Polesitter Craig Martin took the clean air to lead the entire first stint, but it was playoff driver Conor Mays, running 2nd at the time, who made the first move to pit lane. That one lap of fresh rubber, in addition to great speed from the pit crew, led to Mays passing up Martin and never looking back.
With the taking of the checkered flag, Mays not only got his first career win after entering the Chase as an open driver, but now is secured into the Round of 8. "I eventually got tired of being number two," Mays said. "In all honesty, props to (crew chief) Francis [Rowley] for making the call when we were in our window. Clearly we weren't the only ones thinking to come down then, but that made us not have to check up for the #82 the same way they all bunched up pitting the next lap." The effect of pit strategy negatively impacted Martin, as he fell behind TJ Smith and Colin Lindsay who joined Mays on that strategy, and even lost the battle in his own group as Alexander Rowe was faster in the stall and finished runner-up. "It's just frustrating to be in these situations two races in a row," Martin said. "We had a chance at making the playoffs at Nazareth [Speedway] and didn't, even though that was less on our efforts and more on Kenny [Knox] getting lucky with the accidents, and tonight we had a chance to get a victory and couldn't do that. We just want to be P1 in one of these." Two other playoff drivers in Shane Borlan and Jon Gilbert grabbed top-10 finishes and put themselves on top as far as points competitors go. "I think we've finally hit a groove," Borlan said. "We had some of worst finishes in the first half of the season and now we're having some of our best. No better time to peak than now." On the opposite end of the grid, Eric Van Arsdale suffered a slow pit stop that led to him finishing 41st, and other race winners Sparky the Sun Devil, Dwayne Callaway, and Chris Harley also couldn't string together top-30 finishes that leave them outside the playoff cut line heading into NASCOR. |
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