Then everything changed.
The green flag run to the finish just about matched the projected fuel window, putting all the crews on edge. With three laps to go, the floodgates opened and many of the cars headed to pit road for a splash of gas that would get them to finish. Not every car needed the late splash. Noah Pontzer suddenly had a windshield full of nothing but the Ontario Motor Speedway surface. His #92 team gave him the green light to go, believing it was boom-or-bust for a chance at victory. He wasn't in the clear, as three other cars took up the entirety of his mirror. However, as Reece Butcher pushed for a last-lap attack, Caleb Campbell made the move first into turn 3, giving Pontzer plenty of breathing room to claim his first career NFRN Elite Cup Series victory. "We really needed that for our whole crew," crew chief Ross Milo said. "We were having solid runs, a few top-10s, but we needed something that said we're here to stay. Our driver and our team got it done today." Campbell would end up finishing a career-best 2nd while Dwayne Callaway also got by Butcher on the final turn to finish 3rd. "I think the four-tire call made the difference for all of us there at the end," Callaway said. "You look at who all finished up there and we all took four. Everyone was concerned about track position, we felt like the time it took us to make the tire change we could fill our tank up until it couldn't hold any more." The move to pit also had a major shakeup in the playoff picture. Adam Mundinger, who was seven points below the cut line before the crowd pitted, ended up with a top-five finish and is now seven points to the good. Phillip Fry's 7th-place run brought him from 10 points below to five points above. Jake Baskinger, who was slowed by hard pit lane contact on the first caution of the day, finished 15th and went from one point down to 21 up. It wasn't all positives for the Chase contenders. Stuart Gratton, Jek Porkins, and nascarfan19 were all above the cut line before their pit stops and now enter Milwaukee Mile in a deficit of at least five points. In a race that last season was marred by multiple large accidents on pit entry, the reconfigured track saw less drama on that side, but until the late stages of the race, no green-flag stops were needed because of the action and questionable moves on the speedway. Austin Rogers tried to slip inside Nick Smith on lap 3 but took himself out as a result while the #18 suffered major damage. That caution would lead to Baskinger's trouble in which he was hammered in the side by Rampage as he exited his stall, leading him to contact a stopped Kyle Law and make further contact with Cody Hagen. The #84 did not pit again for repairs, causing the field to stack up on the ensuing restart. Amethyst Ashley burst to the inside of the stalled line, but that led to a stop-and-go penalty that only impacted her and not the drivers who followed directly behind her. She would get saved by another turn 4 accident when Julio Cesar tried to pass Noah Kars, putting both of them in the wall and causing a secondary incident in which Zachary Fitzwater Sr. flipped. He was hit again by Kars and Law before coming to a stop. Despite being saved by the caution, the #57 crew blundered the strategy by not taking tires and having to pit shortly after the next restart. That issue would put Ashley a lap down and force her well below the cut line entering the cutoff race. Another multi-car accident took place on the frontstretch near the halfway point of the race when Dominic Carranza blended into traffic after a slide with Butcher, contacting Callaway and Allyson Rayne. Smith drove incredibly late into the accident, nailing the back of the #1 and forcing himself out. The final caution occurred as Mitchell Marc dove deep into turn 2 and turned Ryan Maiden, sending both airborne after contact with the wall. Gratton swiped the #5 as he tried to avoid, but it didn't appear to impact his car's performance. Entering the cut race, only eight points separates 4th from 11th, leaving the battle to advance to the Round of 8 very much up for grabs. Comments are closed.
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