The sun couldn't shine any brighter at Bristol Motor Speedway, setting the grandstands ablaze for a spectacle of the ages! Despite the luminous sky, temperatures in the high-30's have promoted record-setting lap times, with pole-sitter John Tharp capping the charts with a 130 mile-per-hour time. Expect similar speeds during the first quarter of the run, as race-day favorites Johnny Reed Foley and John Battista attempt to crawl from the back of the field.
An enormous crash on lap 1 takes out Dalton Lucas after contact between Rob Scarberry and Ken Joynt sends the back-half of the field into a frenzy. Joynt and John Battista narrowly slide through, as the aftermath from behind collects Lucas, Scarberry, Chauncey Redmond Jr., Bill Werkheiser and Steven Spears. The #88 went for a duel-flip across the turn-3 apron, ending his day immediately.
Points leader Johnny Reed Foley carefully meandered by the lap-1 accident. The restart saw a miracle pit crew performance from the #46 team capitalize on Corbat's outside front-row start by giving him the lead! Not long afterwards, William Perry and Dave Daniels tangled in turn-1, impacting the outside wall hard and sliding directly into traffic. Craig Lee, Adam Crapser and Tim McDonnell survive with minor impairment, while Aaron Cummings and Logan Sheets slammed into the carnage with severe front-end damage. Perry, Daniels and Sheets would all fail to continue, dropping Logan from 4th to 9th in the standings. Both Perry and Cummings would drop outside the top-35 in points after the race, needing to qualify for the show next week at Martinsville.
Ziggy Moonglow led the field to the green flag, leading his first 17 laps since his pole-sitting performance at Atlanta. Miracle-man Kevin Corbat took the lead on lap 36 and remained there for the following 37 circuits, dropping the lead to Alex Crapser one lap later. he would grab his five bonus-points and hand the top-spot over to Dakota Wilkins.
A blown right-rear tire from points leader Johnny reed Foley dropped him three laps down, forcing him to fight through attrition for the remainibg 400+ laps to keep himself atop of the standings. Up front, Steven Spears pulled off Foley's plan of taking the lead on lap 99 after starting outside the top-30. He would remain there through lap 155, in easily his most dominant Extravaganza Series performance to date. He, Matt Raboin, Alan Nesfeder, Ryan Heuser, Tony Pizzaro and Rod Weston would swap the top-5 positions for the following 20-laps.
The third accident of the event mimicked the Perry-Daniels crash entering turn-1. This one involved Donald Stewart and Jonathan Skrabacz, with the #55 pulverizing the outside wall and escaping any residual impacts from the traffic behind. Afterwards, Alex Crapser destroyed the front end of his car in the same corner, ending his day as well as Stewart's. Both drivers would fall outside the top-10 in points after finishing 37th and 38th.
Lap 177 saw Ganza-whacker Rod Weston take the lead for the first time in 2023. Finishing 21st in the Bonanza race didn't dispell his spirits, qualifying 6th for the 500-lapper and staying up front through lap 220. Alan Nesfeder and Tony Pizzaro would exchange the lead several times in the following 20 laps, with the #78 earning the halfway bacon bonus.
For the first time in his Extravaganza Series career, Steven Spears would lead a race twice. A lap 240 pass over Pizzaro and a hard-fought battle between he and Nesfeder put him up front for a third time, remaining there before the Team Danger Zone wagon-train caught him from behind. Zakk Miller and Steven Spears would lead for the remaining green flag run, with Matthew Dominique lurking from behind.
An enormous check-up in turn-1 sent Jimmie Stevens into the rear of Ryan Heuser, spinning the #138 around rear-first into the outside retaining wall. He would continue on to finish 8th despite the setback, as leader Zakk Miller took the field to the green. Tony Pizzaro and Zach Michael flew by him with 150 laps to go, swapping the top-spot several times before Matthew Dominique snuck it away from both of them. He would pull away from the field by over two seconds.
