The grid of six drivers was led from the starting line by Travis Billingsley, whose qualifying time narrowly beat Ethan Maestri by only 0.001 seconds - the closest margin of any qualifying effort. With such close lap times, a shoot out was bound to unfold.
Travis Billingsley leads the grid at Sonoma
As the green flag waved, the #3 of Ethan Maestri edged into the lead heading around Turn 1 and into Turn 2. Travis would charge his #18 Toyota right on his Ethan's heels. Behind them, Chris and Drew Dilbeck would jockey hard for the P3 position in this very early stage of the race. Chris Dilbeck in the #99 Aflac Ford Fusion had been laying down impressive lap times and was able to position himself on the track ahead of his son. Drew, not content to settle into P4, tried to force himself alongside his father into Turns 3 and 4, but there was no room for the move and he quickly headed out into the grass.
Drew Dilbeck has a 'moment' in the opening lap of the Sonoma 100
Behind them, Tony Tyree and Owen Henderson would set up for a back-and-forth session for much of the first half of the race. Both drivers would have off's at various points during the race. Tony, suffering from a lack of practice time and even had missed the qualifying round, Owen having trouble wrestling with TCS and brake zones.
Up front, Travis' Big-O Tires Toyota was in a position to pass Ethan in the final corner of lap 3. Ethan moved wide to allow room and Travis made the corner stick for the pass. Two laps later however, it was Ethan's turn to pass as Travis swung wide into the grass on Turn 4 heading over the hill. With that pass, Ethan would set sail into a lead he would hold onto for the rest of the race. Travis would make several pushes for the front, but small errors would keep him from making the most of the dwindling lap count. Around lap 27, Ethan would come into the pits for fuel and fresh tires. Travis had pitted only two laps before and looked as though he might be able to take over the lead. However, the #3 Duff Beer Ford got out of the pit lane just ahead of Travis and soon was opening a wide gap again.
Chris Dilbeck experienced mechanical trouble and was forced from the race early. This allowed Drew in the #4 Jimmy John's Ford to advance, despite continued troubles, into P3. Owen and Tony would continue their dance until Owen experienced mechanical trouble as well and made the decision to retire early.
As the final laps ticked down, Travis found some speed in the Toyota and began to gain on Ethan. But a slight bobble in traffic would prevent him from closing the gap entirely and Ethan Maestri took the checkered flag for his first FASCAR win this season. The win gives Ethan some much needed points to establish a marginal lead in the points race. Drew Dilbeck holds onto P2 in points, but loses some ground to Travis Billingsley in third place, the gap only 3 points between the two drivers.
The series moves on to its final round at Homestead on March 30th.
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