Lonnie Wheatley, CLUTE, Texas (September 11, 2015) – Aaron Reutzel has some prized hardware in his sites as the drive for the $60,000 Lucas Oil ASCS National championship resumes on Saturday night with the Portacool U.S. National Dirt Track Championship at Fort Worth’s Texas Motor Speedway.
“It’s a nice trophy, the Portacool trophy alone is probably worth a couple of thousand,” the driver of the Shark-powered BC Fundz/Basic One Services No. 87 Triple X Sprint Car explains. “I would definitely like to have it.”
Reutzel will make his run for the Portacool trophy on Saturday night as a three weekend run of Lucas Oil ASCS National Tour action gets under way.
With the National Tour idle this past weekend and Wren Motorsports/Momentum Racing Suspensions sitting in wait, Reutzel jumped into the J.J. Simmons-owned No. 66 mount for the season-ending pair of ASCS Gulf South events at Battleground Speedway in Highlands, TX.
“It was nice to race close to home, we just had tough luck all weekend,” Reutzel explains.
Tough luck in the form of a blown tire on Friday with a certain win nearly in the books and then a broken shock on Saturday night.
“We were checked out on Friday, we had five lapped cars between us and second with about five laps to go,” Reutzel explains.
So close to his 12th overall win of the year, only to have a right rear tire go down.
With Friday’s top four locked in and only two more added to the redraw on Saturday, Reutzel was behind the eight ball.
“We missed the redraw and had to start 11th,” Reutzel explains. “On the first lap, I hit a tire and knocked the left front shock off the car.”
Even with an ill-handling machine, Reutzel persisted to post his 29th overall top-five finish of the year. “We rode it out and got up to fourth.”
It’s back to business now, with Reutzel and the Dissolvealloy Frac Ball Revolution team taking a 93-point lead into Saturday’s event at Texas Motor Speedway.
“It’s been a phenomenal year so far, we couldn’t have thought it would go much better,” Reutzel says. “We just have to finish it now.”
Finishing it begins Saturday at Texas Motor Speedway aboard the Danny Sander Construction/ButlerBuilt machine.
“I’m excited about it with it being in my home state,” Reutzel says of Saturday’s card. “It’s a great track to race on, it’s always wide and racy.”
The Clute, TX, racer will be looking to add his seventh Lucas Oil ASCS National Tour win of the year on Saturday aboard the Lone Star Hydro Maintenance/Wright Way Logistics entry.
“I feel like we could have won a couple there already, hopefully Saturday night is the night we get the Portacool trophy,” Reutzel wraps up.
2015 Quick Stats: 57 races, 11 wins, 29 top-fives, 39 top-tens.
Up Next: Lucas Oil ASCS National Tour action resumes with Saturday’s Portacool U.S. Dirt Track Championship at Fort Worth’s Texas Motor Speedway.
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 www.sprintcarmania.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 Sep 11, 2015
- Article Date: 9/11/2015 by Lonnie Wheatley