All-Star Race Entry List Ryan Heuser: Darlington, 2023 John Battista: Talladega, 2023 Tim McDonnell: Pocono, 2023 Zakk Miller: Texas, 2023 John Tharp: Homestead, 2023 Matt Raboin: Rockingham, 2022 Tony Pizzaro: Bristol, 2023 Dave Miller: Gateway, 2022... Read more »
The 2023 All-Star Race will consist of the 16 drivers who have won in the previous 36 events. A 42-car duel-consolation showdown prior to the main event will add four more to the fray. The first duel will consist of 50-laps, with all 42 non-qualified entries battling for the top-20 positions. Those top-20 will run a final 50 lap dash that will determine the top-4 advancements to the 20-car All-Star Race field. The winner of each event will win $500,000.
The 100-lap All-Star Race feature will include longshot drivers like Dakota Wilkins, Bink Lucas and Alan Nesfeder attempting to undertake the top-dogs of Extravaganza. There will be a separate qualifying session to determine the 20-car starting lineup, with transfer drivers able to take their shot at the pole position. Our last three All-Star Race winners will be in the field including Alan Nesfeder, who's victory prompted Pepsi-Co out of Extravaganza competition after the 2019 event. Can he win it again? The victor of the All-Star Race will take $10,000,000 to the bank!
All-Star Race Entry List Ryan Heuser: Darlington, 2023 John Battista: Talladega, 2023 Tim McDonnell: Pocono, 2023 Zakk Miller: Texas, 2023 John Tharp: Homestead, 2023 Matt Raboin: Rockingham, 2022 Tony Pizzaro: Bristol, 2023 Dave Miller: Gateway, 2022 Alan Nesfeder: Pocono, 2023 Donald Stewart: Lime Rock, 2022 Zach Michael: Richmond, 2022 Bink Lucas: Las Vegas, 2022 Craig Lee: Bristol, 2022 Alex Crapser: Talladega, 2022 Johnny Reed Foley: Homestead, 2022 Dakota Wilkins: California, 2023 Consolation Race Top-4: Heat Transfer Consolation Race Top-4: Heat Transfer Consolation Race Top-4: Heat Transfer Consolation Race Top-4: Heat Transfer
Quick-Silver Motorsports is in severe dismay! Craig Lee was leading the Pocono 400 with 70 laps to go. Spook made a conservative call to pit, ensuring that they could make it to end on one more stop. Nobody else came in, dropping them to 40th on the restart. They would gain only eight more positions and place 32nd by the end. Five finishes of 37th or worse in the previous six races had already devastated the NOS Energy team, with their early-race domination completely depleted after the pit call. This final blow led to the eventual firing of Millikan after a full decade of success. "We've had speed all season and fell to the gremlins week after week. It's not Spook's fault." said Lee. "Nobody had to be blamed but he took the fall. I'm devastated." Needless to say, many teams will be ecstatic to acquire his services.
A sunny Pennsylvania afternoon crowds over 150,000 faithful Quakers in desperate need of exuberance and intensive modulation. Two of the three corners will enter at over 200+ miles-per-hour, with brakes being pressed into the heavens at three severe slow-down points. Expect brake decline and throttle exhaustion by the conclusion of the 160 laps.
A crash at the tail end of the field caused by a 46-car wagon-train saw Rob Scarberry locked in an overturned state. The #42 tagged the quarter-panel of Dakota Wilkins, spinning upward towards David Baldinger who dispatched the STP dodge into the air, halfway upside-down sliding across the outside concrete barrier. He would overturn and stop, ending the race for both he and Baldinger. Scarberry would drop to 36th in points, having to qualify for the Coca-Cola 600 field in two weeks.
A Ken Joynt pit collision ended the Bandit's day early, restarting on lap-6 with a conventional 43-car horde to the green. Craig Lee continued on the racetrack while a 42-car assemblage entered the pits to secure their fuel window. He would lead a lap before vacating his supremacy to Alex Crapser and Kansas winner Timothy McDonnell.
The #04 Pennsoil chevrolet would return to the forefront after a three-lap stint in command for the #22. Alex would remain there for a modest four circuits before Tony Pizzaro took the helm on lap 26. Zach Michael took over the spot after 12 laps of Fenway Park domination, leading through the conclusion of the green flag run.
Craig Lee recaptured the lead following an involuntary short-pit due to staying out after the first caution flag. Alex Crapser was able to tailgate the #101 out of the pit lane in a five-second secession from the rest of the pack. It's an opportune time for Lee to dominate, entering the event 26th in the standings after several finishes 37th or worse in 2023.
