The top-two in the Championship standings are mired in the top-2 qualifying positions. It appears that the remaining 40 cars will be in dire straits, though pre-race favorites Tony Pizzaro and Ryan Heuser linger loosely inside the top-12. We've seen some quality runs from drivers outside of the top-20 in points before. Expect a few more in this event, with a familiar face likely to still take the crown.
Points leader John Battista leads the field to the green with his fourth pole of the season. It is a welcome relief, easily earning a Bud Shootout entry in 2023 after missing it this year despite an eight-victory season. Ryan Heuser also earned eight wins in 2021, taking the lead on lap 14 after Tony Pizzaro earned his five bonus points.
The lead was swapped once more between Heuser and Pizzaro before Bill Werkheiser made his bid on lap 22. Craig Lee took the top-spot the next circuit and handed it back to the #6 one lap later. By lap 30, it was the Fenway Frank Fusion back at the heap.
Craig Lee regained the lead and stayed up front until the first green flag pit stop around lap 67. Cristian Torres had worked his way to 5th before the stop, coming out 2nd and taking the lead over Werkheiser. He would lead 5 laps before the Heuser-Pizzaro duo took back the reigns, tagging Alex Crapser along.
Points leader John Battista pulverized the engine in his Wendy's Chevrolet Monte Carlo. An enormous blow to the Championship chase, finishing last and dropping from points leader to 42-back in the standings after this event. Lucas Racing teammate Alex Crapser picked up the slack by taking the lead on lap 85.
A terrifying crash towards lap 97 started with contact between Matt Raboin and Tony Pizzaro. Chase contender Donald Stewart was wedged into outside wall entering the dogleg, with Johnny Reed Foley attempting to follow though unsuccessfully in the same tire-tracks. From behind, Michael Henson and Dan Johnston hit attempting to avoid the #12 and slid into newfound points leader Rick Jackson. The impact to the front-end destroyed the #44, though he was able to limp to 25th and miraculously keep his points lead due to the attrition of this wreck, as well as engine failures late in the go. John Tharp, Scott Jackson, Ben Geer, Rob Scarberry, Jimmie Stevens, and Aaron Cummings were also involved in the accident, with most unable to continue.
The lead was handed to Champion Ken Pettit just before the big crash. Craig Lee took over the spot for the third time on lap 108, though he gave it up to teammate Dave Miller five laps later. Dave would lead through the second green flag pit stop, currently with the title of 2022 points leader due to the misfortune of Battista and Jackson.
A spin by Brian Lowe brought out the first caution of the race before the big wreck, initiated by contact by his son Stephen exiting turn-2. An accident coming off the same corner between Bink Lucas and Alan Nesfeder brought out the next yellow right in the middle of green flag pit stops. Leader Dave Miller, Craig Lee and Alex Crapser were all trapped a lap down in the process, giving the points lead back to Rick Jackson.
Excellent pit stops per usual put Tim McDonnell up at the front for the first time all day. He came from outside the top-30 on the grid to clinch the Halfway Bacon Bonus, with miracle-man Stephen Lowe up to the second position. Ryan Heuser would find his way past the #24 and took another bid for the top-spot, giving himself the lead both before and after the lap 200 mark. He and McDonnell would swap the lead multiple times throughout the next 20 circuits.
The Busch Bonanza Championship stood at a standstill after a horrifying crash on the backstretch on lap 209. Rod Weston was having the race of his career in fourth position before contact with Ken Pettit sent him flying into the inside wall. Rod hit the concrete barrier at 198 miles-per-hour and flipped violently across the backstretch apron. Miraculously h
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The fall Charlotte event has been forwarded to a 1:00 PM ET start time! The Extravaganza faithful will wake up 8 hours early due to what Charlotte farmers are calling a "cataclysmic event" occurring. "My cows are mooing louder than natural" says Beattie's Ford native "Rooker" Otis. "It's time to buggy on out."
