It was a sparse field of 7 cars that arrived at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway for the FRL's 6th running of the Indy 200. Paul Maestri led the group in qualifying with a blistering 37.130 lap time to earn the Pole Position. Ethan Maestri and Tony Tyree fought hard for the other front row position, setting qualifying times within .002 seconds of each other.
With the grid set and the formation lap done, the green flag waved to start the 80 lap event. Tony Tyree, in the only Chevy in the field, missed his shift and squandered his P3 start position. Travis Billingsley quickly advanced and lined up behind the Maestri brothers to begin a heated three-way battle at the start. Paul soon left an opportunity for Ethan to pass for the lead but remained close and kept Travis behind him. Tony was able to recover and catchup to the rear train and soon worked his way around Brandon Adkins. But a close shave with the apron would force him to spin and head to the pits to repair damage. Confusion on the "caution" call from Tyree would lead to Paul lifting off the throttle and giving a position to Travis, but he soon recovered his spot and even advanced on Ethan to re-take the lead.
Two laps later, with Ethan in tow, Paul dove down into Turn 2 with the #3 right behind him. A slight bump form the #3 caused Paul's #7 to loop out of the turn and lightly into the inside wall, undamaged but out of the fight. Ethan lifted out of the throttle to avoid his stricken teammate and gave up positions to Travis and Seth Jensen. Ethan and Seth would soon find themselves jockeying for position. Ethan would make his move on the #6 car and pass coming out of Turn #2, but in a moment of kharma, would have the favor he did his brother turned on him as Seth battered his driveline in Turn #4 and sent the #3 MBR Honda spinning into the outside wall just past the entrance to pit lane. Seth narrowly escaped disaster by ducking directly into the pit entrance. Stricken and barely able to move, Ethan would have to limp around the entire 2.5 mile track at a sickening 70 mph, knowing his race was done.
For Brandon Adkins, just making the Indy 200 race was a victory. Qualifying at the back of the field didn't bother the veteran driver at all and a participation trophy would have been gratifying enough. However, as other drivers suffered spins and setbacks, Brandon advanced from 7th to 6th as the #47 spun-out early on. He advanced from 6th to 5th as Blake Wild suffered repeated connectivity issues and spins. When Seth and Ethan had their tussle, Brandon was there to pass them up and advance again into P2. As the night progressed, Travis extended his lead, Paul Maestri secured P3, but Brandon Adkins found himself taking the checkered flag in P2. Truly a crowd pleaser to see a running order like that.
Travis Billingsley takes the win for the second time in a row, and this makes his third win at Indy in this event. Congratulations to him and all the #18 crew.