Alex Crapser captured the top-spot for the third time on lap 50 in ambition to tango away from the field. The top-runners inevitably caught the two within 20 laps, concluding with a Zach Michael pass for the lead on lap 69. The #20 Coca-Cola mustang would retain it's dominion to win the Halfway Bacon Bonus.
The #101 re-acquired the top-spot after a second spell of green flag pit stops, terminating the strategy after debris from Donald Stewart's #55 brought out the caution for the second time. Alex Crapser leads the vanguard to the green, holding off Ryan Heuser, Dave Miller, Logan Sheets and Tim McDonnell for sixteen laps despite several attacks from behind. 2022 summer winner Alan Nesfeder would blow his engine during the high-intensity action, finishing 43rd and the fourth to drop out.
Logan Sheets and Ryan Heuser would interchange the lead several times from lap 109 to the final green flag stops after lap 120. Craig Lee catapaulted to the lead in a reversed strategy from earlier, staying out five laps later than the rest of the field. It would develop into a desolate final 30 laps for the NOS energy crew, losing substatial track position only to fight to a 32nd place finish. He would drop to 27th in the standings after an excellent run that could have re-energized his season.
Atop the heap for the fourth time was Alex Crapser, entering the 20-to-go mark with Sheets and Heuser behind with better rubber. The Pizza Hut charger took the lead on lap 141 in search of his seemingly inevitable first career victory. He would withdraw the spot to Heuser just three laps later, giving it back to Sheets with Tim McDonnell, Jimmie Stevens and Dave Miller well in tow.
The 10-to-go mark witnessed an auspicious Jimmie Stevens make his first bid for the lead with draft help from Dave Miller, dropping Sheets back to fourth. He would maintain his advantage with relative ease for the four two laps while Sheets and McDonnell interchanged the third position, giving the front two the opportunity to pull away from the field in search for their first win of 2023. Once McDonnell was able to pass the #58, he flew by Miller for second place without serenity, seeking his second victory in-a-row.
The finish of the 2023 Pocono 400 will mark the halfway point of the regular season, with Pocono career dominators Tony Pizzaro and Ryan Heuser atop the heap. Third place John Battista is still recovering from his turn-1 accident in 2019, rebounding last season with a dominating 103-lap led performance. Kansas domninater Alan Nesfeder won the fall race last year, his second and final victory of 2022 just before his devastating Indianapolis pit wall accident. Fortunately he has recovered in grand style, entering this event 8th in points with a 15th place starting spot. Last week's Kansas winner Tim McDonnell won his first oval race since Daytona of 2021, looking to re-capture his former Pennsylvania glory after sweeping the Pocono Duels in 2020. He will start 5th. Gridding first and second is Ryan Heuser and Rick Jackson.
Craig Lee comes into Pocono a career-worst 26th in points after another complication handed him a 41st-place finish at Kansas. Over the last six races, Lee has finished 37th or worse five times, with an average finish of 36.8 in that span. That is the lowest in the series by three positions to Dalton Lucas's 33.3. The #101 Quick-Silver Motorsports team entered Richmond 5th in the standings. They are now 26th. An 11th-place starting spot at Pocono could be the turning point as we near the halfway mark of the regular season.
The winner of the Pizza Hut 400 at Kansas will receive free Pizza Hut pizza for the next 365 days, until the 2024 Pizza Hut 400. Just like the lactose-sensitive Indy 500 winners, the Extravaganza vegan's may pull over with 10 laps to go and let the meat eaters have at it. Which carnivore will win this week? Ryan Heuser and John Battista come in as the pre-race favorites.
Three-wide mania from 6th on back suffocated the field through the first ten laps. Ryan Heuser and Dave Miller would strike the outside wall entering turn- on lap 2, with both drivers dropping from the top-half of the field to back of the pack. All three Quick-Silver drivers would struggle at one point during the race, with Craig Lee dropping to 26th in points after finishing three laps down in 41st. It would be his fourth straight finish 37th or worse, and fifth of his last six, easily the worst stretch of Lee's Extravaganza career.
Alan Nesfeder tied for the pole with Ben Geer, recording the same 192.157 second lap. Geer would drop outside the top-10 early, while Nesfeder remained in the lead for the initial 37 circuits. John Battista took over the spot in search of his 5th win in 2023.
Despite the four victories, neither of them have come at a 1.5-mile speedway. Battista has finished 44th, 45th and 7th at the three run so far, only leading one lap of his 660 on the year. Winless Extravaganza Champion Rick Jackson took the top-spot from the #39 on lap 54, leading his first 1.5-mile lap of the year.
