CHARLOTTE, North Carolina - Multi-class racing isn't officially sanctioned in the 4 Wide Racing league, but what played out in the second half of Wednesday's race closely resembled it.
In a controversial act of gamesmanship, drivers Michael Newbraugh (car 6) and Cody Kinsey (car 97) stayed out on 30 lap old tires under a caution following green flag stops: trapping over a third of the remaining field a lap down. Some of the field's fastest cars, who pit running on fumes: were effectively eliminated from contention and forced to fight for mid pack finishes when the race went green from laps 64 through 113. The unorthodox strategy netted the 6 car a 15th place finish, last car on the lead lap and the 97 a 21st place finish, one lap down.
RELATED: Race results | Standings
Driver of the 51 car Steven Maggio's call to give up track position and pit on lap 21 put him in the cat birds seat, promptly driving through the field and taking the lead as the caution came out on lap 56. With much of his stiffest competition a lap down or mired in traffic he held the lead for most of the ensuing 50 lap green flag run.
TOP 3 FINISHERS
Maggio then lost the lead on lap 115 as the 99 of Colin Forrester stayed out on tires and the 57 of Ethan Fonseca Moreno edged him in the battle off pit road. The 51 and 57 cars got around Forrester with 10 to go after Maggio tapped Forrester's rear end in turn one. Maggio then retook the lead from Moreno with 5 to go, "I felt like I had a really good short run car, so I just ran my line and tried to dump dirty air on [Moreno]".
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"I'm happy about the win but not happy about how I did it" Maggio said in reference to the contact with the 99 on lap 124. Maggio, who was 'embarrassed' with his 29th place performance at New Hampshire last week and said that he "was able to put it behind him" and focus on replicating his Chicagoland win on a similar track. His 3rd win of the season moves him up to 6th place in the standings.
The driver of the 98 Brandon Hawkin, who had won three of the last four races had to settle for another second place behind Maggio on a high banked intermediate. Hawkin, who finished runner up at Chicagoland, started deep in the field and carved his way to the front, taking the lead on lap 25. After managing to stay on the lead lap after the lap 54 caution that trapped part of the field a lap down: Hawkin grabbed 2nd on the next long run, but he was not able to reach Maggio by race end. "It was a ton of fun tonight, it didn't even feel like 134 laps" he said, "It was a really great fight but I couldn't get there with the track getting grippier [towards the end]". With the long string of top two finishes, Hawkin now sits in 10th in the standings and seems poised to qualify for the 4 Wide post season.
STAT REPORT
Stuck a lap down by no fault of their own, some of the quickest drivers from early in the race had a contentious battle during the longest green flag run of the race, as they tried to claim a lucky dog position. Driver of the 13 car, Craig Lautenslager ran down Jayden Porter and Lawson Peel before pitstops on lap 26, but a quick two tire stop by the driver of the 28 Camaro secured the track position he needed to get his lap back following a caution on lap 121. Porter's 14th place performance was good enough to leap frog Kyle Benson in the standings, who was involved in an incident on lap 60 and finished 31st.
Curtis Kelly in the number 71 5 Hour Energy Camry, had a steady top 5 performance going until the last turn on the last lap of the race when he stole a podium position from season 6 champ Ethan Fonsca Moreno. Kelly, who spun after a check up on the race's initial start, Drove into the top 5 multiple times before his clutch finish. "I bided my time throughout the race but I knew that if I hugged the bottom line as much as possible it would work out in the end" he said of his performance.
"I wasn't expecting a short run at the end but I knew that with 20 to go it was my time to shine" kelly remarked, he also noted that he was able to take advantage of a 'miss shift' by the 57 on the final corner. Kelly moves into 2nd in points with his 3rd place finish.
The 4 Wide Racing League will continue it's regular season at Atlanta on Wednesday December 4th (9PM EST, Kbueno Racing Network on YouTube).
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