A complete miracle lap by Kevin Corbat puts him on the outside pole at Bristol Motor Speedway! John Tharp's time of 14.679 seconds puts him atop the board, looking to re-gain his confidence after two-straight finishes outside the top-20. New-found points leader Johnny Reed Foley will start 41st after nearly losing the racecar off of turn-4 in his first qualifying lap, hindering both runs. Towards the back, Dalton Lucas (27th), Steven Spears (33rd), and Aaron Cummings (39th) will attempt to bypass Dan Johnston and Ziggy Moonglow in the standings, who are both tied for 35th in points. Two-time Champion Scott Jackson is need of a good run, averaging a 27th-place finish on the season and only 17 points ahead of the cutoff. Race-favorites Ryan Heuser and John Battista will start 12th and 30th respectively, with the #39 attempting to be the first driver with three victories before anyone else gets two in 2023. Good luck to all at Bristol!
David Butterworth has gone nearly a decade without missing an Extravaganza Series race. Today, he fails to make the Food City 500 field after a 10th-place effort in the pre-qualifier, two spots behind the cutoff. He qualified in the third position, dropping back with an extremely loose racecar and no pit stops to adjust. You can blame the companion race Ganza-whackers. You can blame running out of gas at Atlanta. You can blame the horsepower, the crew chief, and every circumstance in the book. In the end, David Butterworth was not fast enough to make the 43-car field. This is a devastating blow for High Octane Racing, who started off as a three-car organization in 2021. At least for this week, only Dan Johnston remains. He will start 38th.
Several of the top short track Extravaganza athletes will show off their short-track skills for the first time in 2023 at Richmond Raceway! The first race under a mile in length produces the greatest odds for grass-roots drivers to cross the checkered flag as the winner. Richmond dominator Ryan Heuser will start on the pole, looking to regain the points lead he lost last week at Texas.
Over one-hundred thousand screaming fans flash the speedway with cameras up and buckles down! Heuser led the field to the green in grand style as the bottom line prevailed, giving he and Matt Raboin the 1-2 spots entering lap #2. Towards mid-pack, three and four wide racing prevailed in an attempt to gain that early track position.
Points Leader Dave Miller started the event in the 41st position, gaining ground early by clinching the top-30 by the 20th circuit. By lap 40, Heuser and Raboin were a couple seconds ahead of the rest of the field, with Tony Pizzaro and outside pole-sitter Adam Crapser battling for the third position. Lapped traffic on lap 72 gave Raboin the advantage entering turn-1 and took the top spot away for the events' first lead change.
Two laps of side-by-side action at the front saw Heuser nab the lead back from the #87 just a couple of laps later. They would remain nose-to-tail for the remainder of the run before a piece of debris from the #26 car brought out the first yellow flag on lap 90. Raboin would beat Heuser out of the pits, earning himself his second lead of the evening.
The #87 would dominate the second run out of the gate, leading the field by over a second through lap 150. Heuser would make a pass in turns 3 and 4 for the lead as they battled lapped traffic again, this time with Zach Michael and John Battista on their tails in a four-car breakaway for the top-spot. Michael and Raboin swapped the second position multiple times before the #20 prevailed, giving us the first different 1-2 order of the race just before the halfway point.
Zach Michael earned his five bonus points on lap 180, taking the advantage as Heuser drifted up the racetrack entering turn-3. The #39 machine flew by as well, setting himself up to pass Michael just one lap later. A battle for the 10th position would end the progress, seeing Alex Crapser and Rick Jackson spin towards the outside wall in turn-3. Both cars received minimal damage from the accident, and would miraculously remain in the lead lap for the remainder of the event despite the misfortune.
During the green flag run, points leader Dave Miller lost three laps fixing the damage to a blown right-front tire, finishing 39th and dropping to third in the standings. His teammate Craig Lee hoped to capitalize on the misfortune by taking the points lead, but blew up just a few laps later, finishing dead-last and dropping to 12th in the standings. Tony Long would also fall to the engine bug, a small misfortune to an otherwise excellent start to his season.
The green flag flew out after the Jackson-Crapser incident brought out the second yellow flag of the race. The #39 and #20 dominated the run, pulling away from Raboin, Adam Crapser and Heuser who were all entrenched in a battle for third while racing around the faster lapped-traffic. On lap 256, Zach Michael took the lead away from John Battista, but not in time to lead the halfway bacon bonus.
