A wealthy crowd nearing the 500,000 capacity at Extravaganza's favorite racetrack! The newly re-acclaimed Jiffy Pop 400 (Jiffy Pop 500 in the early days) has been synonymous for excellent finishes and wild card winners. The previous Pizzaro-Heuser domination has been replaced by an ectoplasm of the gods, giving everyone the opportunity to find themselves within the realm of victory. Here was last years top-7:
1. Donald Stewart 2. Bill Werkheiser 3. David Butterworth 4. Dan Johnston 5. Dalton Lucas 6. Bink Lucas 7. Trey Larkin
Rick Jackson pulled off a cataclysmic lap of 162.814 miles-per-hour, a full two seconds over miracle-man Dalton Lucas on the outside front row. Dalton's last top-5 was at this event last season, looking to capture the popcorn in 2023! The winner will get his head dunked by scalding butter. Ryan Heuser comes in as the points leader and the race favorite, despite qualifying 32nd with teammate Craig Lee in the rear. Scott Jackson and Steven Spears also gridded outside the top-30, parallel with their season struggles so far. Here is the cutoff with three races remaining:
30. Dan Johnston 31. John Battista 32. Jonathan Skrabacz 33. Dalton Lucas 34. Ziggy Moonglow 35. Ken Pettit ---------------------------------
36. Ken Joynt 37. Aaron Cummings 38. Scott Jackson 39. Steven Spears 40. Cristiano de Sa 41. Ben Geer 42. Trae Larkin 43. Mark Heron 44. Chauncey Redmond Jr.
Every driver inside the top-42 in points has qualified for the event despite the Bonanza Series companion race. Mark Heron will be out for the second straight week, with Dave Daniels as the only Bonanza regular to make the top-45 field. Good luck at the ROCK!!!!!!
The second night-race of the season is also the second evening event towards the Floridian coastline. 6,000 miles of travel time over the past two weeks saw some of the Extravaganza drivers battle "air sickness", leaving them unable to speak to their pit crews during the practice sessions. "When I opened my mouth there was no saliva. It felt like a spiderweb in my throat" said Aaron Cummings, who comes in an intimidating 40th in the standings. Tony Pizzaro comes in as the points leader, with he and Johnny Reed Foley the only two to record a top-10 in both events.
The Quantum Racing teammates of Matthew Dominique and Matt Raboin start on the front row, taking the green flag in style as the rest of the field prepares for the 267-lap grind to the front. Last week's winner Dakota Wilkins suffers some post-race jitters and scrapes the wall early. The field remained two and three-wide throughout for the first two-dozen laps.
The first lead change of the night came on lap-3 after a Craig Lee pass towards the outside turn-4 wall shot him to the front. He and John Tharp were a 1-2 punch at the head of the pack for most of the green flag run. Quick-Silver teammates Ryan Heuser and Dave Miller come from the back of the field to join him for another 1-2-3 teammate brigade at the front line, dropping Tharp to fourth while Bink Lucas, Rob Scarberry and points leader Tony Pizzaro narrowly hung on to the pack.
The Homestead fuel-window has dipped several laps in 2023. On lap-57, leader Craig Lee and Tony Long came in to attempt a four-stop pit strategy instead of the usual three. Everyone else followed suit, though Lee's immaculate strategy set the tone for the event after coming out with a six-second lead.
Chauncey Redmond Jr. suffered his second gearbox problem of the season, finishng 44th or worse for the second time in 2023. Tim McDonnell, Dave Miller, Tony Long, Ryan Heuser, Tony Pizzaro and Zakk Miller would all attempt to run down the #101, successfully pulling off the feat after 43 laps. Lee would take it back to win the Halfway Bacon Bonus after the second green flag pit stop.
The lead swapped between Tim McDonnell, Dave Miller and Ryan Heuser as we leaned towards the 100 lap-to-go mark. The first accident of the night occurred on lap 167 when John Battista's engine tore apart in the midst of a disasterous 27th-place effort. It was probably the worst race of Battista's career, mired outside of the top-40 during the first green flag run and placing no better than 25th all night. He would finish 44th on the day, dropping to 31st in the standings. Last week's winner Dakota Wilkins would fall to an engine during the caution flag, leaving three Lucas Racing powerplants in the garage while the rest of the field remained in tact.
The yellow flag erased Ryan Heuser's near four-second advantage on the field. He would lead the next 18 laps after the ensuing restart before points leader Tony Pizzaro made his bid on the outside of turn-2. He would successfully earn his five bonus-points, as the two drivers battled for the top-spot for the remainder of the green flag run.
The strategy that teammate Craig Lee perfected during the first green flag stop was the impetus for Ryan Heuser's short-pit strategy with 42 laps to go. An impossibly fast pit stop by John Tharp put him three seconds ahead of Tony Pizzaro for second place, and only one second behind leader Heuser with a three-lap tire advantage. Pizzaro, Alex Crapser and Logan Sheets would fight hard for the next 40-laps to overhaul the top-2 with a four-second gap to overcome.
A horrifying and literal blow to the points leader while battling for the third position dropped Tony Pizzaro to a 42nd place effort despite his third-straight miraculous run. Crapser, Sheets, Dave Miller and Bill Werkheiser re-formed the second pack in a last-ditch attempt to catch the #138 and #14. Up front, John Tharp took the lead from Ryan Heuser with 31 laps to go.
