extending the front pack from 19 to 24 cars. This would be an omen for the remainder of the event.
The second round of pit stops concluded with Jonathan Skrabacz, Alex Crapser, Matthew Dominique and Markell Murphy all swapping the lead through the lap 120 mark. Again, Heuser was able to lead a freight-train of eleven cars to the front pack after another mediocre pit stop, capping his effort by taking the top-spot on lap 125. He would remain there for 16 more circuits before a three-wide maneuver by teammates Matthew Dominique and Logan Sheets made it a Quantum Racing 1-2. Logan would hold the lead before the final green flag pit stops.
An inexplicable lack of attrition and caution flags remained in-tact throughout the entire event. Only four exceptions occurred, with Dakota Wilkins, Johnny Reed Foley, Mark Heron and Ben Geer all falling to the wayside due to motor failures. Everyone else finished no worse than two laps down, finishing with an Extravaganza Series record of 42 cars finishing the event in a restrictor plate race.
The lead pack was reduced to nine lead-lap cars for the 30-lap stretch to the finish. Scott Jackson exited the pits as the leader, joining Matthew Dominique, Logan Sheets and Markell Murphy as drivers hoping to earn their first victory in 2023. Sheets and Rick Jackson would drive by Scott, swapping the top-position for the ensuing laps before Ryan Heuser took the lead outright on lap 165. His car would remain unstoppable for the entire run despite several attempts by Zakk Miller and Rick Jackson to steal the lead away.
After what presumed to be a wild card race for the eight drivers behind in the Championship standings, Ryan Heuser and Ken Pettit still proved to finish the race on top. Alex Crapser, Rick Jackson and Zakk Miller all used remarkable pit strategy and immaculate speed to keep up with them, but that is all they could do. Pet
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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.
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.
John Battista is looking for his fourth Martinsville victory in his last five attempts. He is closing the gap on his R2W counterpart for the Championship after his win last week at Bristol. John, Ken Pettit and Ryan Heuser will each start outside the top-10, with Matt Raboin on the pole for the second-straight Martinsville race. Matt has endured the devastation of three-straight events of 10th or worse to begin the chase, nearly eliminating him from any hopes of Championship contention. A victory here could diminish some of the torment.
Aaron Cummings answered to the sorrowful news of losing his sponsorship with a third place qualifying effort at one of his least favorite racetracks. Kevin Corbat also qualified inside the top-10, with David Butterworth 7th. Butter has struck the headlines as of late, racing his way back inside the top-35 in points after finishing 3rd and 5th at Darlington and Bristol! The #81 High Octane program has suddenly stepped into the limelight when nobody expected it, wiping away rumors that he would land a Bonanza ride for the oncoming season. This could be the race where somebody finally knocks out the big-guns in 2023!
Points Standings (After 29 of 36 Events) 1. Ken Pettit: -
2. Ryan Heuser: -65 (+1) 3. John Battista: -68 (+1) 4. Alex Crapser: -87 (+1) 5. Zach Michael: -176 (-3) 6. Timothy McDonnell: -179 (+2) 7. Tony Pizzaro: -211
8. Rick Jackson: -216 (+1) 9. Zakk Miller: -251 (-3) 10. Matt Raboin: -319
After a near-decade run of competition, Aaron Cummings and Mello Yello have parted ways. The driver-sponsorship duo started in 2015 after Cummings lost his Waffle House funding, forcing him to change his number from #00 to #51. Mello Yello currently sponsors two cars in the Extravaganza Series, with both teams outside the top-35 in points. They have decided to stay with the #65 Team Danger Zone team for 2024, citing a better engine program and possibility of clinching the top-35 by the end of the year as reasons to stick with the team. Cummings is exactly 500 points behind 35th-place David Butterworth in the standings without hope of making the first six races of 2024. "We've been extremely slow this year." said Cummings, who's average finish dropped from 27th to 31st. "There's a lot of new teams with factory backing, and our in-house engines are failing to keep up." Cummings was referring to Blazin' Pedals Racing and Wizards of Speed, receiving their engines from Lucas Racing during the season. His manufacturer Toyota only funds PHR Racing and one Twisted Metal Racing car, a downgrade from the the old MFI days when they funded six. Cummings will be in sponsorship-search for the rest of the season. "We'll be there for Daytona, but it's a guessing game after that."
Ken Pettit comes into Bristol with the determination of winning his second Extravaganza Series Championship, 125 points ahead of the field after only two events. He will start in the 6th position directly surrounded by John Battista and Ryan Heuser, his primary counterparts for the title. 500 laps of intensity and domination fill the 350,000 strong to witness immortality at the worlds must famous speed-bowl.
