It was an historic day of racing for the FRL at Daytona Speedway this past Sunday. The race was to kick off the third season of FASCAR racing for the league. Interest and excitement for the series had been building over the entire offseason. But potential and reality are often two different things. In this case however, a potential record setting starting grid translated into a record breaking 14 car grid to qualify for and start the race.
Seth Jensen in his #6 Ford set the pace in qualifying, putting up a lap time of 42.380, fully .039 faster than Andrew Steppat's 42.419. Blake Wild and Ethan Maestri tied for third fastest at 42.420 with the split time going to Blake's #9 car to round out the Top 3 starting positions.
With starting orders set, the pace lap started and the excitement was palpable as 14 cars and a combined 10,080 hp came charging to the start finish line and the race got underway. There was an immediate scramble for position at the rear of the field as several cars danced around slower starting cars. Shuffled out toward the infield was Preston Liberatore's #54 Ford, but was not heavily damaged and was able to rejoin the track quickly.
At the sharp end of the field, Seth Jensen kept to the low side of the track while Andrew moved alongside on the high side. Blake Wild and Ethan Maestri were similarly stacked beside each other down the backstretch and into Turn 3. Blake edged past Ethan and Ethan thought he was clear to pull down into Blake's wheel tracks, but Travis Billingsley had a fine run building behind Blake and Ethan's #3 Toyota simply did not fit in the rapidly closing hole. Ethan spun off Travis' front fender and went hard into the outside wall, nearly immobilizing his car with heavy damage to the engine and transmission. An early pit stop for repairs would put the #3 car a lap down early on.
During the resulting caution period, several cars were damaged in light altercations and the #9 of Blake Wild was sadly lost due to connection issues, logging the first of three DNF's on the night. Once the green flag flew again, Seth and Andrew resumed running nose-to-tail at the front and began to build a widening gap between themselves and the rest of the field. Further back, Paul Maestri in the #7 Toyota and Tony Tyree in the #47 Chevy tried to link up to the front runners, but lost time passing the #86 of David Dodson and returning FRL veteran Ricky Wilborn Jr. in his #86 Toyota. Sadly, Ricky would have to park his Toyota around 3/4 of the way into the race. During the long green flag run to the checkered flag, Nicholas Hargrove in the #5 Toyota had internet problems and retired as well.
Eventually, several trains of cars would form and breakup during pit stops, only to link up with others. Through it all, the Toyota's of Travis Billingsley, Paul Maestri and Ethan Maestri would form a train that would eventually push the #18 into third place. Ethan and Paul, both a lap down at this point, would have to settle for 6th and 7th place finishes respectively. Tony Tyree was able to keep the nose of his Chevy clean for most of the race and netted a fourth place finish. Brandon Adkins in his #88 Ford was able to round out the Top 5. The race and accolades however were held in reserve for Seth Jensen, who pretty well led from the race start all the way to the finish, and claimed victory at the Daytona 200. Andrew Steppat pushed him there, finishing close behind in second place.
The FASCAR series is now started, and with participation like what was seen today, an exciting series lies ahead. We now travel on to Homestead for 100 miles of racing on January 31st!
Results:
1. Seth Jensen - 50
2. Andrew Steppat - 45
3. Travis Billingsley - 40
4. Tony Tyree - 35
5. Brandon Adkins - 30
6. Paul Maestri - 28
7. Ethan Maestri - 26
8. Mikey Collins - 24
9. Ghabe Stouffer - 22
10. Preston Liberatore - 20
11. David Dodson - 18
12. Ricky Wilborn Jr. - 16
13. Nicholas Hargrove - 14
14. Blake Wild - 12