A short-pit strategy on pole-sitter Nesfeder brought the #78 Coke-Zero Chevrolet back to the top, remaining up front for nearly the entire green flag run. Battista would take over just two laps before Nesfeder's second stop, where the #78 came out over two seconds ahead. He would win the halfway-bacon bonus and finish the event with 128 laps up front.
Timothy McDonnell's fuel mileage gave him a tire advantage by pitting three laps later than Battista, and six laps after leader Nesfeder. The upper hand helped him navagate through lapped-traffic easily, passing Mark Heron, Aaron Cummings and Steven Spears before a bid for the lead on lap 153. He'd remain there for the rest of the green flag run.
Despite having zero cautions for the first two-thirds of the event, attrition still played a minor factor. David Butterworth suffered from a loose battery after contact on the racetrack, putting him five laps down. Jonathan Skrabacz and Donald Stewart suffered blown engines around the halfway mark, dropping to 20th and 30th in the standings due to the misfortune.
The short-pit approach by Nesfeder would secure him the top-spot after every pit stop, only to lose it late in the run. This time he would relinquish the spot to John Battista only ten laps in, with Tim McDonnell directly in tow in a two-car freight to the lead. McDonnell would pass Battista in turn-1 on lap 200, making it a seemingly two-car race to the finish with 67-to-go.
Timothy McDonnell's previous victory was last year at the Charlotte Road Course. His last win at an oval was the Firecracker 400 in 2021. Miraculously, he hasn't been victorious at a speedway since his 2020 Championship-clinching win at Homestead in 2021, winning Martinsville, Dover and sweeping the Pocono Duel's during the same season. WIth 50 laps remaining, McDonnell looks to be the driver to beat.
A three-second lead coming into the pits was stabilized by the revered Tim McDonnell crew, exiting three-seconds ahead of Logan Sheets with a hard charging John Battista behind. McDonnell navigated through the lapped traffic in grand style. Battista made his move by Sheets for second place with four laps-to-go, only to surrender the spot to the #58 one lap later. McDonnell remains over a second ahead after taking the white flag.
It's the second race back at Kansas Speedway after the 2021 hiatus, when Alex Crapser won it's replacement race at Road America during the moderately successful "road course summer shake down". The top-9 finished within 1.5 seconds of winner Matt Raboin in 2022, ensuring this event would stick on the Extravaganza schedule for at least one more season. Last place finisher in 2020 Alan Nesfeder ties for the pole with Ben Geer at a lap of 192.157. Nesfeder comes into Kansas as the top driver in points without a top-5, quietly earning eight top-15 finishes on the season. This pole is his first prominent moment in 2023. Points leader Tony Pizzaro will start 10th with Zach Michael 26th. They will be virtually tied for the standings lead if Michael can finish 20+ positions better. Last week's winner Ryan Heuser, Adam Crapser and John Battista can also finish this race atop the points.
Other than rookie Chauncey Redmond Jr., nobody has more than two DNF's on the season after 11 races. In fact, nine full-time drivers currently have zero, proving that the bump stop ban of 2022 and the Goodyear "tread that never dies" campaign is working better than expected. The primary reason for the change was to make the field more competitive at higher speeds. It's certainly worked, breaking track records nearly every week with a points leader at a 12th average finish. We'll take the added bonus of safety.
Darlington Raceway has produced some of the greatest racing in Extravaganza Series history, starting with Rattle Snake Drake winning the first Rebel 400 in 1952. Champion Raymond Hale was victorious in the inaugural Southern 500 on labor day the same year, winning three total in his illustrious career. This is a race that the veterans are likely to dominate. Look for drivers like Randy Dobbins, Bill Werkheiser, Rick Jackson and Scott Jackson to find themselves at the front of the pack, just like the old days.
Scott Jackson's notorious winless streak started after his victory here in the 2017 Southern 500. His string ended after winning this event in 2021, winning three of the next five in shades of his prime success during the mid-2000's. Look for him or pole-sitter Ken Pettit to bring an end to their current winless woes and venture into their own domination run, hopefully en route to another Championship bid.
Despite the fantastic pole-run for Ken, Ryan Heuser would pass by on lap 1 and lead the opening two laps. Johnny Reed Foley would power-train by on lap 3, swapping the lead multiple times as the two led every circuit during the first green flag run. Zach Michael, Ben Geer, Matthew Dominique, Donald Stewart and Zakk Miller all stayed within striking distance despite the #3 and #138 domination.