Alan Nesfeder wins the pole after nearly clearing the 130 mile-per-hour barrier, looking to continue his recent domination of two top-5 finishes in a row. He would immediately lose the top-spot to rookie Chaucncey Redmond Jr., who dominated the run while Nesfeder failed to lead a lap for the entire event. John Battista would inherit the lead during the first caution flag after a masterful pit stop by the Dave's-Triple burger crew.
A hard-luck caution for drivers already struggling for title contention fell on lap 29. Zakk Miller blew an engine, spinning out in the racing groove directly into the path of Donald Stewart, Bink Lucas and Matt Raboin. Miller and Raboin would finish 40th and 43rd. Raboin becomes the first driver in Extravaganza Series history to follow up three top-3 finishes by finishing 40th or worse in the following three. Zakk Miller likewise earned his fifth-straight result outside of the top-30.
The race went on without any ensuing incident, with a long green flag run in the midst. The early part of the stint saw John Battista and Chaucney Redmond Jr. continue to swap the lead through lap 125. Unfortunately a flat right-front tire would force the #64 to pit, going two laps down with a recurring camber issue. Despite his 60 laps led, he would finish 34th on the night.
The applicably named #26 GameStop Toyota would take lead of the field on lap 126. His dominating run at the Southern 500 two weeks ago proved to be no fluke, dominating the entire stretch and finishing the evening with a race-most 134 laps led. The hobbled and beaten Alex Crapser was miraculously competitive as well, stealing three laps from the #26 in hopes that he could make it to the finish without relief help. He would finish 4th on the day despite the suffering, reclaiming "The only body part that didn't hurt was my neck. I have now won agony scorigami."
Another variety-filled Saturday night saw Jonathan Scrabacz dive into the fray, entering the event 33rd in points and only leading four laps on the season. The independent driver needed this run badly, failing to record a top-20 finish in six races or a top-10 finish since Martinsville in April. Other organzations have been looking to make room for him amongst their ranks but to no avail. He is willing to make the independent dream happen, and it worked tonight after leading the field for 47 laps
The #26 and #48 got trapped a lap down after a Zach Michael and Johnny Reed Foley accident in turn-1 brought out the caution flag, just after they made their pit stops. Their 181 laps led combined could only muster them 23rd and 24th place at the finish, with Rob Scarberry and Alex Crapser able to get their laps back after nearly falling to the same fate. For the title, Zach Michael entered the event second in points and the favorite to catch leader Ken Pettit for the Championship crown. It was not to be, failing to continue and earning a 39th place result.
Despite all the adversity during the first 300 laps, the top-3 drivers were inhereted to John Battista, Ryan Heuser and Tony Pizzaro after their veteran moves to stay on the racetrack. Heuser made his first bid for the lead on lap 342 and remained there for 16 laps, handing it off to the Fenway Frank Fusion. Pizzaro would take 16 laps of his own before giving the top-spot back to the #138.
Heuser and Pizzaro continued to swap positions before a lap 383 caution caused by Tony Gunk's blown motor solidified the final green flag stops. Out of the pits it was Heuser, Battista, then Pizzaro all geared up for a 110-lap showdown to the finish. Heuser would lead the entire first-half of the stint, while Pizzaro lost a left-front tire and was forced to pit, finishing in 28th place. His teammate and points leader Ken Pettit went for a spin on the backstretch, already two laps down and driving his way back to 22nd position by the end. He would maintain his strong points advantage despite the mid-pack result.
An irreproachable start to the Championship for Race-2-Win's Ken Pettit has put the entirety of Extravaganza drivers, fans and front office personnel in a state of positive bewilderment. The #8 Bob Marley "Rastaman" chevrolet team with crew chief Slim Horton has pulled off the biggest upset since the turn of the century, recording two-straight top-5's and a victory to begin their title run. No other driver has earned a top-5 finish in the first two races. Nobody has even earned a top-14, with the other nine drivers have dismantling under the pressure against the "nothing-to-lose" mentality of the mid-packers. We're seeing drivers like Dan Johnston, David Butterworth and Steven Spears compete for victories. We've seen Cristian Torres dominate runs at Darlington, with Craig Lee and Alan Nesfeder on fire after missing their opportunity to compete for the crown. Will the variance at the front continue? Can Ken Pettit extend his torrid stretch at the venue of his first career Extravaganza start? We will find out after 500 miles of Sharpie 500 domination!
