The early stages in the final race of the Round of 8 at Central Plains Speedway seemed to give us the indication of who was and wasn’t making the championship round for the first season of the Wendy’s Cup Series. However, as the laps wound down, Zac Campbell was fighting his car for every spot and fell from a solid run to an effort that put him one point shy of potentially winning a title this year. Taking that spot was John Arndt, who had to come from the last row in the starting grid and a 7th place standing pre-race to make his championship hopes a possibility. Alongside Arndt, the championship field includes Barry Golberg, Colin Lindsay, and Rampage. Tyrone Kingston was the ultimate winner of the race, with NascarMan#1, Harrison Butt, Grayson Acevedo, and Dexter Black finishing off the top five.
Three Takeaways: Tire Wear: The ultimate factor that came down to Campbell losing out was the tires. The track was very green following a rain shower that came through the day before and made tires wear out a lot faster than we’ve seen on other tracks. The lack of traction made cars that pitted later in a green flag cycle a lot faster than those pitting earlier, which Campbell did on most occasions. The Comeback: No wins on the season doesn’t seem to mean anything for Arndt who is now competing for the first championship in the Wendy’s Cup Series. He has essentially sneaked into the next round each time in the Chase, going into each reset at 11th, 8th, and now 4th place, respectively. Whether he can take the title will come down to whether he can outperform his opponents who have five wins among them. Smith Busts Out: Nick Smith had a solid chance of making it to the championship round, but on the first round of green flag pit stops, Smith smashed into the back of Emmett Juckem, crunching up his hood. His car lacked aerodynamics and made him a lot slower than the majority of the field. As a result, Smith finished nine points shy of Arndt for the final spot for the title. An exciting three-way battle between non-Chasers led to Matt Johnson taking the win at Vermont International Speedway from DaleJrDude88 and KDude124. Just one race away from the penultimate race, those contending for the championship got caught up in a variety of accidents, including a big one on lap 37 taking Zac Campbell out of the race and involving Rampage, Colin Lindsay and Dajon Weeks. Alexander Miller and Andrew Golden got top five finishes.
Three Takeaways: Tensions Rise: Barry Golberg, Nick Smith, Campbell and Rampage carry the advantages heading into Central Plains Speedway. However, none of these drivers are clear cut for the Championship Round. nascarfan19 is 25 points behind and would likely need a win to stay alive, but Lindsay, Weeks, and John Arndt are within 10 points of Rampage. The final race’s contenders are definitely not set in stone. Getting In Trouble: nascarfan19 was running a solid race, but an aggressive move on lap 30 might have pushed drivers around him over the edge. The #64 car cut below the apron line in the dog leg, but Marty Johnson cut down as he came up, ricocheting him into Smith and then back down into NascarMan#1. He stayed in the gas as he spun but had no reasonable line into turn 3. He crashed up into Dan Bandon and took himself out of the race. As noted earlier, nascarfan19 is 25 points behind and the win might be his only shot to take home the hardware at Hula Hoop. The Better Line: Compared to most tracks raced on the schedule this season, it seemed like the outside was providing more opportunities for racers, especially in turns 3 &4. DaleJrDude88 was able to get to Johnson’s bumper heading into the final turn, but while the #81 went low, Johnson kept it clean and powered through the corner in front. |
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