Brandon “BATMAN” Marinez set aside the cowl and the cape and roared from twelfth to the front, ending in a green-white-checkered restart with Derek Gluchacki, Ryan Kuhn and TJ Thompson.
Gluchacki, who had led the bulk of the race but started to loosen up and had Batman’s sister, Shileigh Martinez on his bumper, trying every trick to get by him. As they battled door-to-door, Brandon suddenly discovered a hole underneath and seized the opportunity: shooting under and into the lead.
Gluchacki loosened up again and Shileigh ducked under to give chase to brother Brandon as Kuhn fastened onto Gulchacki’s bumper. Gluchacki dropped under Shileigh for second, sticking her on the outside and they flew around the oval in a pace line: Brandon, Gluchacki, Shileigh and Kuhn.
But Matt Vallerand went around in turn four on lap 29, bringing out a green-white-checker restart. Brandon and Gluchacki were the front row and Shileigh and Kuhn were due in the second row. But during pace laps under yellow, Shileigh’s car began to belch smoke from the right front. She had suffered a broken shock, which then had gone against the tire, and she was forced to retire, spoiling a fine run where she had been in contention for much of the race. Thompson joined Kuhn in the second row and they headed for the starting box.
Brandon nosed ahead on Gluchacki for the first time the latter had not won the lead on a restart during the race. Gluchacki fought back and they went wheel-to-wheel. Kuhn stayed close on Batman’s bumper, freezing Gluchacki to the outside and the trio brawled their way toward the checkered flag waiting in the starter’s hands. Thompson applied pressure from behind, vainly seeking a way to the front.
Martinez edged ahead enough for Kuhn to get his nose past Gluchacki and they charged down the front stretch toward the stripe. Martinez roared across in the lead with Kuhn edging Gluchacki by 71 thousandths of a second. Gluchacki nailed down third, followed by Thompson and Casey Call.
The race kicked off with Gluchacki outside the second row, behind Andrew Carpenter and Call. Brandon Hammann was on his low side. Call leapt past Carpenter and Gluchacki followed, pulled alongside and they went door-to-door, with Gluchacki powering into the lead out of turn two. But Connor Holderbach spun out of turn four, generating a mad scramble among his followers. Everybody, including Holderbach, miraculously avoided damage and they lined up for the lap 1 restart.
Gluchacki outran Call into the lead and Shileigh dropped in behind Call with Andrew Carpenter on her bumper.Thompson had been making great rogress since the green: The first lap saw him rise from eighteenth to thirteenth, then to seventh on the next circuit. From there, he passed Jesse “The Mop” Jakubajtys and then Joshua Parsons. He then passed Carpenter onto Sheileigh’s bumper. They both had navigated past Call with Shileigh in second and Thompson on her til. Call hung tough and seesawed the position with Thompson until lap 18, when Kuhn came in to edge him back and jump onto Thompson’s bumper. This happened over the space of cautions on laps 7, 10 and 13.
Brandon, meantime, had been moving up and onto Shileigh’s bumper, where he followed for several laps, but finally went to the outside and the siblings dueled mightily over second. Batman finally ducked underneath and into second. However, the lap 13 caution, brought about by Andrew Kuh’s near brush with the wall (he was able to hold it off the barrier) set up a restart with Brandon on the outside of row one and Shilegh low in row two. As Gluchacki popped into the lead, Shileigh followed him under Brandon and she reclaimed second. Gluchacki employed their conflict turning it into an eight-car lead.
After Kun brought out the yellow with a spin up to the wall (he kept it off the concrete), Gluchacki pulled another hole shot out of the box and Shileigh and her Brother were again door-to-door over second. As the siblings dueled, Gluchacki waltzed away while Thompson, running forth, chafed at the bit. Suddenly, however, Kuhn arrived and ducked under Thompson, followed by The Mop, who went into fifth. But Parsons and Matt Carpenter tangled in turn four. Parsons pulled away after the caution flew but had to retire while Carpenter sat against the wall just into the front stretch and had to go off on the hook.
Gluchacki and Shileigh took the front with Brandon and Kuhn at their backs. Thompson and Jakubajtys were row three while Call and John O’Sullivan followed. Gluchacki again grabbed the lead but Shileigh hung on his outside, driving hard and they went wheel-to-wheel. But trying to hold Shileigh off, Gluchacki got too high, and Brandon blasted in underneath with his afterburners on full. Gluchacki’s tires had stayed with him, but now he began to show some looseness. Shileigh dropped under Gluchacki and Kuhn tightened up on them. Gluchacki attempted to drop under and succeeded in getting Shileigh on his outside as Brandon danced on in the lead. Kuhn and Thompson followed, looking for an opportunity.
Lap 29 saw Vallerand’s spin and caution flew. Relining the field, Brandon had Gluchacki on his outside and Shileigh at his back with Kuhn on her shoulder. But under yellow, the smoke began to billow from below her right front fender and she was forced to take it to the pits. On the green-white-checkered restart, the race went to Brandon Martinez.
Sixth went to last week’s winner, Joe Marfeo, followed by O’Sullivan, Jakubajtys, Chris Robbins, Adam Avedision, Hammann and Packard.