In the last entry of the Back Stretch I asked the question "Will Davenport and Richards Dominate Again This Week?" Given how both had performed over the previous ten days, that was a pretty safe question and while Billy Moyer Jr. and Scott Bloomquist have both found victory lane this week it is still Josh Richards and Jonathan Davenport who are making the headlines. Especially Richards!
After a ho hum seventh-place showing on Monday, the night that young Moyer took the win with his Hall of Fame father turning the wrenches, Richards has been phenomenal with a flag-to-flag win on Tuesday night, a fourth-place finish behind Bloomquist, Davenport and McDowell on Wednesday night, and another green to checkers win on Thursday. Then last night, in perhaps one of the best feature races of the 2106 Speed Weeks, The Rocket Man came from fourteenth to pass Davenport with just four laps remaining to take his seventh feature win on the young season and he has collected nearly $80,000 in purse money thus far. It is very safe to say that Josh has returned to form after taking nearly a full year off two years back as he recovered from nerve issues in his hands.
Even though he hasn't added to his win total, yet, Jonathan Davenport has had a very solid week as well. He took the night off on Monday and then came back with four straight top three finishes including two runner-up positions and you can bet that he is hungry to close out the week tonight with a win. I will be surprised if it is not one of the two in victory lane following the $10,000-to-win finale.
The updated Back Stretch National Late Model Points are at the bottom and if you keep in mind that Davenport came into Speed Weeks with 19 points that he had scored in Tucson it shows that coming into tonight Richards has been the King of the Georgia and Florida schedule. That could change tonight though.
On Thursday night I fell asleep as the Sprint Cup cars raced in a 22-car single-file line for more than twenty straight laps during the second Duel, but last night the Trucks had me on the edge of my lounge chair the entire distance as they raced two and three-wide nearly every green flag lap. My heart skipped a beat as I saw one of our young graduates from the Sprint Car ranks Christopher Bell go for a wild ride just past the white flag as I counted nine hard barrel rolls on the Daytona pavement. Fortunately the kid from Oklahoma climbed out of the mangled mess under his own power and it was actually his last push before being turned sideways that vaulted Johnny Sauter to the win in his first ride with the GMS team.
Rico Abreu looked good in his Daytona debut, but when he tried to use some strategy by pitting under green just before the new "caution clock" expired he was caught speeding as he entered pit lane and had to serve a stop and go penalty putting him in the back of the pack. It wasn't even close as Abreu blew past several other trucks entering the pits and I chuckled to myself knowing that the last thing that Rico would be thinking about in a racing vehicle would be a speed limit! Stuck in the back of the draft Abreu was later caught up in the multi-truck accident that developed ahead of him with seven laps remaining.
No surprise that the Racin' Boys this morning are again predicting that Rico will get a win this season, and that Christopher Bell will be a championship contender thus taking the pressure off of Kyle Larson whom they have been predicting a win for over the past two years. I get it, we love our dirt track guys!
The Xfinity and Sprint Cup drivers now have a tough act to follow from a racing standpoint and here's hoping that they can both avoid the big crashes that we saw in the final laps.
Jason Sides and Terry McCarl have been the first two winners of the King of the 360's show at East Bay while Bryan Clauson and Robert Ballou have been the USAC Sprint Car winners at Bubba's.
Iowan's Zack VanderBeek and Ryan Gustin have been the winners on the first two nights with the United States Modified Touring Series at Heart O' Texas Speedway in Waco so if you pair that with McCarl's triumph the Hawkeye state has been well represented this week. Add to that a solid showing by Decorah's Tyler Bruening at Volusia where he won a heat race and finished 11th on Wednesday night.
Of course the big news this week was the announcement that the Edward Jones Dome in St. Louis will be the site for an indoor race featuring Late Models and Modifieds on December 16th and 17th. My initial reaction was "no way", but by the next morning I had went ahead and reserved a hotel room downtown. There are so many questions and concerns, especially following the promotional group's last event this past December in Indianapolis, but curiosity has the best of me for now, While the car count and crowd for that indoor midget race in Indy may have been large, the press release for the Gateway Indoor Nationals is the first time that I have heard anybody describe it as a "success". Hopefully they have used that as a learning experience.
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