Crew chief Kenzou Yamada won his first points race with Tim McDonnell last week at the Charlotte Road Course. Tim dominated the spring 600-miler, finishing second to Zakk Miller after leading 183 laps. He also won the All-Star Race the week prior, becoming one of the pre-race favorites foe the victory this week. On the front row is our top-2 in the standings. Pole-sitter John Battista currently sits four points ahead of Rick Jackson, attempting to pull a two-way monopoly for the Championship heading into Homestead. Battista is now only one pole away from tying Ryan Heuser for the series lead with five. Good luck to all at Charlotte!
Current Points Positions (Race 32 of 36) 1. John Battista: - 2. Rick Jackson: -4 3. Dave Miller: -89 4. Matthew Domninique: -131 5. Tony Pizzaro: -150 (+1) 6. Johnny Reed Foley: -157(+2) 7. Alex Crapser: -190(-2) 8. Craig Lee: -192 (-1) 9. Donald Stewart: -277(+1) 10. Zach Michael: -302(-1)
Pole-sitter Michael Henson will try to hold on to the top-spot after lap 1. The Championship chase is directly behind him, with Rick Jackson and John Battista mired 23rd and 8th on the grid. Cousin Scott Jackson is on the outside front row, and the favorite to lead the first lap.
As predicted, the #38 ATEUP chevrolet beat Henson off of lap 1 and cleared him entering the first right-hand corner. A three-wide scare entering the first backstretch chicane survived points leader Battista and Alan Nesfeder. Both would progress into the top-5 while John Tharp runs down the leader.
A crash between Ken Joynt and Dan Johnston on the frontsretch chicane brought out the first caution flag on lap 5. The second crash involved Matt Raboin 18 laps later, getting stuffed into the turn-1 barricade after contact with teammate Matthew Dominique. All three drivers would finish 38th or worse on the day.
John Battista takes over the points lead while his teammate Alex Crapser puts himself back into Championship contention after his victory at Talladega. They have a distinct advantage over Rick Jackson and Dave Miller at the Charlotte Road Course, with Miller qualifying a marvelous 10th on the grid. Miracle hot-lapper Michael Henson earned his third pole of the season, nearly cracking the 1:18 barrier. It will be interesting to see if he can defend the Extravaganza elite for the entire 109 lap event. Winner last season Zach Michael will start dead last after near spin in the backstretch chicane. Can he make it through the field to capture a second-straight victory? Can winless Matthew Dominique crank out victory? Can Rick re-pass Battista for the points lead despite the obvious handicap? We will find out at Charlotte!
Current Points Positions (Race 31 of 36) 1. John Battista: (+1) 2. Rick Jackson: -9(-1) 3. Dave Miller: -29 4. Matthew Domninique: -74 5. Alex Crapser: -107(+2) 6. Tony Pizzaro: -119(+2) 7. Craig Lee: -126 8. Johnny Reed Foley: -172(+1) 9. Zach Michael: -197(-4) 10. Donald Stewart: -216
A John Battista victory at Martinsville has put himself at a deadlock with Rick Jackson for the Championship with six races remaining. Jackson comes in as the pre-race favorite with Battista starting mid-pack. Johnny Reed Foley and Alex Crapser will lead the field to the green, both looking to rebound their title hopes.
The green flag came out with everybody frenzying in a 42-car mob. Jimmie Stevens, Randy Dobbins and Logan Sheets took turns at the lead early, with Sheets making a three-wide move on the bottom. Pole-sitter Foley and Alex Crapser would drop towards the back.
The top-guns pushed their way to the front early, with Zach Michael and Ryan Heuser leading 30 of the 48 laps during the first green flag run. The W.A.S.P. Motorsports cars looked strong from behind and looked to charge, though pit stops would only leave Werkheiser in the lead pack. Eleven cars would come out up front, with Tim McDonnell leading nearly the entire run.
