The Marshalltown,Iowa driver "The Reaper" Ryan Gustin becomes the 88th different Lucas Oil Series winner leading 39 of the 40 laps. Monday night's winner Tyler Erb took the runner up spot with Kyle Bronson rounding out the Rocket Chassis podium sweep.
Photo Credit - Heath Lawson
65 cars were entered tonight with the MasterSbilt Race Car house car driven by Jensen Ford from Johnson City,TN topping Group A and overall qualifying giving him the pole for the first heat but Gustin would take the heat win giving "The Reaper" the pole for the feature. Bronson,Davenport,Tyler Erb,Garrett Smith,and Brandon Overton would take the other heat race wins. Overton would be back behind the wheel tonight of the Wells Motorsports Longhorn Chassis after driving the Warrior Race Car owned by friend John Henderson.
The three B Mains would go to Will Herrington,Winger,and Tyler Bruening. Fast qualifier Jensen Ford couldn't advance from his heat race then unfortunately for him got sideways in his B Main then was drilled by Todd Brennan who had nowhere to go. Ford who would have been locked in for the feature being the fastest from group qualifying not advancing but could not get the car ready for the main event. That provisional went to Mike Spatola with the other one going to Lucas Oil regular Ross Robinson.
The green flag waved over the 26 car field with Gustin leading Bronson,Terbo,Davenport,and Garrett Smith. They would run in that order until the first of four cautions would wave on lap 6 for the Double Nickel Chassis driven by Benji Hicks hitting the inside berm in the first turn ripping the nose piece off.
WEDNESDAY'S FEATURE FINISH
1)Gustin
2)Erb
3)Bronson
4)Sheppard
5)Davenport
6)Overton
7)English
8)Hughes
9)Moran
10)Pearson Jr.
11)McCreadie (Hard Charger +12)
12)Shirley
13)Smith
14)Alberson
15)Robinson
16)Owens
17)Beard
18)Spatola
19)Bruening
20)Nothdurft
21)Herrington
22)Roberson
23)Thornton Jr.
24)Winger
25)Bailes
26)Hicks
On the restart Smith would pounce on JD passing him for the 4th spot as the top 3 would remain the same until the second caution waved for the other Double Nickel Chassis that Ross Bailes drives giving up his 8th running spot.
Lap 18 things got interesting as Overton,Davenport,and. Smith would go three wide for over a lap around the 1/3rd mile "Clay by The Bay" with Overton settling that battle for the third spot.
On lap 21 we would see the yellow flag make another appearance just past halfway for Logan Roberson. It appeared he may have found the wall as his RF tire looked a little toed out. Top 5 order was Gustin,Bronson,Erb,Overton,and Superman.
When the green replaced the yellow Kyle Bronson slipped to the inside of the 19R to lead lap 22 but was short-lived as "The Reaper" smashed THE LOUD PEDAL down and Rocket launched to the lead as JD would pass Erb for the third spot.
Lap 28 Brandon Sheppard was rim riding the top side and went around Overton to make his first appearance in the top 5. Lap 30 Erb moved underneath the Fast 49 but wasn't done as he would move past Bronson 5 laps later for the runner up spot.
Gustin has a comfortable lead but with tire wear coming in play on the slick track and lapped traffic Erb closed up on the rear spoiler in two laps. Gustin got around Group B fast quailifier Blair Nothdurft for a cushion between himself and Erb.
The final yellow would wave with two laps to go as Bruening and Herrington got together in turn two to set up a two lap dash for the win but Gustin restarted perfectly to go on to collect his first career Lucas Oil and East Bay win.
Tomorrow night will be for season points after three nights of non points racing as they go for the $10,000 to win payday. Catch all the action live on FloRacing if you can't be there in person. Will we see another first time winner three nights in a row?
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