This was Brock's 31st career start and he was the last season 1 driver to be able to lead a lap.
"I didn't ever lose faith in William," #23 crew chief Ed Harve said. "There's a reason why we were a playoff team last year. We had the consistency, we just couldn't clear those zeros out of the wins and laps led columns, but we're past that now."
"Hurting a bit, but just glad everyone was okay and that we had the car to run up front on a part-time schedule," Van Arsdale said.
Gratton was frustrated with the #76 driver for the contact. "I don't know why he did that but it ruined our chance of getting a top 20," Gratton said. "Quite frustrated with what happened in the race, but our car was fast so that's a positive." Gratton finished 22nd one lap down after leading 9 laps but getting caught going down pit road on a restart. Riki was extremely good for the series' Georgia drivers, all earning top-10s. In addition to Brock's victory, Jake Baskinger finished just behind him in 2nd, and Caleb Campbell finished 8th. "We had a pretty quiet run today, just happy to get my first top-10 in my NFRN career," Campbell said. "Just didn't expect it to happen here knowing how insane the race was here last year." The race fortunately didn't see the same carnage that last year's did. Only 11 cars had a DNF, five of which came from a lap 3 accident that saw Noah Kars take a flip and rebound back into the pack off of Cody Hagen. John Arndt, 2nd in points at the time, was involved in the wreck and finished 28th. Two other big contenders for the playoffs were knocked out in the second caution when Adam Mundinger tried to cut to the outside of a lapped TheOtherJR when the two made contact and slammed the wall. Jett Kraus was also crunched in the wreck, hitting Mundinger head on and slipping both down the standings after entering the race in the top-10 in points.
First practice leader Rampage was 13th in the session, and rookie Cody Hagen and veteran Tyler Markel showed consistency within the top 10.
Here's the final practice results before the Riki 500: 1) Aidan Shepherd (R) - 34.515 (83 laps) 2) William Brock - 34.592 (78) 3) Jonathan Raines (R) - 34.596 (79) 4) Cody Hagen (R) - 34.598 (77) 5) Amethyst Ashley (R) - 34.618 (76) 6) Mitchell Marc (R) - 34.624 (80) 7) Dominic Carranza (R) - 34.648 (79) 8) Caleb Campbell (R) - 34.660 (81) 9) Tyler Markel - 34.668 (78) 10) TheOtherJR (R) - 34.669 (79)
The driver of the #1 currently sits 5th in the standings but is not clinched in the playoffs until he earns a win this year.
Here's who's showing the most speed in this session: 1) Rampage - 34.593 (121 laps) 2) Zachary Fitzwater Sr. (R) - 34.612 (115) 3) Noah Pontzer (R) - 34.690 (115) 4) Dalejrfan8883 (R) - 34.697 (122) 5) David Davidson (R) - 34.744 (117) 6) Cody Hagen (R) - 34.751 (115) 7) Gerrard Oran (R) - 34.754 (120) T8) Nick Smith - 34.755 (118) T8) Jett Kraus (R) - 34.755 (117) 10) Tyler Markel - 34.756 (117) |
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