The Tony Long stall on the exit of turn-2 brought out the third caution flag of the evening. Battista was able to beat Michael out of the pit road after a masterful pit stop by the Wendy's crew. Fourth place Ryan Heuser suffered a loose wheel on the restart, coming into the pits during the waving of the green flag and lost a lap to the field. He would never get it back, finishing 23rd on the day after leading 117 laps. After the restart, Ziggy Moonglow blew an engine directly in front of Tim McDonnell, ending the night for the #02 while losing the Rookie of the Year battle to Chauncey Redmond Jr., who finished 23 spots ahead. McDonnell's damaged car would drop him to 28th after an easy top-20 night.
John Battista looked to end the streak of different winners in 2023 while dominating the second-to-last green flag run. A short-pit strategy with 50 laps to go gave Tony Pizzaro and out-of-knowhere one-
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Zakk Miller bumps himself into the top-10 in points with his victory last week at Texas, becoming the 6th different winner after six events in 2023. We enter a three-race short track stretch starting at Richmond Speedway, where drivers like Ryan Heuser, Alex Crapser and Matt Raboin have dominated in the past. Heuser will start on the pole, ending four-race streak of uncharacteristically bad qualifying runs. He has certainly healed from his time-trial accident at Texas and looks to become the first two-time winner this season. Points leaders Dave Miller and Johnny Reed Foley start 41st and 22nd, with Miller attempting to keep his streak of completing all the laps in tact by not getting caught down early. Last year's Richmond winners Matt Raboin and Zach Michael will grid 3rd and 9th.
Extravaganza Series veterans Steven Spears, Aaron Cummings, David Butterworth and Dalton Lucas all had to qualify on time and were successful in their endeavors, making the top-9 in the 20-car pre-qualifier. All four drivers come in within 35 points of Michael Henson for the top-35, hoping to earn their provisional spot for next week at Bristol.
A tremendous battle for the top-35 in points overshadows the top-gunners coming into the Russ Charneski 500. Extravaganza big-dog's Scott Jackson, Michael Henson, Jonathan Skrabacz, William Perry, Rob Scarberry, Dakota Wilkins, Dalton Lucas, Dan Johnston, David Butterworth, Aaron Cummings, Ben Geer and Steven Spears all race for their 2023 livelihood in an attempt to secure their starting spots for the remainder of the season. Two-time Champion Jackson will start on the pole, attaining a head start on the mission at hand.
Front-row starters Scott Jackson and newfound Mr. Consistency Donald Stewart roll to the green flag in front of Russ Charneski, who waved the green flag in grand style. After a well-needed bonus point, Zakk Miller passed through both drivers on the bottom lane to capture the lead on lap 2. He would remain there for the entire green flag run.
Johnny Reed Foley, Chauncey Redmond Jr. and Logan Sheets all took their turns behind the #30 car without significant hope of bidding for the lead. After the first round of pit stops, Miller pulled ahead by a staggering six seconds before getting reeled in by Sheets, Bill Werkheiser, Johnny Reed Foley and Chauncey Redmond Jr. He would hold them all off through lap 100.
The second round of stops invited a staggering pit entry by Kevin Corbat, who re-introducing himself to the high-horsepower Extravaganza Mustangs. Points leader Ryan Heuser would suffer a broken oil line, losing 16 laps in the process and dropping to fourth in the standings, re-handing the lead to Dave Miller. Much later on, Bill Werkheiser suffered the only engine fatality of the event, finishing worse than 40th for the second straight week.
Only the second green flag lead change of the evening occurred on lap 109 with an inside turn-1 pass by Logan Sheets. He would be looking for his fourth top-5 in-a-row, a miracle feat considering not qualifying inside the top-20 all season. He would remain up front for five laps.
Johnny Reed Foley took the top-spot on lap 114 on the exit of turn-4, only to hand it back to Sheets two laps later. The two would swap positions once more as we closed towards the third green flag stop, with Dave Miller, Tim McDonnell and Chauncey Redmond Jr. well in tow. Dave Miller would exit with less than a second advantage over Foley, who re-took the spot to win the Halfway Bacon Bonus.
