Lonnie Wheatley, CLUTE, Texas (October 22, 2014) – Aaron Reutzel regained his early season form with a pair of strong runs at the Devil’s Bowl Speedway Winter Nationals this past weekend, finishing the weekend off with a podium finish in third on Saturday night after opening the double with a fourth-place run on Friday.
And the timing couldn’t be better for the set the BC Fundz/Wren Motorsports No. 87 Triple-X Chassis team going into this weekend’s $15,000 to win Short Track Nationals at Little Rock’s I-30 Speedway.
“It was a good weekend, one we were needing,” Reutzel said after running his season total to 24 top-five finishes.
Friday got off to a good start with the draw. “We drew good, but it wasn’t good enough for the redraw after we won the heat.”
Starting the feature tenth aboard the Momentum Racing Suspensions/Danny Sander Construction/ButlerBuilt machine, Reutzel worked his way forward. “We had a really good car but it was still hard to pass, you really had to do it when other guys made mistakes.”
Up to fifth and closing on Dusty Zomer for the fourth and final lock-in position, Reutzel found himself fourth when leader Jason Johnson broke in the final rounds. “We had just caught Zomer, it was going to be close,” Reutzel says. “We were racing hard, we knew we were on the bubble.”
Locked into Saturday’s Winter Nationals finale in the Basic One Services/Lone Star Hydro Maintenance/Wright Way Logistics machine with Friday’s fourth-place finish, Reutzel redrew a four to start fifth in the Saturday night Devil’s Bowl Winter Nationals finale.
“It was heavy again so I knew the first lap would pretty much determine where you would run,” Reutzel says. “I blasted the middle to try to get up front, I cleared (Brandon) Hanks but couldn’t quite get by (Matt) Covington.”
Running second in the late stages, Reutzel decided to take a gamble on a restart. “We’re not really worried about points now so I decided to go for the win,” Reutzel explains. “I tried the bottom but bounced it pretty hard and Zomer got by for second.”
Back to third, Reutzel rode it out to claim the third-place show position for the second consecutive time in the Devil’s Bowl Winter Nationals finale.
“Once Zomer got by we really didn’t have a chance to win so I just kept it on the bottom to hold onto third,” Reutzel says. “Overall, it was a really good weekend.”
After a quick couple of days off, it’s back to work tonight in the Second Annual Short Track Nationals Open before mixing up in the Thursday night qualifying portion of I-30 Speedway’s 27th Annual Short Track Nationals.
“This is one of my favorite racetracks to come to, I’m excited about it,” Reutzel says of the ¼-mile clay oval that he captured his first career ASCS National win on earlier in the year.
With an eye on the weekend’s $15,000 winner’s share, Reutzel guns for his second start in the prestigious STN finale after racing into the 2011 main event.
2014 Quick Stats: 54 races, 6 “A” Main wins, 24 top-fives, 34 top-tens.
Up Next: Short Track Nationals Open at Little Rock’s I-30 Speedway on Wednesday night, Short Track Nationals qualifier on Thursday and Short Track Nationals finale on Saturday.
Keep Track: Keep track of Aaron Reutzel’s on-track action including schedule and results at http://www.aaronreutzelracing.com/, on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/pages/Aaron-Reutzel-Racing/117666254913127 or on Twitter at @AaronReutzel. You can also e-mail Aaron at aaronreutzel@yahoo.com.
If you would like Aaron Reutzel Racing press releases e-mailed directly to you, send your e-mail address to Lonnie Wheatley at lonniewheatley@gmail.com.
Penning the recurring series of “The Wheatley Chronicles” articles on racinboys.com, Lonnie Wheatley provides media, public relations and more for select tracks, drivers and events. For more information, Wheatley may be contacted at lonniewheatley@gmail.com.
- Lonnie Wheatley on Oct 22, 2014
- Article Date: 10/22/2014 by Lonnie Wheatley