With 20 laps remaining, Heuser and Tharp remained side-by-side while still maintaining their four-second leverage from the rest of the field. Tharp inevitably took the lead outright one lap later with the fresher Goodyear tires and stayed ahead despite Heuser's draf
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Last year's Champion Dave Miller hopes to hurdle over the 45-car field for the victory, one year after finishing second in both Homestead-Miami events. He comes in 6th in the standings after two races in 2023, finishing 15th and 5th. Points leader Tony Pizzaro comes in with a victory and a second-straight top-10, with fall winner Johnny Reed Foley with the same stat-line only 16 points back. They will start 9th and 22nd on the grid. An incredible qualifying effort by Quantum Racing puts the duel-Viper's atop the board entering the initial Southern-stretch of 2023, a welcome performance for the entire team. They have each recorded a finish of 37th or worse in the first two races, with Dominique blowing an engine while in second-place last week. We'll see how long the powerhouse-duo can stay up there.
Two drivers come into Homestead-Miami with pure determination. Ryan Heuser lost his Championship bid last season while leading this event after a frontstretch accident forced him to miss three races. He comes in 5th in the standings, attempting to eradicate the demonic presence of ghosts from yesteryear. Dakota Wilkins has just come off the race of his life, proving he is no fluke with a miracle 4th-place qualifying effort next to fellow Wisconsin driver Alex Crapser on the grid. An incredible top-10 start by both Ken Joynt and Wilkins puts them halfway through their top-35 goal. Chauncey Redmond Jr., Ziggy Moonglow and William Perry also qualified their way into the show for the third-straight week. Sadly, Mark Heron will watch at home, sitting 37th in points after narrowly missing the field. Scott Jackson is 41st in the standings and looking to pounce. Good luck to all at Homestead!
Drivers recover from a 3,000-mile excursion from Daytona to California Speedway, enduring the blocked ear-lobes and hot California sunshine. They have finally landed, driving their own closed-course aircrafts at 190+ in qualifying. 30 divers were able to clinch that barrier, with Scott Jackson, Craig Lee and Champion Dave Miller struggling to find adequate speed during the week.
Timothy McDonnell becomes the first driver in Extravaganza to lead two races in 2023. He passed pole-sitter Rick Jackson and outside-starter John Battista on the first lap, leading the initial 24 circuits. He would battle Zakk Miller side-by-side for a good portion of the stint.
An engine failure on the #51 Aaron Cummings Toyota initiated a cluster of meandering racecars from behind. Rookie of the Year leader Ziggy Moonglow smashed into the back of him, triggering a minor pile-up on the entrance of turn-2. Philip Parker and Trae Larkin were also involved in the accident.
Before Moonglow and Cummings went to the garage area, Matthew Dominique took his first lead of the night after a three-wide boomerang move atop McDonnell and Miller exiting turn-2. He would remain atop the heap through lap-39 before a draft-train from Miller and Ryan Heuser returned the #30 to the forefront. After green flag pit stops, Donald Stewart and Matthew Dominique found themselves three-seconds ahead of the field with a minor short-pit strategy at the lap-50 mark.
The field began to thin rapidly after some 400-mile engines barely squeaked over 100. The current second-place driver and second-place finisher in the Daytona 500 blew up hard on lap-72, going from points leader to 15th in the standings in just a matter of minutes. Ben Geer and Ken Joynt would also fall to the engine bug, ending the day in 41st and 42nd.
Without draft help from the #25, Donald Stewart dropped into the clutches of the Quick-Silver powerhouse. Craig Lee drove from outside of the top-30 to the lead on lap-97, handing the way to Ryan Heuser a couple of laps later. Heuser would lead the halfway-bacon bonus, handing the top-spot back to Stewart after another short-pit on lap-100.
Stewart's deficit went from six to three seconds as Heuser and Rick Jackson made a paramount effort to catch the Clorox #55. Well behind, Scott Jackson and the lapped car of Chauncey Redmond Jr. slammed hard into the outside wall between turns 1 and 2. Jackson was running 23rd at the time, limping his way to 37th while Redmond finished 35th.
2022 Champion Dave Miller made his first move for the lead on lap 136. He would keep the top spot for the following 40 laps, giving 5-bonus points to all three Quick-Silver Motorsports cars. Bink Lucas, Johnny Reed Foley, Alan Nesfeder, Rick Jackson, Zakk Miller and Dakota Wilkins all meander for the second-position and put themselves in reach for the victory.
Zach Michael and Tony Pizzaro were the first of the leaders to make their final pit stop on lap 170. They, Zakk Miller and Dakota Wilkins all exited the pits in a six-car breakaway pack with a couple of lapped cars to follow. Miller and Wilkins exited the pits two laps after Michael and Pizzaro.
The tire advantage for the Miller-Wilkins duo played well into the hands of the two starving drivers. The Rockie's machine came out of the pits first, leading the initial ten laps before Miller took the top-spot on the high line on lap 184. Six laps later, the #77 attempted the same exact shot off of turn-2 and perfected the pass, putting himself in position for his first career victory in his 50th career Extravaganza Series start.
Last year, Ben Geer missed his second-straight race to begin the 2022 season. This year he made it for California, finishing second in the 20-lap qualifier to Chauncey Redmond Jr. Cristiano de Sa, Philip Parker and Trae Larkin will also start their first event of the year during this one-off West Coast swing. Daytona 500 winner Tony Pizzaro will attempt to go 36-for-36, starting 11th on the grid. He is the reigning Champion of this event. Race-2-Win teammate Rick Jackson and John Battista will lead the field to the green clocking at 191+ miles per hour, a three-second interval from last-place gridder William Perry. It should be an extremely competitive 45-car Extravaganza! Ryan Heuser comes in as the pre-race favorite.
CFM teammates Tim McDonnell and Johnny Reed Foley completed an extremely impressive feat during the Daytona 500. Both drivers finished inside the top-5 and led exactly one lap. It was an excellent points day to say the least, with McDonnell ready to roll in fourth place to take the green. Foley will start 26th with his Shake N' Bake replacement Cristiano de Sa only one spot behind.
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.