It's been a debilitating start to 2023 for Craig Lee, finishing 37th or worst in three of the last four races. On lap 64, contact between him and Bink Lucas on the backstretch sent him into a tailspin, slapping the outside wall and getting smacked by the front end of Johnny Reed Foley. Lee would fail to continue on competitively, limping to a 39th place finish and dropping to 23rd in the standings.
Alex Crapser grabbed his 5-bonus points after his pit crew put thrusted the #04 Pennsoil chevrolet to the front of the pack for the first restart of the evening. He would remain at the helm for three laps before Matthew Dominique took his turn, with each driver trying to earn their way back into the top-10 in points. A slap to the outside wall dropped the #25 from first to mid-pack, taking Crapser along with him while Tim McDonnell swerved to the lead.
John Battista looked to add to his dominant lap-led total on the season, taking it from the #22 before Ken Pettit took his first lead of the night. He and Battista would swap the top-spot twice, with the Wendy's chevrolet in command for the latter 25. Ryan Heuser took the lead again before the halfway mark, remaining there through lap 143 before points leader Tony Pizzaro took the heap.
Two accidents off of turn-2 took the wind away from two Championship contenders. A battle for 8th between Donald Stewart and Dalton Lucas sent the #55 into the wall, spinning in front of the field and coming to a stop against the ghost pit road wall. Zach Michael endured a mimic accident while racing Rick Jackson and Chauncey Redmond Jr. for the third position. Both drivers would struggle to work their way back through the field, finishing 18th and 22nd respectively.
A cataclysm of the ages occurred on lap 99, with Scott Drake having the race of his life battling for the 13th position. Drake, Donald Stewart and Adam Crapser were sandwiched off of turn-2, resulting in the U-Haul dodge spiraling in the middle of the racing groove. Alex Crapser collided head-first into the #9, gyrating Drake into the left-front fender of Johnny Reed Foley, dismantling both engines in the process. Rick Jackson, Mark Heron and Dalton Lucas pulverized into the accident with no room to stop, ending all six of their nights. Jackson and Crapser dropped to 19th and 20th in points. Foley tumbled to 16th. Dalton Lucas earned his third finish of 41st or worse in the last four events, falling to 40th in the standings.
Ryan Heuser re-took the lead after a fantastic pit stop, leading the entire green flag run with Jimmie Stevens, Pizzaro, Alan Nesfeder and Tim McDonnell directly on the doorstep to steal away the victory. In the end, Heuser would lead 201 of the 293 laps, easily the most dominating performance of any driver this season. Other drivers having impressive runs were Tony Long and Trae Larkin, finishing 5th and 6th with Long back inside the top-35 in points.
A miracle pole run for Ken Pettit is exactly what the doctor ordered. A lap of 172.554 narrowly edges out Ryan Heuser for the pole, ending his 118-race pole-less streak and hopefully his half-decade long winless streak since 2019 at Atlanta. The Marley machine only has three top-5 finishes since his Championship run in 2019. John Battista has more victories in a seven race stretch. Battista will start 11th on the grid, looking to win five out of eight. Dalton Lucas and David Butterworth also pull off miracle qualifying runs inside the top-10. Johnny Reed Foley won this event last season for his second victory on his new team. Who will win the Rebel 400 this year?
Ken Pettit wins his first pole in 118 events, winning a Championship in-between and solidifying himself as the "we don't know how he's going to do" driver every race. In a way, he's the most exciting driver in Extravaganza. He started this season with four-straight finishes 25th or worse in shades of his 2022 hangover. Since then, he's finished 12th or better in five of the last six, bumping to 16th in points after many started to question his talent. It's a roll of the dice, but the 2021 Champion has a head start this time. Ken's last pole was the 2020 Daytona 500, fairing in 7th place. An excellent run at Darlington could be the impetus for another quiet bid for the Championship crown.
John Battista is on the greatest stretch of his Extravaganza career, even surpassing the 2021 joy-ride that led to a league-leading 8 victories and 1,230 laps led. The only performance that could overmatch it in recent years was Ryan Heuser's comeback extravaganza during the 2022 summer-stretch. From Sonoma to Michigan, Heuser won 6 out of 8 including a second-place finish at Nashville. Battista is off to a much better start than Heuser did last season, and is currently on pace for 15 victories if he continues to dominate at the same rate. Forget Beatlemania. Forget the Rakestraw Rakes festival, where every fan brought their rakes to the track and waved them in sheer euphoria. This one may be even more special.
