Lonnie Wheatley, CLUTE, Texas (September 17, 2015) – After rallying from deep in the field to capture a fourth-place finish at Texas Motor Speedway on Saturday, current Lucas Oil ASCS National Tour points leader Aaron Reutzel is ready for a brawl this weekend.
Adding his 30th overall top-five finish of the year this past weekend, Reutzel and the Shark-powered BC Fundz/Basic One Services No. 87 Triple X Sprint Car team take a 121-point lead in the $60,000 ASCS National Championship points race into this weekend’s Fall Brawl at Greenwood, Nebraska’s I-80 Speedway.
“It’s a place we’ve actually kind of struggled at, hopefully we have some things figured out,” Reutzel said of the 4/10-mile clay oval located between Omaha and Lincoln.
Reutzel comes off a Saturday night at the Texas Motor Speedway Portacool U.S. National Dirt Track Championship that resulted in a rousing drive from 18th to fourth aboard the Wren Motorsports/Momentum Racing Suspensions machine.
While the end result was another good one, it was a battle for Reutzel and the Dissolvealloy Frac Ball Revolution team to ultimately reach the top five.
“It was a rough night overall,” Reutzel says. “We didn’t get a very good hot lap session and then we tightened up too much for the heat.”
Reutzel found himself in a rare “B” Main, where he drove to a second place finish aboard the Danny Sander Construction/ButlerBuilt entry.
“We were still too tight in the ‘B’, then we were a little better in the feature but still off a little bit,” Reutzel explained.
Reutzel looked to be anything but a ‘little off’, slicing through the field from 18th up to sixth in the opening circuits in the Lone Star Hydro Maintenance/Wright Way Logistics entry.
“I got up to about sixth and started saving my tires,” Reutzel said. “The way the leaders were racing each other, I thought we might end up winning that one.”
While a couple of contenders popped tires in the closing rounds, a couple of others made their rubber last long enough to get to the stripe with Reutzel settling for a solid fourth-place finish.
“We’ll definitely take it,” Reutzel said after his 17th top-five finish in 25 ASCS National Tour features this year.
This week, the Fall Brawl at I-80 Speedway looms on Friday and Saturday. Reutzel posted a pair of seventh-place runs from the 17th and 15th feature starting positions during July’s “Road to Knoxville” double atop the Nebraska clay.
2015 Quick Stats: 58 races, 11 wins, 30 top-fives, 40 top-tens.
Up Next: Lucas Oil ASCS National Tour action continues with the Fall Brawl at Greenwood, Nebraska’s I-80 Speedway on Friday and 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 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 17, 2015
- Article Date: 9/17/2015 by Lonnie Wheatley