Suddenly, a twist changed all the momentum.
In the midst of the final green flag pit stops, Chase driver Amethyst Ashley was turned off the front bumper of Rambo exiting pit road, right onto the track where Ashley was slammed hard by Jonny Gardner, another playoff contender. The caution came out with three laps to go and two drivers yet to stop: Eli Bright in the lead and Cody Hagen just behind. But the #88 car knew he was running dry, and stopping mid-course would have risked him losing even more spots, despite most of the field being at least one lap down from already stopping. Bright made the hard left. Hagen was ballsy, yet smart. The #42 team went the longest without stopping in the first pit window: 17 laps, just as long as Jason Langley went in the NFRN Truck Series although he ran out on the backstretch. The confidence on fuel mileage was able to propel Hagen to his first career win, mirroring that of Grayson Acevedo from Riki Raceway last season winning as a non-Chase driver in the first playoff race. "We tested that during practice, we knew what the fuel window was and that in dividing the race, pitting too early could force us to a three-stop strategy," crew chief Edwin Hadley said. "I'm glad we turned those long runs, because I didn't have any reservations keeping him out there on the yellow." Playoff competitor Jake Baskinger snuck his way into 2nd by managing to get off pit lane on the same lap as the leaders and then have Bright come down for his pit stop. The #84 now sits atop the point standings going into Toronto Lakeshore Speedway.
The driver of the #4, under review as a result of the accident, expressed remorse following the accident.
"I know I should be celebrating a top-20 finish today, even at home, but after what happened at the end I have a bad feeling with myself and want to apologize to the #57 and the #6 for wrecking them," Rambo said. "It was a great race but ended badly because of a bad mistake by me."
"I just don't know if we would have gotten to the end without blowing up," Aston said. "We tried to do damage control and the timing potentially saved us some spots but I don't really know. All I know is that if we blew up and the wreck didn't happen, we'd be in even more of a hole."
As it stands, Jek Porkins sits just outside the group to advance, three points behind Rampage who is 12th in points. Ryan Maiden, Ashley, and Gardner also face elimination with two races left in the round. Gardner, the furthest back, is 12 points outside of 12th. Comments are closed.
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