Rampage took home a trophy after a win under caution at Ontario Motor Speedway in a crazy way. Gabryel Wanderley had the lead when they went to caution, but the #17 wasn’t optimistic about his fuel situation and pitted with only a few laps to go. Rampage had the fuel to go all the way and coasted to the finish line. Behind him was Paul Brenner, Harrison Butt, Marty Johnson and DaleJrDude88.
Three Takeaways: Cinderella Story Crushed: Imagine if the driver running 40th in point standings was able to pull this one off. Granted, Wanderley would still have to get into the top 35 somehow to clinch a Chase birth, but those points were valuable. An empty tank left an empty dream as #17 coasted to 23rd place although gaining two spots in points. Points Race Renewed: Rampage was the highest running non-winning driver in points, and now he’s got his win. Suddenly, the race for points position is hot again, and Grayson Acevedo is the one filling that spot. While he’s 85 points behind leader Brenner (granted, every driver is 60 plus points away from the #8 team who’s dominating at this point), eight points ahead of Andrew Rich is the number he needs to keep in mind if he’s got a shot of going for the non-winner spot. His spot was helped by top 10 finishes the past two races complemented by a 12th place finish at Ontario. Treacherous Pit Road: The race saw three caution flags and not one of them happened far from pit road entrance as cars took green flag service. There was a small incident on the backstretch involving Zac Campbell, Andrew Golden and Dexter Black that did not spawn a yellow, but the merge and subsequent slow down caused massive wrecks that took 18 drivers out of the race. Race officials are working on ways to make the shift safer in an effort to reduce accidents. The Wendy’s Cup Series went international once again, this time heading to the famous Twin Ring Motegi in Japan. Harry Sorah, after nearly being lapped earlier in the race, edged out Jonny Gardner by passing Gardner on a one-lap dash to the finish coming out of a caution flag. The caution was set up after a crash between Dajon Weeks and Dan Bandon after cars were coming to pit road under green. Gardner finished second after leading exactly half of the race. nascarfan19, Gabryel Wanderley and Paul Brenner were the rest of the top five.
Three Takeaways: Mystery Surrounding Pits: The series has not announced why Sorah, John Arndt, Alexander Miller and Eric Van Arsdale made trips to pit road soon after green flags. It is expected they incurred some kind of penalty, but there is no evidence that the drivers had done anything wrong on the restart that took place on lap 11. Sorah was able to overcome and secure a victory, but there needs to be more transparency on that account. Chasers Above Cut: The top 35 is now flooded with race winners, and it’s not a good look for a full field of 16 heading into the Chase. Reece Butcher now sits 33rd, Marty Johnson 34th and Dan Bandon 35th. This would be a safe field if the regular season ended today, but they’ve got only six races to keep or gain ground. Rampage Moves Up: It wasn’t an impressive run for Rampage, who finished 27th, but the run was eight spots better than John Green, leading the driver of the #1 to slip into the top non-winner spot. No drivers have lost grip of their Chase birth yet, but if a driver falls out or one wins a second race (or more), he’s got the golden seat at the moment. Given three drivers sit right at the cut line, he should be bullish on his chances. Nick Smith became the first driver to win from the pole on the first road course of the season at Bullrun Raceway, but he got help from the lack of passing and hardcore racing overall. The top three drivers, Marty Johnson finishing second and DaleJrDude88 finishing third, all finished exactly where they qualified. Stephen Willey finished fourth and Rampage fifth with their qualifying efforts being flip-flopped. In fact, the only driver to qualify in the top ten and finish outside of it was James McDaniel who finished 41st due to pit strategy. Nevertheless, Smith now has a Chase birth under his belt.
Three Takeaways: Competitive Road Courses?: There was one incident early in the race, some wall contact and a minor spin involving Lego Busch and Gabryel Wanderley, but most of any shifting in positions took place on pit road. Road courses have previously shown promise, but Bullrun seemed to disappoint for fans that like to see action. New Jersey Motorsports Park is the only road course left on the schedule. We’ll have to depend on that track to improve on a bad first impression that Bullrun left on us. Where is NascarFan1418?: The driver of the #7 was running as high as 2nd in the point standings when we left Meadowlands Speedway in Race #5. Since then, he’s finished 26th, 39th, and 28th, leading up to a 20th place finish this race. Now he’s outside the top 10 in points. His early dominance isn’t following through and he’s going to struggle making the Chase on points if he can’t pull it back together. Brenner Pulling Away: Meanwhile, Paul Brenner is leaving the competition in the dust. He has a full 38 points over John Green, a non-winner who has strung together two top-fives in the last four races. He does have a win, so his Chase birth is all but guaranteed, but the fact that he has been consistently ahead of the competition has to boost the team morale as they get closer and closer to the Chase. Dajon Weeks is a victor at Brooklands Outer Circuit, but he isn’t walking away without controversy. On lap 19, second-place runner Weeks made a poor move to make a green flag pit stop and turned leader Eric Van Arsdale head on into the wall, collecting Emmett Juckem, running fourth, in the process. When it was all said and done, Weeks got the win and the Chase birth while Van Arsdale finished 41st and fell to 19th in points. Zac Campbell, Josh Harris, Andrew Rich and John Green finished the top five.
Three Takeaways: Retaliation Imminent?: There have been plenty of examples in racing with regards to taking out drivers that wronged them, and Van Arsdale might have lost his best chance into the Chase after this race’s accident. Will the #67 make a move during the Chase to payback Weeks if he can’t get his own spot? Turn Four: The trouble spot late in the race, turn four took drivers like Harrison Butt and Lego Busch victim, and Noah Kars, running second with three laps left in the race, looked outside for the lead but ended up losing spots to Campbell and Harris. Kars ended up eighth. Johnson Drops Out: A week removed from his victory at Hattiesburg Speedway, Marty Johnson finished in 36th position, tumbling him back to the 38th on point standings. He is the first driver with a win to fall outside the top 35 where Chase-birth drivers need to be after race #16 to get into the Chase. The gap is only two points, but to be back as far as Johnson is needs to be a top priority for the #19 team. Reece Butcher is 29th in standings currently and newly-crowned winner Weeks is 27th. |
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