The lead would be given to Dave MIller just before the halfway mark, giving him his five bonus points along with the bacon. One of the fastest cars in the field in Zach Michael would terminate around the lap-100 mark, finishing last after being at the front all race long. He dropped from 5th to 9th in the standings.
Points leader Rick Jackson nabbed his first bonus point later in the go, leading nine total laps in the event. A debris caution bundled the field into three-wide insanity as Michael Henson and Logan Sheets dominated the front of the pack. They would lead 8 and 4 laps respectively.
An enormous lap 130 crash took out many of the chase contenders. Contact between Zakk Miller and Randy Dobbins pushed the #96 into Matt Raboin, ricocheting both off the wall and into traffic. Raboin launched into points leader Rick Jackson and Dave Miller. Miller slid back up onto the apron, getting t-boned by Dakota Wilkins from behind. Jackson got sandwiched between Rob Scarberry and Cristian Torres against the outside turn-3 wall. Dobbins slid into John Battista, who slapped the inside wall hard and kept on trucking. Scott Drake, Steven Spears, Alan Nesfeder, Donald Stewart, Jimmie Stevens, Rod Weston and Jonathan Skrabacz were also involved in the incident.
The following restart saw Michael Henson and Ken Pettit stay out on fuel, despite the possibility of the other teams able to stretch to the finish. Henson led through lap 147 before an inside-line move by Bill Werkheiser sent him to the top. He and Ryan Heuser would swap the top-spot twice heading to 30 laps remaining.
John Tharp took the top-spot away on lap 157 with Tim McDonnell following through. Markell Murphy blew an engine behind them in third, leaving Team Danger Zone in disarray after their second failure of the race. Both Tharp and McDonnell would swap the lead multiple times, with several hot-guns lurking from behind.
The Crapser brothers were side-by-side for the lead between laps 168 and 173. Adam took the spot on the high side with little help from behind, in high hopes of recording the first victory of his young career. Tim McDonnell would push teammate Johnny Reed Foley to the front, bookending back to the lead after scoring the pole 175 laps ago.
Adam Crapser and Ryan Heuser took turns at the front before the crew chiefs realized that their drivers had to pit before the finish. Each Quick-Silver Motorsports and Corbat-McDonnell-Foley Racing team came in to pit. Only Lucas Racing, Race-2-Win and John Tharp had the fuel capacity to possibly make it to the finish. With all of the pit-road strategy and chaos at the forefront of the finish, a debris caution came out with three laps to go. Alex Crapser was your leader coming to the caution. Scarily, he was running on fumes during the first caution lap. By way of complete miracle, he was able to make a stop-and go through the pits and still come out up front! Second-place John Tharp ran out of gas on the second yellow flag lap, forcing him to drop to 13th place coming to the checkered flag.
Johnny Reed Foley wins the pole by over a tenth, looking to climb back into the standings after two devastating races. Points leader and race favorite Rick Jackson qualifies fourth. John Battista comes in only six points behind with arguably the best powerplant in all of Extravaganza! This will be the race that will make or break Championship hopes. Look for a non-chase contender to prove victorious at Talladega!
Current Points Positions (Race 30 of 36) 1. Rick Jackson: - 2. John Battista: -6 3. Dave Miller: -38 4. Matthew Domninique: -129(+4) 5. Zach Michael: -143(+2) 6. Craig Lee: -180(-2) 7. Alex Crapser: -191 (+3) 8. Tony Pizzaro: -193(-3) 9. Johnny Reed Foley: -208(-3) 10. Donald Stewart: -216(-1)
Points leader Rick Jackson comes in an astronomical 83 points ahead of the rest of the pack coming into the 30th race of 2022. Martinsville may prove to be his Achilles heal with short track ace John Battista on the prowl looking for his second victory of 2022. Rick will probably fall short on his first, entering one of his less favorable racetracks on the schedule. He will grid 9th. Battista and Dave Miller will start 15th and 39th.