Average Finish: Last Two Races (Title Contenders) Ken Pettit: 3.0 Zach Michael: 23.5 Alex Crapser: 23.5 Ryan Heuser: 29.0 John Battista: 29.5 Zakk Miller: 31.5 Tony Pizzaro: 34.0 Timothy McDonnell: 38.0 Rick Jackson: 38.0 Matt Raboin: 43.5
Alan Nesfeder is on the pole for the 2023 Sharpie 500, looking to earn his third-straight top-5 finish at one of his favorite racetracks. More importantly, Alex Crapser is going to give it a go after his monsterous frontstretch accident at Las Vegas one week ago. He will grid 18th, with landslide Championship leader Ken Pettit starting in 6th. Some drivers pick Chauncey Redmond Jr. to be the dark horse this week, starting outside front-row in his usual boom-or-bust effort. Ryan Heuser, Matt Raboin and John Battista are the favorites to win this one.
Points Standings (After 28 of 36 Events) 1. Ken Pettit: -
2. Zach Michael: -125 (+1) 3. Ryan Heuser: -143 (-1) 4. John Battista: -151 (+1) 5. Alex Crapser: -155 (-1) 6. Zakk Miller: -188
7. Tony Pizzaro: -193 (+2) 8. Timothy McDonnell: -197 (-1) 9. Rick Jackson: -222 (-1) 10. <
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Negotiations between Lucas Racing team owner Dalton Lucas and the Extravaganza Series 25-man panel began on Saturday morning, attempting to work out an agreement in case Alex Crapser failed one of his injury protocol's before the Bristol Night race on Friday. Lucas waved checks rumored to be in the Millions, flung around his favorite $2 dollar bill collection, and even offered Jeremy Pringle part ownership in the Lucas Hauling corporation. The panel denied every dollar price, but the two sides finally came to an agreement on Saturday night. Lucas sold his ownership to the Little Ceasar's at Goose Creek, South Carolina. In turn, the Extravaganza panel has agreed to re-locate the chain inside the Extravaganza Series Hall of Fame, and let Alex Crapser race if he passed a brain test.
Crapser was forced to stare at a pendulum swing for six hours on Sunday, locked inside one of Extravaganza's "Protocol Dungeons". "It was a torture chamber. I knew if I screamed once they wouldn't let me back in the car." said Crapser. "Puss flew out of my eye sockets. Blood secreting from both nostrils. My tonsils fell off at one point, but I kept on trucking." Despite multiple stints of quintuple vision and momentary bouts of blindness, Crapser passed the test and is a 50-50 shot to make the Sharpie 500. He and his team took a trip to the local supermarket by camper van in celebration, to get some ibuprofen and "Branned Flakes", his favorite meal. "My Winnebago looks like a kaleidoscope" said Crapser. His brother Adam informed him it was a mailbox.
Crapser also endures a broken left leg from the accident, as well as severe pelvis swelling. "The doctor's told me not to race for the rest of the season. I agree with them, but we'll see how I'm feeling come Friday." Lucas Racing Bonanza driver Molemar Diggs, as well as ARCA Bonzai regular and former crew chief Jeremy Hebel will be ready to take over the ride if need-be.
Only one Championship contender finished inside the top-14 in the first race of the chase. Ken Pettit won the event in grand style, taking over the points lead by 22 in search for his second come-from-behind title in three seasons. He'll most likely complete lap #1 behind the top of the standings, with Ryan Heuser on the pole in search for another dominating Las Vegas performance.
A horrendous break for the pole sitter! Ryan Heuser blows just before the green, crossing the starting line in a cloud of gray smoke. Matt Raboin would also blow on the grid, leaving two QSM engines out of the race without taking a lap. 17 circuits later, Quantum Racing teammate Matthew Dominique also fell to the engine bug, leaving half of the QSM motor brigade out of the event early.
Bill Werkheiser inherited the lead with his third starting spot, leading the field for the first seven laps while holding off Alex Crapser. John Tharp took the advantage after the first caution flag and cruised ahead to lead the entire stint. An excellent pit stop by the Wendy's crew gave John Battista the top spot after the second yellow on lap 40.
A lap 6 accident sent Johnny Reed Foley into the outside turn-1 wall, rebounding to a 22nd-place finish. Cristian Torres brought out the second yellow after smacking the turn-4 wall, spinning out and eventually blowing up on lap 91, finishing 35th. The third yellow initiated with David Butterworth doing the same, careening into Dave Miller while Cristiano De Sa, Zakk Miller, Adam Crapser and Steven Spears all failed to miss the melee, destroying their automobiles.
A pit road accident put Rick Jackson one lap down, becoming the fifth chase driver to endure trouble before the lap-100 mark. Up front, it was John Battista, John Tharp, Bink Lucas, Markell Murphy, Ben Geer and Scott Jackson swapping the top-6 continuously. On the restart after the third caution, Murphy beat Battista out of the pits only to see the #39 take it back on the restart.