A blown right-rear tire from Michael Henson sent him directly into the path of Ben Geer and Jimmie Stevens, both knocking their front-ends out of alignment. Geer would spin driver-side first into the outside wall, ending his day in the 44th position. Stevens would also fail to continue, finishing 45th and dropping from 14th to 24th in the standings.
Johnny Reed Foley led the field to the green, leading through lap 219 before Dave Miller and teammate Tim McDonnell took over the lead positions. 2019 Texas winner Alex Crapser flew by all three to take the top-spot away before the 100-to-go mark, leading through the remaining green flag cycle. Tim McDonnell would take the lead on a minor short-pit strategy, only to have Crapser nab it back with 52 laps remaining.
Tim McDonnell entered the pits for the final time with 26 laps to go. he pulled off a miracle pit stop over Crapser, who exited in the fourth position while McDonnell came out with a three-second advantage over Craig Lee and Zakk Miller. His gap would evaporate sparingly over the next 10 circuits.
With ten laps remaining, Zakk Miller was on the prowl. He had cruised past Craig Lee for the second position just a couple laps earlier and forced his way side-by-side with McDonnell for the lead with nine laps to go. He would clear him on the exit of turn-2, staying at least a car-length ahead of Lee and McDonnell for the remainder of the race.
Ryan Heuser sits atop the points standings for the first time in seemingly ages. This time last year he was sitting out after a crash at Homestead, watching Trae Larkin drive his car with moderate success. He will start 44th tonight after a devastating turn-1 flip in qualifying. Up front, Scott Jackson wins the pole with a 196.693 mile-per-hour lap! This is the boost he needed to turn his season around, qualifying 30th or worse in three of the first five events and failing to record a top-5 so far. Third-in-points Donald Stewart will start on the outside front row, looking to continue his hot-streak of top-13's to begin the season. 45 cars and 45 starts will take the field once more at Texas! Here is the race for the top-35 in points:
26. Ziggy Moonglow: +60 27. Matt Raboin: +58 28. Chauncey Redmond Jr.: +53 29. Scott Jackson: +44 30. Michael Henson: +36 31. Jonathan Skrabacz: +34 32. William Perry: +22 33. Rob Scarberry: +10 34. Dakota Wilkins: +9 35. Dan Johnston: - ----------------------------------------------- 36. Dalton Lucas: - 37. David Butterworth: -33 38. Aaron Cummings: -35 39. Ben Geer: -36 40. Steven Spears: -47
A horrifying qualifying crash entering turn-1 sent the #138 into a frenzy for the ages. After a hard rear impact and flipping three times, Ryan Heuser walked out of his racecar with only a limp and a bruised-up right knee. He is already good to go for tonight, with icepacks galore in the pit area. Ben Geer also suffered a crash exiting turn-4, gridding 45th in the field after finishing second in the 34-lap pre-qualifier. Heuser will need to traverse through the field to maintain his points lead. Geer will need the run of his life to gain his 36-point disadvantage from the top-35.
It's a dead-heat for 35th in the standings coming to the final race before provisional cutoffs. Every year, the top-35 point-getters from race 7 through 36 are guaranteed a starting spot in the field. Four drivers who qualified for every race last season come into Texas outside of the provisional cutoff, and several others are narrowly inside the bubble. Dalton Lucas, Dave Butterworth, Aaron Cummings, Steven Spears and Ben Geer (if he qualifies) will be racing for their lives in an attempt to secure themselves a secure future in the Extravaganza Series.
26. Ziggy Moonglow: +60 27. Matt Raboin: +58 28. Chauncey Redmond Jr.: +53 29. Scott Jackson: +44 30. Michael Henson: +36 31. Jonathan Skrabacz: +34 32. William Perry: +22 33. Rob Scarberry: +10 34. Dakota Wilkins: +9 35. Dan Johnston: - ----------------------------------------------- 36. Dalton Lucas: - 37. David Butterworth: -33 38. Aaron Cummings: -35 39. Ben Geer: -36 40. Steven Spears: -47
Mello Yello is currently sponsoring the #51 and #65 entries, both outside of the cutoff. Allstate and High Octane Racing are also in trouble, with Dan Johnston and David Butterworth needing a good finish at Texas to preserve a starting spot during the nearby short-track stretch.