Ryan Heuser started the day on the pole and took no time to pull away from the field. Alex Crapser, Tim McDonnell, Logan Sheets and John Battista each battled for the second place position as the leader ahead already caught lapped traffic. Surprisingly, his teammate Craig Lee dropped from 22nd to last to become the first car one lap down.
The attrition rate manifested in pure agony during the early going. The high temperatures caused Bink Lucas and Stephen Lowe to become the first two casualties of the afternoon. Lowe pulled off a miracle fourth place qualifying effort, unable to capitalize on what could have been a career-changing day.
The battle for second remained firece as Alex Crapser took over the spot in hopes of catching Heuser, who was a whopping four seconds ahead. Green flag stops occured around the 1/3rd mark of the event with leader Heuser the last to come in. Despite not letting anyone else earn a bonus point during the cycle, he would relinquish his four second advantage on the field.
Pitting several laps later with a slight tire advantage did not manifest for Heuser, who lost the lead for the first time to Tim McDonnell on lap 190. It would be the first time McDonnell led double-digit laps in two-straight races all season, looking to dig deeper inside the top-20 in points and earn his first victory of the season. He won the rain shortened event in 2020, looking to re-chase down Heuser after leading 17 circuits.
A hard-nosed crash on the exit of turn-4 nearly took out the points leader on lap 240. Chase contender Donald Stewart missed the pit road after stalling his engine, forcing him to stop on the racetrack while the leaders traversed around in a frenzy for the ages. Third place Alex Crapser, Rick Jackson, Aaron Cummings and Craig Lee were all involved in the accident after failing to find their way through. Alex would persevere to finish 4th after minimal damage, while Jackson limped to 20th with a heavy rear end wound. Lee and Cummings were unable to finish the event. Jackson would lose points to both John Battista and Dave Miller, though still kept his points lead by the end. Craig Lee dropped from 4th to 6th in the standings. Alex Crapser bounced from 10th to 7th and looked stronger than ever after the incident. Stewart was able to continue on but occupied the 10th-in-points spot after limping to 31st. A John Tharp and Bill Werkheiser incident on the ensuing restart caused 6th-in-points Johnny Reed Foley to downshift to 1st while avoiding the accident, expiring his engine. He would drop to 9th in the standings in what looked to be his year to win the crown.
The next green flag run became a hard-fought battle between Ryan Heuser and John Battista for the top spot. Both took sinuous paths through the lapped traffic, each taking advantage of bad breaks and passing the other several times. By the end, these two would combine to lead 473 of the 500 total laps, with Heuser clinching the most.
Winding down to the 100-to-go mark and the two were still in a dead-heat for the victory. The #39 and #138 pulled ahead of Dalton Lucas, Alex Crapser, Matthew Dominique, Alan Nesfeder and Bill Werkheiser by over seven seconds, showing no mercy on the field. Ramshackled points leader Rick Jackson was mired just inside the top-20, possibly giving Battista the lead in the standings with a victory today.
Lap 392 saw a crash off of turn-2 just ahead of the two leaders. Third place Dalton Lucas stalled off the corner, causing Ben Geer, Matt Raboin and Jimmie Stevens to pileup attempting to avoid the Little Caesars chevrolet. Heuser darted low, coming to a complete stop to avoid the accident. Battista traversed to the high line and barely squeaked through. He would be the leader coming to the restart.
This week will entertain the 65,000 capacity crowd at the famed Martinsville Speedway. Surprise winner Markell Murphy shocked the world in the spring after defeating the Jackson family and the entire Race-2-Win contingent. Matt Raboin is looking to sweep the short tracks by earning a victory at Richmond and Bristol already in 2022. He will be among the favorites to capture the checkered flag. No shock to see Ryan Heuser on the pole, the only one to eclipse the 18-second barrier during the session. Hard-luck Alex Crapser and winless Tim McDonnell look to turn their season around after qualifying 2nd and 3rd. Points leader Rick Jackson will grid in 9th position with chasers John Battista and Dave Miller starting 15th and 39th. Rick comes in 83 points ahead of Battista in the standings, averaging a 5th place finish during the first three races. If he can continue that pace it will ensure his fourth Championship crown, a welcome miracle after missing the chase in two-straight seasons. Good luck to all at Martinsville!
