Extravaganza Series driver Jonathan Skrabacz posted pictures at a Norfolk Admirals game on February 18th, 2023. Our crew recognized his supposed "respite" and we did some research. The Admirals franchise went defunct in 2015, and hasn't hosted a game since. It is impossible for him to be at any facility due to on-track commitments the same day. This conspiracy raises a lot of questions. Who is Jonathan Skrabacz? Is this a cover-up to some unknown corruption? Our Extravaganza enforcement affiliates are currently on the case.
The 2023 Daytona 500 starts out with your stereotypical front-row. Tony Pizzaro is on the pole, looking for his second Daytona 500 victory and second since 2015. Ryan Heuser is on the outside front-row looking for is third victory in this grand event. They'll have to hold off 43 of the hungriest drivers in America to make the dream happen again.
Ken Pettit flew by Pizzaro on the opening lap, hoping to make it a Race-2-Win domination at the front of the field. John Battista would destroy the party on lap four, swapping the lead with Pettit twice before Battista took it outright. He would remain there for the entire green flag run.
A crash between Quick-Silver Motorsports teammates Ryan Heuser and Craig Lee brought out the first caution of the event. Heuser was not up to speed after coming out of the pits, drifting up into the pathway of the #101 and slapping the outside wall. Both drivers spun towards the pit road and would struggle for most of the remaining laps.
John Battista dominated the event through lap 68, leading practically all the laps before Tony Pizzaro made his charge on the bottom lane. He would only lead a couple of circuits, as Alex Crapser, Jimmie Stevens and Johnny Reed Foley all took their turn at the top-spot. Crapser and Stevens would lead three laps total on the night, with Foley leading his one and only.
Alex Crapser found his way back to the front on lap-75. He would relinquish the spot to Zach Michael, who dominated the following 9 laps. Potential Championship contenders Craig Lee and Matt Raboin had lost the draft from behind as Michael power-housed the pack at 205 miles-per-hour.
Some high-level teams went down early during the event. Bink Lucas blew an ignition on lap 42. Rookie Chauncey Redmond Jr. and Scott Jackson fell to the engine bug as well, finishing 45th, 44th and 43rd on the night.
The lead was handed back to Tony Pizzaro on lap 85, towing the field before Matthew Dominique flew by on the inside lane. The #25 led the field to green flag pit stops on lap 113. It was a 9-car breakaway by the time they came out, pulling away from the massive swarm of racecars just four seconds behind.
Ken Pettit, Alan Nesfeder and Michael Henson led the field for a few laps before Pizzaro re-took the top-spot for a third time. Lap 170 initiated the final round of fuel stops, leaving Alan Nesfeder, Tim McDonnell and WIlliam "Tex" Perry at the head of the field in a three-car slipstream. Pizzaro, Dominique, Dan Johnston and Michael Henson would attempt to run them down during the final 25-lap stretch.
It was not to be. A debris caution clustered the field back to it's regular size before the 20-to-go mark. Tony Pizzaro took only five laps to pass Alan Nesfeder for the lead. Behind them, it was complete mahyem from the front to rear of the pack. Michael Henson, Ken Pettit and Jimmie Stevens careened towards the wall after contact while battling for the 15th position. Mark Heron and Zakk Miller narrowly missed avoiding the crash, completely destroying their automobiles. They and Jimmie Stevens would retire from the event. Henson and Pettit limped home to 26th and 29th place.
A restart with five laps remaining saw Pizzaro hold the pace for the initial lap. Johnny Reed Foley made it past Nesfeder for the second spot and looked to charge for the victory with draft help from Matthew Dominique. Tim McDonnell would push Dominique past his teammate in the #3 coming to the 2-to-go mark. The two would battle for third for the remaining five-miles while Pizzaro and the #25 pulled away from the pack.
The 2023 Daytona 500 is here! Qualifying and the Daytona Duels are complete, with Zach Michael, Tony Pizzaro and Ryan Heuser winning the thre preliminary events. Now comes the big show, with John Tharp and Lucas Racing dominating this event in the last four years. Rob Scarberry and Dakota Wilkins start inside the top-5 looking to crown their first Daytona 500 victory. Lucas Racing starts directly behind them in 6th and 7th, dominating the Superspeedway races during the past couple fo seasons. Despite this, Ryan Heuser still comes in as the favorite to win, with Tony Pizzaro, Rick Jackson, Zach Michael, Alex Crapser, John Battista and Johnny Reed Foley all at the top of the Vegas listings. Pizzaro and Heuser will lead the field to the green!
Winning is at the eye of the beholder. For drivers like Steven Inkman and Ken Joynt, just being in the field is a victory for the ages. For drivers like Dakota Wilkins and Chauncey Redmond Jr., making the show was only the first hurdle. Both drivers pulled off miraculous qualifying times, starting 5th and 8th on the grid respectively. Wilkins was among the top-drivers during the second Daytona Duel, and has a legitimate shot at winning the race. Ken Pettit looked to be another straggler after a devastating flip during the same event. The car was completely destroyed, forcing himself to use a re-decaled Rick Jackson backup car for qualifying. He was on top of the board in a miracle effort, gridding third for the 500! Bud Shootout Winner Zach Michael, Craig Lee, Tim McDonnell, John Tharp and Donald Stewart are also in backup cars after big crash. Tharp and Stewart put up a decent time despite the handicap, though Michael, Lee and McDonnell gridded 27th and worse. Look for them to persevere through the field despite the setback.