Four different winners during the first four races has replicated the diversified competition of 2022. One thing that hasn't changed is the Quick-Silver Motorsports domination, leading 31% of the season's laps combined despite not crossing the checkered flag in first. Look for that to possibly change at Atlanta.
Craig Lee, Zach Michael and Tony Pizzaro dominated the weekly practice sessions, though couldn't stop an out-of-nowhere pole lap by Rookie of the Year leader Ziggy Moonglow. He would start on the pole for the first time in his Extravaganza Series career, leading the first four circuits. Tim McDonnell, Zach Michael and Tony Pizzaro would share their turns at the front for the next several laps.
There were four lead changes during the first 40 miles of the event. The latest came from points leader Dave Miller, who had catapulted his way from the 14th starting stop to the lead on lap 23. He and Pizzaro would trade the 1-2 positions numerous times, tagging along John Battista and Matthew Dominique. This would remain the top-4 after pit stops on lap 60.
Before he had a chance to lead a lap, Rockingham winner John Battista demolished his engine while running in 3rd at the end of the backstraighaway. Lucas Racing is known to run races without the RPM chip, possibly attributing to the failure. He would finish 45th on the day. Miller and Pizzaro pulled away from the field afterwards, before contact between Rick Jackson and Zakk Miller sent the #44 for a tailspin on the frontstretch dog-leg. Jackson received no damage, though struggled to re-accumulate the track position for the remainder of the race.
Miraculous pit work by Chauncey Redmond Jr.'s crew put him atop the board. He's in search of his second-straight top-5 finish after a disastrous start to his rookie campaign. Ken Pettit would take his first lead of the race several laps after the restart, looking as well to turn his season around at one of his most dominant racetracks. Both stints were short-lived, with Johnny Reed Foley and Craig Lee leading the field through lap 208.
Foley looked even stronger than last year, winning this event in a last-lap pass over Tony Pizzaro to end the Race-2-Win victory streak at the facility. This season, Pettit was the only driver who could compete in the equipment after the halfway point, leaving Foley and the QSM brigade as the dominant factors again. It would be a common theme so far in 2023. On lap 208, Ryan Heuser took his first lead of the race, giving all three Quick-Silver cars a lap led.
Contact between Aaron Cummings and Bill Werkheiser sent the #6 spinning up the racetrack into the path of Tony Pizzaro. Pizzaro crunched the wall hard into the turn-1 barrier, while Werkheiser spun rear-first into the #12 and parked directly into the racing groove. The rest of the field narrowly squeezed by. Both drivers would finish 40th or worse by the finish, but miraculously limped to the checkered flag without a DNF tag on their stat-sheet.
Some drivers took two tires and an extra half-can of fuel, while others were able to fill the tank with only one can. Craig Lee, Randy Dobbins, Scott Jackson, Ben Geer and Markell Murphy found their way to the front with the excellent fuel mileage, with former leader Heuser starting 6th. A couple of three-wide battles for the lead between Matthew Dominique, Adam Crapser and Johnny Reed Foley provided bonus points for all, but in the end the #3 came out on top with seemingly the fastest car in the field. He would stay there for the remainder of the green flag run, towing Crapser away from the rest of the pack.
Adam Crapser entered the pits with 54 laps to go, narrowly inside the fuel window to the finish. Foley entered his stall two laps later, coming out of the pits in third behind Logan Sheets and trailing the #4 Packers machine by three seconds. Both Crapser and Sheets have never won an Extravaganza Series race. It took nearly no-time for the #3 and #58 to catch Crapser, passing him just 10 laps into the run. Foley re-took the lead one final time with 37-to-go, with dark-horse Cristian Torres suddenly a contender for the victory in the third position.
A miracle qualifying run by Ziggy Moonglow puts him on the pole for the Cracker Barrel 500! It couldn't have come at a better time, entering Atlanta at a respectable but not safe 29th in the points standings. He failed to qualify better than 37th during the first three events, but has overcome all odds to find the 206.889 mile-per-hour speed. Can he stay up there? Last week's winner John Battista will join him outside the front row.