Current Points Positions (Race 29 of 36) 1. Rick Jackson:- 2. John Battista:-83(+3) 3. Dave Miller:-85(-1) 4. Craig Lee:-129 (+4) 5. Tony Pizzaro:-139(+1) 6. Johnny Reed Foley:-151(-2) 7. Zach Michael:-155 (+3) 8. Matthew Dominique:-181(-1) 9. Donald Stewart:-183(-6) 10. Alex Crapser:-248(-1)
Points leader Rick Jackson comes into Bristol with his league-leading 12th and 13th top-5's of the season at Darlington and Las Vegas. He has miraculously gone without a victory in 2022, but does possess the points lead by 43 over Quicksilver counterpart Dave Miller. They will both start outside of the top-10 coming into Bristol, under the lights!
A miraculous record-breaking qualifying lap gave John Battista the lead coming to the green flag. It was short-lived after a miraculous high-line pass by Aaron Cummings put the #51 to the lead for only the third time this season. He would lead 10 total laps in the early going while swapping the top-spot with Battista multiple times.
Matt Raboin took the advantage in the early go and easily pulled away from the field. He gained seconds on the continuing second place battle and started to lap some of the chase contenders before lap 100. The first one to go down was Donald Stewart, who entered the event third in the standings.
Johnny Reed Foley fell just before the first caution flag after a David Butterworth stalled engine. He would fortunately find his way to a top-20 finish despite the early setback, but was unable to re-gain his lap. Leader Matt Raboin was involved in a pit-road accident and lost a lap repairing the damage. He would earn his way to a 12th place finish after a hard-nosed struggled to regain his lap late in the going.
Ken Pettit and Craig lee battled for the lead up front before the first crash of the event. Ken Joynt and Alan Nesfeder made contact entering the corner, sliding across the racetrack into Markell Murphy. Dan Johnston, Michael Henson and chase contender Alex Crapser would slam into the accident, with only Henson finishing inside the top-30.
A multitude of the leaders pitted, sending Tim McDonnell up front to lead the pack to the green. Rick Jackson made his move 24 laps into the run and passed McDonnell for the top-spot, who led double-digit laps for the first time since Charlotte in May. Zach Michael, Dakota Wilkins and Jackson swapped the lead as we headed towards the 400-lap mark.
A career day for Dakota Wilkins made his run at Lime Rock Park look like mashed peanut brittle without steroids. He passed Jackson with 105 to go, leading 6 laps and promoting his name to the elite enterprises of Extravaganza. He would relinquish his advantage to Craig Lee, who looked to gain some momentum after a disappointing finish at Las Vegas.
A Dalton Lucas stall brought out the caution on lap 420. A Jimmie Stevens spin on the ensuing restart bunched the field back, awaiting a 70-lap shootout to the checkered flag. Zach Michael made his move to the front with 58 laps to go with the grand prize in mind. He and Lee are backed up in the standings after a devastating Las Vegas performance, looking to earn maximum points and make up the distance on Rick Jackson.
Lee took the lead back five laps later, finding himself mired in lapped traffic while Michael and John Battista race behind for second place. A crash between Randy Dobbins, Dan Johnston and Rod Weston brought out the final caution flag with 32 laps to go. Neither driver would finish inside the top-25.
Points leader Rick Jackson started in 6th while Aaron Cummings, Dakota Wilkins, Michael, Battista and Lee mbattled for Bristol supremacy. The Wendy's machine took over the spot with 19 laps remaining but failed to pull away. Lee made his final bid for the lead 8 laps later and took it outright as the top-5 spread out. Cummings would pull off his first top-5 finish since Darlington of last season, finishing a miraculous 5th on the day.
A remarkable display of driving puts Craig Lee on the list of two-time winners this s
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