Twitchy Race Reports

(HAMPTON, GA)  Race #2 for the ASRS Truck Series headed to the Atlanta Motor Speedway. Tonight 47 drivers made the trip to try and make one of the thirty-six starting spots. Once qualifying was done one of the notables that didn’t make the show was the soon to be crowned 2017 Skeeber Flob’s Kettle Corn Pro Series Champion Ty Hester in his #36 machine. The race would see Danny Rodgers set quick time grabbing the pole position. Sam Maxwell put his ride to the outside of him with Devin Serra, Michael Atkins Jr., and Justin Brown rounding out the top 5 starting spots. This race seen 5 yellow flags for 19 laps and seen 6 different drivers take turns leading laps around the Atlanta Motor Speedway but it was Danny Rodgers who got the bonus point for leading the most laps with 22.

The first yellow of what was a bit of a rough start to the race came right off the start after there was a checkup off the start causing a chain reaction yellow before the field got to turn 1. The restart came on lap 5 and the race went green for another short period as on lap 10 the #4 of Dylan Hickey would catch the wall entering turn 3 and then get loose hitting the #89 of John Kennedy and that sent him back up into the track causing a multi car wreck. On lap 14 the field took the green yet again and would get a nine lap run in before the 3rd yellow came out on lap 23 for the #46 of Robby Baskins.  Baskins who had his screen go blank on him coming out of turn 2 would have no control over his truck as it hit the inside wall and would come back up the track bringing out the yellow. The race would go back green a few laps before the halfway point on lap 28 and off the restart there would be another chain reaction checkup in which the field was able to sort out and stay green.

On lap 31 the 4th yellow would come out as the #3 of Pete Baskins would get into the wall the same way that Hickey did earlier in the race and Pete got sideways and over corrected sending him head on into the turn 3 wall. This yellow set up some interesting pit strategies as some guys pitted for tires and fuel and some guys stayed out. The race would go back green on lap 35 setting up a 30 lap run to the end. The race seen what would be its longest green flag run. It would go so long that the drivers who didn’t pit on lap 31 would find themselves short on fuel. Green flag pit stops for those who needed gas would start on lap 58 as a few of the top 5 runners needed gas. Their hopes were that the race would go green to the end and it would hopefully cycle through giving them a shot at the win. It would not however go the way they had hoped it would. The 5th and final yellow came out on lap 62 for the #81 of Justin Brown as he got loose on the apron coming out of turn 4 he would stay in the gas and try to correct it which sent him spinning in the grass and back up on to the track on the front stretch. 

The race would end under yellow with Danny Rodgers in his #22 Flying J Chevy grab the checkered flag. Sam Maxwell finished 2nd, Jason Stewart who had a great run finished 3rd from his 17th starting position, Michael Atkins Jr. finished 4th with Jamie Vaughn rounding out the top 5 spots. A few other notable big movers that grabbed top 10 finishes Jim Foose went from 31st to finish 6th, Zack Calloway 33rd to 9th, and Edward Bray 32nd to 10th. We caught up with race winner Danny Rodgers he had this to say after he grabbed his 3rd career ASRS victory “I want to thank my team JF2 (Jim Foose Racing), Pilot, and Flying J for sponsoring this #22 Silverado”. We also caught up to 3rd place finisher Jason Stewart after he went from 17th to finish in the top 3. Jason had this to say about his run and his paint scheme for the event “Had a fast Chevrolet tonight, it felt good coming from 17th to 3rd. Knew the ones that didn’t pit would need fuel to make it to the end and we were lucky enough to find our way to 3rd. If the caution didn’t come out think Michael Atkins would have passed us in the final 2 laps. I got to thank my sponsors’ monster energy and visit Florida for allowing me to run a special paint for a buddy that passed away this past weekend. Glad we could get one last ride a hell of a ride all the way to 3rd.

The ASRS Truck Series point standings look like this after Race #2. Your new point leader is Danny Rodgers who holds a 10 point lead over 2nd place Jim Foose. Jonathan Holstein 3rd, Michael Atkins Jr. 4th, Zach Calloway 5th, Jason Stewart (gained 12 spots) 6th, Zac Bozanich 7th, and Jared Mogard 8th holding the top 8 chase spots early on in the 2017 season.

Tomorrow the ASRS is in action with the Skeeber Flob’s Kettle Corn season finale for the Pro Series. Then it is a bit of a break for the officials and drivers as next week there is NO racing action due to iRacing’s week 13 in which ASRS always take the week off. On March 14th the Xfinity Series will resume action at the Auto Club Speedway for the Auto Club 150. The Truck Series is taking 2 weeks off and will be back on track on March 21st Harley-Davidson 125 at the Auto Club Speedway. That’s a small preview of what the next few races are over here at American Sim Racing Series. Be sure to check out the website at http://americansimracing.com/ and the ASRS Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/ASRSRace/ give them a “like” if you are on Facebook. Lastly we remind all you fans that the ENTIRE 2017 Truck Series is broadcasted live on Off Camber TV. We remind you to check out their Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/OffCamberTV/ and be sure to tune in on March 21st for Race #3 of the ASRS Truck Series.