Ten drivers welcome the Darlington Raceway with open arms and happy hearts, knowing their status as happy-go-lucky chase contenders. Craig Lee is on the pole, with his teammate Ryan Heuser on the outside in Quick-Silver blockade in front of the other 44 drivers.
Early on, Ken Pettit looked to use the rebound-momentum on his season to capture the lead early. He led more of the early-going laps than anybody else, nabbing a full 36th on the night.
Teammates Ken and Rick Jackson dominate the veteran top-5 in shades of the spring event, where Scott Jackson and John Tharp finished 1-2. Ben Geer eased his way into the picture, leading one lap as he auditions for a possible new ride in 2021.
Rookie Logan Sheets pulls to the front to lead some of the first few laps of his young Extravaganza career. The veterans vulture from behind, looking to swarm the New York Jets machine into a frenzy of bits at the end of the back.
Chase contender Ryan Heuser and Johnny Reed Foley were involved in an accident entering the pit road. Both drivers would rebound to a top-12 finish. Matt Raboin went for a flip up near the front of the pack, involving Sheets and finishing a dead last 46th. Sheets finished 44th.
Heuser found his way back up front in the middle-going, leading 58 laps in total. Towing behind were chase contenders Scott Jackson and Ken Pettit, looking to denounce the great Heuser from his Darlington throne. Zakk MIller and Jimmie Stevens were proving their worth as well, both finishing inside the top-10.
A huge restart crash saw Zach Michael go up-and-over in the front of the pack. A consistent day went in ruin, as he limped to a 40th place finish and down to 10th in the standings after the first chase week. Rick Jackson was also caught up in the accident, finishing 42nd.
The final stages of the event saw Zakk Miler towing the field, with horsepiower-kings John Battista and Ryan Heuser up in the mix for the victory. Aaron Cummings was miraculously up through the field, looking to outdo his 11th place effort last week.
John Battista guided he and Dan Johnston past the #138 for the lead as Miller and Cummings dropped slightly back. With his teammates all outside of the top-15, the Lucas Racing machine relied heavily on the shoulders of the #39. Johnston was looking to rebound after his near-victory at the Darlington spring race 1 year ago.
Johnston led over 20 laps during the final stretch and nearly pulled off the victory. He was ahead by multiple car-lengths and lapped traffic between, but somehow the Wendy's machine propelled through with less than 10 laps to go to re-take the top position.
John Battista led the final laps in grand style, leading a whopping 76 in total and jumping to 1st in the standings for the first time in his career after his Southern 500 victory. Congrats to Battista, crew chief Lew Money, and the entire Lucas Racing team for an excellent victory!
Craig Lee is on the pole and looks to conquer the $5 Million Bacon Bonus for winning two of the crown jewel events this season!
Points Standings: Race 26 of 36
1. Tim McDonnell: - 2. Tony Pizzaro: -5
3. John Battista: -10
4. Craig Lee: -15
5. Zach Michael: -20
6. Alex Crapser: -25
7. Ryan Heuser: -30
8. Ken Pettit: -35
9. John Tharp: -40
10. Scott Jackson: -45
Regular Season: Most Laps Led 1. Ryan Heuser: 960
2. John Battista: 941
3. Craig Lee: 615
4. Tony Pizzaro: 557
5. Matt Raboin: 471
Regular Season: Most Laps Led Races 1. John Battista: 5
2. Ryan Heuser: 5
3. Tim McDonnell: 4
Ryan Heuser comes in 41 points out after a horrendous outing last week at Watkins Glen. Fortunately, he is the grand poobah of Richmond. Ryan has won five of the last six events here, and seven of the last eleven. Ultimate domination by Extravaganza Magazine's #1 driver of the decade. The odds have him at a near 50% shot at winning it again, in probably the most important race of his illustrious career. Heuser has only missed one chase since his career started in 2006. He had 9 DNF's in 2009, and is on pace to do the same unless he begins the ultimate rebound at Richmond!
Current Points Positions
Barring a fatal accident in practice for Zach Michael (166 points ahead, and will still be in), 10 drivers are still mathematically eligible to insert themselves into the final 5 playoff spots. It's been a miracle run for drivers like Jimmie Stevens, who comes in 43 points up through pure consistency. Meanwhile, Ken Pettit has deteriorated from inside the top-5 just a few races ago to 12th during the road course stretch. Regular Championship contenders Rick Jackson and Matthew Dominique are out completely. Ryan Heuser has led the second most laps and most poles in 2021, along with four victories. He and three-time winner Scott Jackson are on the outside looking in despite their dominance at certain points in the season. Zakk and Dave Miller will rely on severe bad luck from all contenders to capture the clinch. This may be the race of the decade!
Mark Murphy broke the track record in final practice after flying through the inner loop, exacerbating the frustration of his 41st place starting position. Matthew Dominique and John Battista start on the front row.
