Scott Jackson wins his first pole since 2019 at Rockingham. Points leader Tim McDonnell looks to finish his 12th-straight race on the lead lap. Quick-Silver Motorsports swept the two Darlington events last season. Expect Zach Michael, Dan Johnston, Scott Jackson and Ben Geer to recuperate after all having an issue while leading in the 2020 spring event. Also expect Donald Stewart to rise after his top-5 performance at Texas, being the top-3 fastest in all practice sessions during the week.
The 35 members of the Extravaganza Voting Panel have endured a watchful eye on the mediocrity of NASCAR's Hall of Fame selections over the past decade. Upon their review of the sport's history, the top-three true heroes of the NASCAR sanctioning body have been selected by our unbiased sources:
1. Bill Brodrick
2. Wade Smith
3. Jocko Flocko
The enthusiasm of the fans and panel for the Extravaganza Series have unanimously decided to create the N.O.R.L. Extravaganza Series Hall of Fame! Deep in the depths of Old Joe, South Carolina, outdoor monuments will be placed upon the Wando River swamplands. A mangled-up wooded bridge will be rebuilt for fans to walk across the swamp and delve into the fervorous depths of Extravaganza history. The inaugural class will be presented in January of 2022!
The Extravaganza Hall of Fame in it's current state
Tim McDonnell comes into Texas as the points leader, on a miracle run by completing every lap of the ten events ran so far. He will qualify 9th today, as race-day favorites Ryan Heuser and John Battista both start ahead. In a miracle run by the underdogs, Adam Crapser earns the second pole of his young career as he looks to nab a top-5 performance at Texas. Aaron Cummings and Jonathan Skrabacz also start in the front two rows.
It took no time for Ryan Heuser to blow by the junior-tier Pennzoil #4 machine. Adam was able to hang with the crowd up front, having to endure the already lapped car of Matthew Dominique. John Battista made a three-wide move to take his first lead of the day.
John Tharp, Tony Pizzaro and Rick Jackson all found the horsepower early on. Jackson and Tharp would lead 25 laps on the day, shoving their veteran muscle through the pack in grand style. By the end of the lead swapping, Ryan would find his way back up front.
The #138 led through green flag pit stops and nearly pulled away from the field. Battista took the lead after the halfway point and brought the Race-2-Win clan along for the battle. Craig Lee had come from the 20th starting position to race his teammate for the lead. He led 60 laps by the end. After 200 laps, we are still caution free.
Three engine casualties ended the day early for few. the entire Shake N' Bake racing stable went down during the same green flag run, finishing last and second to last for the first time in team history. Bill Werkheiser also fell with a clutch problem during the second caution flag. Matthew Dominique also expired late in the going, dropping both he and Foley to 13th and 14th in the points standings.
The first crash of the day was a big one for Mark Murphy. Craig Lee had dropped from 1st to 12th after a tight racecar and a bad pit stop during the first caution flag for debris. He and Mark made contact exiting turn 4, sending Craig into the outside wall while Mark spun into traffic. Glenn Kaufmann nailed him on the rear quarter panel, with Aaron Cummings and Jack Paynter getting caught up in the carnage.
The next restart saw caution #3. Champion Tim McDonnell got sandwiched between Jim Fitzmaurice and Kevin Corbat. McDonnell flew through, while Kevin and Jim slid into the path of Glenn Kaufmann and Craig Lee. Craig would limp to an 18th place finish, while the other three finished 29th or worse on the day.
Ryan Heuser led every lap of the ensuing restart, with Donald Stewart and Alan Nesfeder tailgating the Quick-Silver machine for a possible upset victory. Alan was able to pass Ryan after their final green flag pit stops with 26 laps to go. In the meantime, Dave Miller and Tony Pizzaro were attempting to stretch the fuel window and make it until the end.
The #90 and #12 came in for pit stops, as Ryan found his way past the #78 for the lead. Alan took the top-spot again with 8 laps to go. A cross-over move off of turn-4 on the same lap saw the two side-by-side once more. This time, QSM horsepower prevailed.
Ryan Heuser was able to navigate through the lapped traffic perfectly and stay at least one car-length ahead of Alan for the final 6 laps. He cruised to his second win of the season, jumping up one spot in the standings to 4th, only 112 points behind McDonnell. Congrats to Ryan, crew chief Mustard Mahoney, and the entire Quick-Silver Motorsports team for an excellent victory!
The most likely front-row in years after Adam Crapser tears the speed-barrier to smithereens with his second career pole, first since Darlington of last year. Aaron Cummings will start on the outside row, with Jonathan Skrabacz 4th looking for a definitive upset victory at a high-horsepower racetrack. To top it off, Rookie of the year Dakota Wilkins records the fastest time in Happy Hour. This could be the big day for a regular mid-packer to find the ultimate success in extravaganza. Victory!
Tim McDonnell continues his top-20 streak on the season to double-digits. He has 16-straight since Talladega of last season, and is currently 80 points ahead of 2nd place in points in search of his third-straight Championship. He has just come off the plane from his Gateway Bonanza victory, and looks to prepare for the REM sleep he needs to handle the G-forces of the great Texas Motor Speedway.
Two-time Champion and 74-time race winner Scott Jackson has parted ways with Luke Warmwater after a less-than-perfect 2021 campaign. He has dropped from 1st in points in the first 10 races of 2020 to 24th in 2021, with a best finish of 10th. He has led in 7 of 10 events, leading most to believe that he still has the speed to get the job done. He will have to gain 342 points on 10th place during the final 16 events, calling on former #12 car chief Linwood Smalls to get the job done.
