Lonnie Wheatley, CLUTE, Texas (June 3, 2016) – Coming off an Ohio weekend that didn’t exactly live up to expectations and a Wednesday night rainout, it’s back to Lucas Oil ASCS National Tour action for Aaron Reutzel this weekend.
The National title defense for Reutzel and the Shark-powered Dissolvalloy Downhole Revolution/BC Fundz No. 87 Triple-X Sprint Car team resumes tonight at Michigan’s Hartford Motor Speedway before moving on to Indiana’s Brownstown Speedway on Saturday night.
“I haven’t ever seen either track, it should be an interesting weekend,” the driver of the Wren Motorsports/Momentum Racing Suspensions entry commented.
Reutzel enters the weekend ranked sixth in series points, just 88 points off the lead pace as he vies for a second consecutive series title in the Danny Sander Construction/ButlerBuilt machine.
Reutzel won the most recent Lucas Oil ASCS National Tour event at Texas Motor Speedway on May 14. A card scheduled for earlier this week at Plymouth, Indiana was rained out.
A pair of Ohio outings were the most recent events for Reutzel and the Wright Way Logistics/Walker Performance Filtration team last weekend.
“It was a tough weekend,” Reutzel summarized of the Attica-Fremont double.
A brief hot lap session at Attica on Friday left Reutzel guessing for qualifying. “We were off on our gears,” Reutzel says of the qualifying effort.
Missing a transfer from heat race action by just one position, Reutzel got the No. 87 entry rolling in the “B” Main to make the cut.
“We tightened it up and couldn’t get going,” Reutzel said of the Attica feature event. “I was trying everything and just couldn’t go anywhere.”
After jumping the cushion and narrowly averting disaster with a handful of laps to go, Reutzel erred on the side of caution and called it a night.
Post-race maintenance revealed a bearing problem for which there was no quick solution.
Unable to find a replacement piece, Reutzel and crew decided to drop the 360-ci powerplant in place for Saturday’s FAST event at Fremont Speedway.
“I had always heard how slick it was there, so I thought we may not be too bad off with the 360,” Reutzel says.
That plan didn’t quite pan out.
“It rained all morning and Fremont was heavy,” Reutzel recalls.
Down on power, Reutzel never got a real look at Fremont and scrapped Monday plans for Lawrenceburg.
Now, Reutzel looks to turn things around by becoming the first Lucas Oil ASCS National Tour repeat winner of the 2016 season during this weekend.
2016 Quick Stats: 37 races, 3 wins, 10 top-fives, 18 top-tens.
Up Next:
Friday – ASCS National Tour at Michigan’s Hartford Motor Speedway
Saturday – ASCS National Tour at Indiana’s Brownstown 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.
- administrator on Jun 03, 2016
- Article Date: 6/3/2016 by Lonnie Wheatley