ASCC Charlotte 200

QUALIFYING:

Spoiler:

Jason Richardson started on the pole alongside Calvin Hobbes, the latter of whom slapped the wall off turn 4 on the first lap and fell back quickly. The next lap, being forced three-wide by Harry Raynor, he did the same thing, pushing back down into Raynor’s Lenard and setting off a chain-reaction pileup that saw Casey Lester fly through the air. Manny Brown, Roman Musico, Billy Bob Childers, Justin Parker and Joe Burns were among the others collected.

Jack Bohart led on the lap 8 restart, followed by Nick Azure in the #14 Saar, who took the top spot the lap afterwards. On lap 9 A.J. Murphy drifted up into Tommy Nash, sending the #7 car spinning down the frontstretch, collecting Craig Jonser, and bringing out the second caution of the night. Most of the leaders pitted under the yellow with Jack Bohart and Travis Marshall leading the race off. Bohart, however, would get trapped behind a group of lapped cars on the restart, handing the lead to Tony Durbin.

On lap 17, caution 3 flew when Justin Parker got together with Bobby Miller III on the frontstretch and collected an unfortunate Nikki Curtis, who had nowhere to go after Miller’s car trapped her on the outside line. Although she regained control of the car after slamming the wall and avoided receiving any more damage than she already had, said damage was still enough to take the #11 Playboy car out of the race. Parker’s slow car cost Durbin the lead on the restart, and Nick Azure took advantage.

Durbin would regain the top spot on lap 28, but when he approached the lapped car of Tommy Nash in turn 4 two circuits later, he appeared quite annoyed with the #7’s lack of speed and spun it. It largely backfired, as Lorne Roth and Tim Woodard piled into Nash’s errant Bolden, drifted back down the track and clipped Durbin’s right rear quarter panel, sending him driver-side-first into the SAFER barrier (thank goodness for those!) Nick Azure would have cleared the wreck, having slowed up to avoid Lorne Roth, but Travis Marshall had other plans, piledriving right into the #14 at about 115 mph and promptly being joined by Aaron McLaw. Jack Bohart and A.J. Murphy did a great job snaking through the carnage. Azure, arguably one of the best cars over that (rather short) run, was forced to drop out of the race due to those shenanigans, while Durbin dodged a bullet and was intact enough to continue at a decent pace. Bobby Miller III led for a few laps after the restart before being overtaken by A.J. Murphy.

Aaron Cruise brake-checked Lenny Wineburg coming into turn 1 on lap 48, forcing the former into the wall. Afterwards it’d be Jack Bohart again leading, but Tony Durbin caught him and the two swapped the lead for the next several laps. Bohart eventually won out and began building quite a margin – until lap 80, when officials spotted debris in turn 1 and immediately called for a yellow flag in the name of driver safety. Durbin would again take the lead under yellow-flag pit stops, but in a few more laps Bohart was back out front. Durbin, Bobby Miller III, Jim Kidd, and Anthony Evans made up the rest of the top 5 at this point, as well as, due to all the early carnage, the entire lead lap!

A.J. Murphy suddenly slowed on lap 89 after running in the top 10 for most of the night, and a mechanical problem ended his race. With 40 to go the lapped car of Anthony Evans caused some problems for the two leaders as Tony Durbin retook the top spot, but Jack Bohart was back around him within eight laps. It was apparent at this point that the race would probably be settled between these two if circumstances went their way, as neither of their teams could be sure when interviewed that they could make it the rest of the distance on fuel.

Bohart clicked off to, at one point, a five-second lead, and it appeared that the former TM Master Cup driver was home free until Lenny Wineburg held him up with 17 to go, allowing Durbin to close back in, and just as Bohart cleared the mess and began to pull back away from the #33, Anthony Evans pushed up into the wall and back down into Bohart’s car, slowing it down massively and allowing Durbin to get by in turn 1 with 11 to go.

By the next lap, however, Bohart was alongside Durbin, and yet again, he pulled out to a comfortable lead until misfortune struck him. He slapped the wall coming to 3 to go, allowing Evans and Durbin to reel him in just as he caught another lapped car, Aaron Cruise. Durbin made the pass for the lead on the backstretch and cleared Bohart while the latter was trapped behind Cruise’s slow car.

...and Durbin promptly ran out of fuel coming into turn 4, then headed straight to the pits. Jack Bohart’s fuel held out, and he would go on to take the victory at Charlotte Motor Speedway!

RACE RESULTS

Spoiler:

GET THE REPLAY HERE

Seth Anderson should be in the 89

The finish that Durbin ran out of fuel going into turn four and losing the race reminds me of Jr. running out of fuel at the same track in the same turn... anyone remember that?

gwoodard41 wrote:The finish that Durbin ran out of fuel going into turn four and losing the race reminds me of Jr. running out of fuel at the same track in the same turn... anyone remember that?

Except in Durbin's case it was with 3 laps to go.

Which Charlotte was this?

Casey Lester: Well, I had a blast through the air this race. Tough break for the guys at the shop. I guess we can just get the Kentucky car out for the Supercell next week.

Azure's collapse continues after crash; goes after Marshall

Frank Azure's season continues to go downhill after being involved in a multi-car wreck on lap 31, effectively killing his remaining title hopes. The wreck started after Tony Durbin turns the lapped car of Tommy Nash, sending Durbin himself spinning as Tim Woodard and Lorne Roth plow into Nash. Azure slowed down enough to avoid the wreck, until Travis Marshall plows into the rear of Azure's car at 110 MPH. Azure was able to drive it back to pit road, but had to retire from the race after running up front for the entire race up until that point, continuing his horrible luck in the Chase. Azure still was credited with a 18th place finish, his best finish since a 15th place finish at Watkins Glen.

Upon driving the car back to the garage, Azure got of his car immediately wanting to go after Marshall. He went toward the #8 team garage infuriated as the #14 team tried to hold him back as he is screaming obscenities at Marshall, eventually calming him down. "I would have made it though that wreck fine but guess that fucktard Marshall don't know where the fucking brakes are. He had plenty of time to fucking react, but I'm guessing whatever gene his father had obviously skipped him. So now we have another wrecked race car because of someone else's stupidity and our title hopes are now dead because of that asshole. Proving that racing talent is not genetic" he told FAC.

Azure is now 12th in points, 79 points back with two races left. Though Azure is not mathematically eliminated the chances he will win the championship are near impossible.