Half-Dollar Motley won the first ever Atlanta race in Extravaganza Series history back in 1960. After a re-configuration and several repaves over the years, the Race-2-Win team has dominated the spring Atlanta event over the last several years:
2019: Ken Pettit 2020: Tony Pizzaro 2021: Rick Jackson
Last season saw Rick Jackson lead 137 laps, while Tony Pizzaro narrowly lost to a last-lap pass by Johnny Reed Foley at the finish. Ken Pettit's 2019 victory was his last, in hopes of turning his disastrous 2023 season around at the facility.
After four events, only three drivers have finished better than they have qualified in every race:
1. Dave Miller 2. Donald Stewart 3. Zakk Miller
All three drivers will start 14th or lower on the grid at Atlanta, giving themselves decent odds to continue their streak.
Last season's first Rockingham event saw a ton of unusual names at the forefront, with two High Octane Racing cars inside the top-5 for the first time in their brief history. It was the day that Donald Stewart, Bill Werkheiser and Bink Lucas set the tone for their unprecedented successful 2022 seasons. With Dalton Lucas and Cristian Torres gridding inside the top-3, expect more of the same in the 2023 Jiffy Pop 400.
The green flag flew for the 393-lap event with Rick Jackson at the helm and Dalton Lucas ready to pounce. Jackson was able to flourish, leading lap 1 while Lucas succumbed to the pressure and drifted back. His teammate John Battista took the lead for the first time on lap 24 and remained there for the rest of the green flag run.
A cataclysm of the ages roared towards the rear of the field. Three and four-wide action throughout provided the impetus for Zakk Miller and Trey Larkin to earn 20+ positions during the first 30 laps and propell themselves out of danger of going a lap down. Larkin would eventually fade, while Miller stayed strong all race to earn a 10th place finish.
An enormous sunshine provided sizzling temperatures and an enormnous attrition rate. Alan Nesfeder, Matt Raboin and Cristian Torres all fell out early, bringing the entire Detroit brigade into sheer despair. Torres dropped from 12th to 21st in the standings due to the failure.
A pit road crash between Tim McDonnell, Matthew Dominique and leader John Battista destroyed the #22 and #25 machines. McDonnell came in third in the standings in persuit of a revival season, running in 6th at the time of the accident but finishing 40th. Dominique would crawl to 38th position, as both drivers would lose their streak of leading a lap during every event of the season.
John Battista suffered rear-end damage after getting clipped by McDonnell's front-end on pit road, losing the lead to Tony Pizzaro. The #12 would dominate the middle portion of the event, leading by nearly 10 seconds at the one-third mark of the race. Teammate Rick Jackson suffered an engine failure while running in second place, expanding the gap for Pizzaro while Jackson dropped from 6th to 16th in the standings.
Two spinouts through the infield grass by Dave Daniels and Dalton Lucas failed to bring out the caution flag before the halfway mark. On lap 229, contact between Alex Crapser and Ryan Heuser entering turn 4 spun the #04 into the outside wall, directly into the path of Tim McDonnell. Both drivers failed to finish inside of the top-30.
The five-second gap between Tony Pizzaro and John Battista was erased. The rest of the field attempted to exploit the two dominators, including Chauncey Redmond Jr., who's miraculous fuel-save strategy roulette-wheeled his way back onto the lead lap. After the restart, Dave Miller was able to capitalize on a fantastic pit stop to take his first lead of the day.
The lead was swapped several times by Miller and John Battista while Dakota Wilkins blew his engine to earn his second DNF of the season. Battista was able to take it outright and pull away from everybody except Redmond, who scavenged through the field with four fresh tires from the caution flag pit stop. Dave Miller dropped to six seconds back, forcing a short-pit strategy late in the going to re-take the lead.
Chauncey Redmond Jr. miraculously tracked down Dave Miller despite the 10-second advantage, forcing a final short-pit by the #90 with 43 laps to go. Miller entered the pits only three laps prior to Redmond and Battista, narrowly re-gaining the advantage by less than a second as the #90 and #39 meandered through lapped traffic on their way to the checkered flag. With 15 laps remaining, Battista took the lead from Miller for good and earned the most laps led bonus from Tony Pizzaro by only four circuits.
