5/29/2015
Aaron Reutzel
Lucas Oil ASCS Double for Reutzel after Hard Charging Knoxville Run
Lonnie Wheatley, CLUTE, Texas (May 29, 2015) – It’s been a while since Aaron Reutzel has had a chance to build upon his Lucas Oil ASCS National Tour points lead.
He’ll get that opportunity this weekend with a pair of events beginning with Saturday night’s Eagle Nationals at Nebraska’s Eagle Raceway before moving on to the Belleville High Banks in Belleville, KS, on Sunday. Friday’s scheduled card at Kansas’ Salina Speedway has been postponed to June 19.
This weekend’s double kicks off a busy stretch of Lucas Oil ASCS National Tour action for Reutzel and the Shark-powered BC Fundz/Basic One Services No. 87 Triple X Sprint Car team with nine nights of series competition on the slate for June.
“I’m looking forward to it,” the driver of the Wren Motorsports/Momentum Racing Suspensions machine said. “It seems like it’s been forever since we’ve had a National Tour race.”
Indeed, the series has just had one event get in the book since four nights of Florida competition in February. Mother Nature has been a dominant force with multiple rainouts.
With a $60,000 championship hanging in the balance, Reutzel is out to the early lead in the Dissolvealloy Frac Ball Revolution machine with a 78-point advantage over his closest rival.
Reutzel has broken out of the gates quickly in his pursuit of the Lucas Oil ASCS National championship with a pair of wins and no finish lower than sixth in the initial handful of events aboard the Danny Sander Construction/ButlerBuilt machine.
“We’ve had a good start, can’t complain at all,” Reutzel says. “We just have to keep it going.”
While the ASCS slate has been drenched for the most part thus far, Reutzel has kept himself busy with other action, already running his season total to six feature wins in 25 overall starts.
Last weekend looked like a good possibility for win number seven on Friday night before a qualifying miscue set up a dramatic Knoxville feature charge on Saturday.
Making his second start in FVP National Sprint League 410-ci action at last Friday’s $10,000-to-win Jackson Nationals, Reutzel timed in eighth-quick and then ran second his heat aboard the Lone Star Hydro Maintenance/Wright Way Logistics machine to earn a Dash starting position.
Starting eighth in the feature after the Dash, Reutzel narrowly avoided disaster in the opening pair of corners. “Dude (Danny Lasoski) got over the cushion, I checked up and biked it up,” Reutzel explains. “It knocked the nerf bar off, they pulled us in and we pulled it off and got our spot back.”
Reutzel was on the move on the restart. “We were up to third right away and just caught up to TK (Tim Kaeding) for second when a caution came out,” Reutzel says.
But when mechanical gremlins reared their heads under caution, Reutzel was forced to abandon a potential winning drive to pull pitside.
“I think we had a good shot at it,” Reutzel say. “I was running hard early, I was trying to get to the lead before the bottom came in and locked down.”
Back to Knoxville for the second week in a row on Saturday night, Reutzel and crew swapped powerplants to run the 360-ci division this time.
But having the wrong left rear tire on in qualifying put the team behind the eight ball. “We just made a mistake and had the wrong tire on, then we barely made it through the heat.”
After taking that final heat transfer position in the closing laps, Reutzel gridded the 15-lap feature way back in the 22nd position. And he proceeded to put on his own show, slicing through the field at an alarmingly quick pace and sitting among the top ten when the race’s only caution flew just one lap from the end.
When the final checkered flag flew, Reutzel had gained 15 positions in as many laps to finish seventh.
“Fifteen laps went real quick, especially with only one caution and that was right at the end,” Reutzel explained. “We were rolling up through there pretty good.”
It was another strong Knoxville outing for Reutzel and crew.
“It’s good that we have speed there, it definitely makes us look forward to Nationals after a couple of good runs there,” Reutzel wraps up.
For now, it’s back to business on the Lucas Oil ASCS National Tour in Nebraska on Saturday and then Kansas on Sunday.
2015 Quick Stats: 25 races, 6 wins, 14 top-fives, 16 top-tens.
Up Next: Lucas Oil ASCS National Tour action at Nebraska’s Eagle Raceway on Saturday and then Kansas’ Belleville High Banks on Sunday.
Keep Track: Keep track of Aaron Reutzel’s on-track action including schedule and results at http://www.aaronreutzelracing.com/, on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/pages/Aaron-Reutzel-Racing/117666254913127 or on Twitter at @AaronReutzel. You can also e-mail Aaron at aaronreutzel@yahoo.com.
If you would like Aaron Reutzel Racing press releases e-mailed directly to you, send your e-mail address to Lonnie Wheatley at lonniewheatley@gmail.com.
Penning the recurring series of “The Wheatley Chronicles” articles on www.sprintcarmania.com, Lonnie Wheatley provides media, public relations and more for select tracks, drivers and events. For more information, Wheatley may be contacted at lonniewheatley@gmail.com.
Article Credit: Lonnie Wheatley
Submitted By: Lonnie Wheatley