Scott Jackson 2020 Season (After 10 Races) Points Position: 1st
Average Finish: 12th Daytona: 11th
Rockingham: 6th
California: 6th
Phoenix: 21st
Atlanta: 4th
Darlington: 31st
Texas: 9th
Bristol: 16th
Richmond: 15th
Talladega: 3rd
Scott Jackson 2021 Season (After 10 Races) Points Position: 24th
Average Finish: 24th Daytona: 11th
Richmond: 16th
Homestead: 27th
Rockingham: 10th
Phoenix: 42nd
Atlanta: 32nd
Bristol: 40th
Martinsville: 15th
Michigan: 10th
Talladega: 41st
The most treacherous track in all of Extravaganza nearly killed Dan Johnston in this event last season. He looks for both personal and seasonal redemption, currently 27th in points without a top-10. He will have to out-speed and out-carnage the greats as we roll 200+ at Talladega.
Pole-sitter and points leader Tim McDonnell and Scott Jackson battle hard up front while the treacherous three-wild action commences behind. Scott would 13 laps total before a blown engine late in the going derailed his hard fought effort. He would fall to 24th in the standings.
The big-one occurred on lap 19 from contact between Mike Carroll and Alex Crapser. Both cars flew up the racetrack, sending Matt Raboin up-and-over several times after being crushed between the wall and the other traffic. He came to a stop upside-down on the turn-4 apron, thankfully uninjured. Dalton Lucas and Zakk Miller were also involved, with Miller failing to cross the finish line.
During the first full green flag run of the day, John Tharp, Randy Dobbins, Mark Murphy, Dave Miller, Johnny Reed Foley, Scott Jackson and others all took turns at the helm. It was a relatively clean 40-lap stint, with no cars distictly stronger than the others up front.
After green flag pit stops, Craig Lee teamed up with lapped car Tony Pizzaro to pull away from the rest of the pack by six seconds. It took nearly the entire fuel run for the 16 car pack to run them down, leaving some to believe whether tandem-drafting is the way of the future.
Lap 93 saw contact between Dalton Lucas and Tim McDonnell in the lead pack. Lucas slid up the race track directly into the path of John Tharp, who both slammed violently into the outside wall. Ben Geer had nowhere to go and careened the #88 high into the Alabama air. Both Ben and John were unable to finish the event. Dalton limped home to 32nd.
The previous crash didn't stop the #22. Tim McDonnell dominated the early second-half stretch with a led foot and a whole lot of Top Geer horsepower. Him and Craig Lee appeared to be the two powerhouses of the day, leading a combined 92 laps overall.
A backstretch crash on lap 134 was started by a David Baldinger blown engine. William Perry clipped the #99 as he was slowing down, crashing up the racetrack into Aaron Cummings and Jack Paynter. Connor Germain and David Butterworth were also heavily damaged and spun to the infield. In shades of his teammate, Butter careened into the infield access barrier. Thankfully, he was going four times less the speed of Dan last season.
The final green flag run saw Mark Murphy, Ken Pettit, Craig Lee, Jimmie Stevens and John Battista dominate the show. Cristian Torres, who was the first car to lose the draft on speed early, miraculously led a few laps late and competed for the victory as well. Nobody could make it the distance on gas, as pit stops look to be the determiner once again.
Battista, Bull Werkhesier, and the dynamic QSM duo came out of the pits as the final-four with less than 10 laps to go. Battista made the pass of Bill for the lead early and maintained a car-length ahead of the pack by the 2-to-go mark, Lapped traffic played and enormous factor, leaving Battista and Lee to fight it out coming to the white flag.
Just before the finish, Randy Dobbins and Adam Crapser made contact and slid through the infield grass. Ran
... Read more »
Tim McDonnell maintains his points lead after a masterful performance last week at Michigan. He went from crashing to an ultimate run through the field to capture his 9th-straight top-20 finish of the season. Winner Dave Miller has 8-straight top-20's and has quietly loomed into the points race. The two favorites coming in are Johnny Reed Foley and Rick Jackson. Rick has recorded the most top-5's pf anybody all season, while Foley is is looking for his first. Let the pieces fall where they may and expect another hardcore showdown at Talladega!
Rob Scarberry is in the midst of a historic pace. In the 7 races he's qualified for so far, he has finished 23nd or 26th 6 times. In the Busch Bonanza Series, he is 2 for 2 in finishing 3rd. Talladega will be the third event he has DNQ'd for as he remains in "Provisional Limbo" for a second straight season.
Rob Scarberry Finishes in Top-2 Series 3rd: Twice (Bonanza)
23rd: Three Times
26th: Three Times
DNQ: Three Times
Any other position: 29th (Once)
Few have faired better than Rick Jackson at Michigan, winning his only event last season at the facility. His history here is among legends, as he looks to grab his series leading 6th top-5 of the season. Despite his powerful statistics, he is slightly mired to 10th in points and looks to gain ground at the 2-mile racetrack.
Tim McDonnell retained his points lead after a third place finish at Martinsville. He has recorded a top-20 in every event this season. His teammate Ben Geer has faired significantly differently, missing last week's race due to concussion symptoms at his Atlanta crash the previous week. He is outside the top-35 in points but found his way into the field for Michigan.