Current Standings
In the last three events, the Extravaganza Series has averaged only one caution per race. This has sent some of the diehard Extravaganza race fans into a slight uproar from the opposite end of the catchfence, with the lack of smoke and flames more evident than a beer-stained redneck behind home plate. "The races end too early without the wrecks" said one diehard Jimmie Stevens fan after Indianapolis. "It was nice to see him up front, but the only crash I saw was one mile down the straightaway. We need more action!" The drivers are on the opposite end of the spectrum, in fear that the higher-heads of Extravaganza will make up for the lost carnage in the races ahead.
The Brickyard 400 is synonymous for it's electric fanbase and driver dexterity. Ryan Heuser, Jimmie Stevens, John Tharp, Rick Jackson and Dave Miller are on the outside looking in, and all but one have had immaculate success at this racetrack.
No Extravaganza driver has won the Brickyard 400 under the age of 30 since the 1990's, as the top-4 in qualifying all signify the old school of racing. Bill Werkheiser won the pole, and looked to hold off Craig Lee, Rick Jackson and Dave Miller to end his long winless drought.
Rick Jackson took the lead early, staying up front for 5 laps before Jimmie Stevens pulled through. Stevens has only led 45 laps heading into today, adding 13 more to the resume as he holds of the challenge from 2019 winner Dave Miller.
Tim McDonnell came from 25th to first within the fuel run to take the lead and seemingly run away with the show. He would lead 36 laps on the day, as nobody could catch his bumper in the early going.
Ryan Heuser looked to repeat last year's victory with a double-down over Tim McDonnell heading into turn 1. Both cars were immensely strong, staying within the draft group nearly all day.
The only caution of the day came off of turn 4, with Tony Long and Donald Stewart spinning into the pit road after contact. Dalton Lucas, Johnny Reed Foley and Scott Jackson were involved in the incident as well. Foley would rebound to 17th, though drop back to 11th in points. Jackson finished outside the top-30 and fell to 14th.
John Tharp and Matt Raboin restarted behind the #22 and tag-teamed by. Raboin would move past Tharp immediately, eventually leading 30 laps while Tharp nabbed his 12th top-10 of the season after a slow start for 2021.
McDonnell, Raboin and Craig Lee were at the helm towards the end of the show. John Battista and Dave Miller were on fast approach from behind, with Ryan Heuser and Tony Pizzaro pulling the two fastest lap times in 6th and 7th.
Dave Miller was leading before the final green flag pit stop. Behind him, Craig Lee's crew amped up the tape in response to the recent Quick-Silver engine rumours, and flew by his teammate in an attempt to win his third Brickyard 400 in the last 5 years.
John Battista looked to end the over-30 streak at Indianapolis, and was the only car in Lee's way to the checkered. After the pass, Battista blew a tire and dropped from 2nd to 38th place.
Craig Lee had pulled away by 4 seconds when he crossed the finish line in first, scoring yet another Brickyard 400 victory. Congrats to Craig, crew chief Spook Millikan, and the entire Quick-Silver Racing crew for an excellent victory!
A season dominated by two drivers starts with both on the inside lane up front. Tim McDonnell is the pole sitter, looking for his 2nd victory at the facility in it's three year history.
Tony Pizzaro takes the lead on lap one as the #12 and #22 scurry away from the field. Pizzaro would lead the first 14 laps while Matt Raboin, Scott Jackson and Jimmie Stevens try to hold up the road ringers behind.
Extremely bad starting spots left many of the chase contenders in a hole from the start. Craig Lee, Dave Miller, Johnny Reed Foley and Ken Pettit endured the rapid pace of the front-goers and could not keep pace. Three of the four would finish one lap down and outside of the top-30. Foley was able to navigate to 16th with the help of a caution flag to bunch up the field.
Between laps 15 and 21, McDonnell and Pizzaro swapped the lead five different times. Later in the run, they would exchange the spot five more times before McDonnell took it outright on lap 50.
During the hard-fought battling up front, John Battista and Zach Michael scurried hard to make up the distance. It was a four-car race for the lead coming up to the halfway bacon bonus.
Battista took the lead on lap 58, keeping his pace through the first green flag pit stop. He would extend his lead by two seconds after the stops, contending with lapped traffic and putting down Pettit, Jackson and Lee.
The battle behind the four leaders and the two Quantum Racing cars proved among the best all day. John Tharp, Scott Jackson, Alex Crapser and Jimmie Stevens were in the safety zone, just inside of the top-10 and nearly completing their goal of a chase-pace finish.
After the first and only caution for debris, Dakota Wilkins took the lead and maintained it for several laps. Zakk Miller took the charge on lap 116, but had to come in for fuel just a few laps later.
Wilkins re-gained the lead and stayed through lap 122 when the rest of the field flew by with fresher tires. Tim McDonnell and John Battista made their way to a great battle towards the end.
The final 15 laps saw Battista following McDonnell through the lapped traffic and beyond. With two laps to go, Battista made his move in the second right-hander and passed the #22 machine, dropping him back to fourth after a last lap holocaust.
John Battista would win his fifth victory of the season, placing him #1 on the winner leaderboard for 2021 and up to 3rd in points. Congrats to John, crew chief Lew Money, and the entire Lucas Racing team for an excellent victory!