Longtime Tim McDonnell fuel man "Toucan" Sam Elliott has joined the Team Danger Zone #20 team for 2023. Elliott was swapped to Johnny Reed Foley's crew last season after a team swap, winning his sixth-straight Pit Crew Championship for the MFI/Top Geer/CFM Motorsports organization. "Those boys are caffineated with all that free coke. I wanted in" said Elliott, who was the first to roar over the pit wall and celebrate after Zach's Big Bud Shootout victory. He is nicknamed "Toucan" because he can dump two cans of gas faster than everyone in Extravaganza. He and Team Danger Zone are looking to dominate Speedweeks.
Rick Jackson
Tony Pizzaro
Johnny Reed Foley
Jonathan Skrabacz Ziggy Moonglow John Battista
Jimmie Stevens Chauncey Redmond Jr.
Trae Larkin Zakk Miller
Adam Crapser
Tony Long
Scott Jackson William Perry
Mark Heron Matthew Dominique Geno Sphere Bill Werkheiser
Aaron Cummings
Steven Spears Dave Daniels Rob Scarberry
Michael Henson David Courtney Dan Johnston Jonathan Cheeseman
Tony Gunk
Scott Deutsch
*yellowindicates drivers racing their way in. Top-5 will make the race.
Duel #2 Drivers Ryan Heuser
Tim McDonnell Dakota Wilkins John Tharp
Dave Miller
Adam Crapser
Ken Pettit
Cristian Torres
Logan Sheets
Donald Stewart
David Butterworth
Zach Michael
Markell Murphy
Bink Lucas Philip Parker Craig Lee Kevin Corbat
Ben Geer
Cristiano de Sa Scott Drake Dalton Lucas
Alan Nesfeder Rod Weston Randy Dobbins Connor Germain Matt Raboin Ken Joynt
Steve Inkman *yellowindicates drivers racing their way in. Top-5 will make the race.
Lucas Racing occupies the top-2 positions at the start and looks to be the powerhouse of Speedweeks. They dominated the finish of the Daytona 500 last year, with lofty perseverance and the horsepower of a spacecraft throughout the week. It's more of the same in 2023, with 18 other drivers attempting to defeat the Crapser-Battista duo and crown themselves Big Bud Shootout Champion!
The green flag waved with a congregation of fans waiting to see their favorite Extravaganza Series drivers for the first time in 2023. Zach Michael made headway with draft help from Ryan Heuser at the start, darting past the Lucas Racing duo and into the top-spot. Ryan would make his bid for the helm one lap later, leading through lap 10.
John Tharp led laps 11 through 14 with draft help from Johnny Reed Foley, looking forward to his second season driving the CFM #3. Ryan Heuser would lead through lap 20 before the good handling cars found their way to the front. Bink Lucas, Tony Pizzaro, Johnny Reed Foley, Dave Miller and Donald Stewart all led a lap before green flag pit stops just after the halfway mark.
The three Lucas Racing entries entered pit road first on lap 31. The QSM cars followed suite two laps later. In between, Michael Henson, Tim McDonnell, Bink Lucas, Donald Stewart, Rick Jackson and Matthew Dominique all had miraculous pit-stops and engaged a six-car cavalry at the head of the field.
The first crash of 2023 occurred on lap 36 after contact between Zach Michael and Ryan Heuser entering turn-3. Heuser slid up the racetrack into Johnny Reed Foley, careening the outside of both of their cars hard into the wall. Craig Lee received minimal damage while attempting to avoid the accident, and all three were rendered too impaired to compete for the win.
The field bunched back up with Tim McDonnell at the helm, after meandering in the back all evening. It is a 10-lap shootout to the finish. Michael Henson flew by McDonnell on the inside lane in hopes of pulling off the upset of the century. He would make it stick, keeping the top-spot through lap 44.
The Lucas Racing dynasty have traipsed their way back to the front. Alex Crapser made his move with 7 laps to go and succeeded, sending Henson's Cindarella story to the dumpster fire. Out of nowhere, Zach Michael skyrocketed to the lead and dominated the final five laps, keeping at least a 1 car-length distance throughout and to the finish.
Despite a holocaust of lapped traffic coming to the checkered flag, the decade of second-place finishes in this event has been conquered! Zach Michael is finally your 2023 Big Bud Shootout Champion! He led the first lap along with the final five, and enters the 2023 season with the momentum of a railcar. Congrats to Zach, crew chief Justin Knapp and the entire Team Danger Zone crew for an excellent victory!
FIRE ENGULFS THE SKY AT DAYTONA SUPERSPEEDWAY!!! A COMET OF HORROR HAS SENT TREPIDATION INTO THE SOULS OF THE EXTRAVAGANA FAITHFUL. THE SHOOTOUT WILL BE POSTPONED AGAIN!!!
