Written By: Randy Worrell (Ranger)

ORRVILLE – Points racing – at least in some forms of motorsports is characterized as boring – which simply translates into driving cautiously.
It was more like ‘throw caution to the wind’ on Saturday evening at Wayne County instead.

For two racers leading their respective points battles heading into the speedway’s ‘O’Reilly Auto Parts’ Chase for the Championship’ double points night presented by Southeastern Equipment, the path to the title was simple; win and wear the crown.

Tyler Gunn – leading Danny Mumaw and Tyler Street by the slimmest of margins – went ‘Mano a Mano’ with Trey Jacobs for all 25 laps before claiming his fourth Pine Tree Towing and Recovery feature win of the season and securing his first track title in the process, while Braden Tucke delivered his best performance of the season when it mattered the most by equaling Gunn’s feat by riding home victorious in the 15-lap McKenzie Concrete Super Stock main event and holding the championship banner in victory lane as well.

Doug Drown returned to his customary spot – in WCS’s victory lane – by scoring his sixth Malcuit Tavern Super Late Model victory. JR Gentry won the war, though, by securing his second track championship with a suspense-filled 11th place finish in the SLM 25-lapper. Drown’s $3,000-to-win march was also the second in the three-race Best Western of Wooster Motel and Conference Center’s King of the County series.

Western Ohio ace Dalton Lane served notice that he’ll be a top contender in next week’s Flynn’s Tire & Service Center King of the County Modified event by scoring his second win of the season in the 20-lap main event – also backed by Flynn’s Tire and Service Center – following a spirited battle with 3-time 2023 winner Nate Young and newly crowned and defending track champion Colton Shaw. Shaw’s third-place run cemented his status among the region’s upper echelon in the process.

Mansfield’s Justin Cranmore – absent from victory lane in 2023 after a four-win 2022 season – joined the party with a hard-fought 12-lap triumph in the JoyRide Mini Stock finale. Doug Hensel, with an equally impressive run from 15th-to-fifth – hoisted the WCS track champion banner for the fourth time in his career.

Gunn, along with Jacobs, opened the early betting lines as heavy favorites in next week’s FAST Series, $10,000-ro-win Pete Jacobs Memorial with a rim-riding duel in the night’s lid lifter. Jacobs closed to within a car length on numerous occasions, with Street, Mumaw, and fourth-place points man Chris Myers never far behind.

The “Machine Gunn” used a strong lap 21 restart in securing the victory, however, with Jacobs, Street, Mumaw, and Myers rounding out the top five.

“I didn’t really know, for sure, where Tyler and Danny were, but l did see Trey’s nose a few times,” said Gunn. “We have this Eikelberry-Sipes car where we had it early in the season and felt really comfortable. I’m not sure what would’ve happened if Trey had gotten by us as far as the points thing went, but we didn’t start the night with a goal of finishing second or third.

“We’re really looking forward to running my own car at Attica on Friday and Saturday and can’t wait to get back here next Sunday (in the 91).”

Drown has spent most of the summer running in the region’s marquee events but has been dialed in when returning home and Saturday was no exception.

Drown captured the lead on lap three, then withstood challenges from Nathan Loney during the first 19 laps, then held off Cortland-based speedster Eric Wilson during the closing stages. Kyle Moore rode his battered machine home fourth in the caution-filled event, with Todd Brennan racing home fifth from his 23rd starting slot.

“It’s always great to win in front of the hometown crowd, and Jason (track promoter Jason Flory) had this place in perfect shape,” said Drown. “Tonight’s field of cars was incredibly strong, and it’s getting tougher and tougher here. I saw Nathan early on, but we were so good on the top and stuck with it. You just know these guys are coming at you lap after lap.”

The Modifieds hit the 3-8-mile next with arguably the best field of the season to go with it.

Lane – who captured the DirtCar Summer Nationals victory at Oakshade Raceway the night before Painesville’s Nate Young duplicated the feat at WCS earlier this summer – joined Young and Shaw in a spirited battle for the entire 20 laps on Saturday.

Young stayed glued to Lane’s back bumper throughout, and even led on a few occasions with haymaker sliders – the last coming on lap 16 – with Shaw rim-riding the rail in his family-owned General Lee 01 never more than 10 lengths behind.

Lane withstood the challenges, however, and crossed the stripe ahead of Young, Shaw, DJ Cline, and WCS regulars Jimmy Humphrey and Caden Alexander.

“I just love this place, you can get up on the wheel and get after it,” said Lane. “I know how good both Nate and Colton are here, and l just tried to go as hard as l could and hit my marks. We’ll definitely be back next Sunday night.”

The Super Stocks were up next, and for Tucke the strategy was a simple one; finish in the top two spots regardless of where kingpin Kyle Moore, or challengers Rob Melzer and Codee Schneider finished.

Mission accomplished for the newly crowned track champion.

Tucke grabbed the point early, then watched as mechanical problems sent Moore’s 21D into the turn 3 guardrail in the event’s opening laps. Tucke opened a sizable advantage until Schneider continued his late-season blitz by pressuring Tucke’s 18 the final six laps followed by Brandon Craver, Rob Melzer, and Paul Holmes.

“It’s been a stressful couple of months, but our team and family pour everything we have into this thing and l couldn’t be happier we got it done tonight,” said Tucke. “I actually saw Kyle limp around to the infield during the yellow, and still saw him sitting there when we got the one to go on the radio. I just ran as hard as l could after that, but l knew Codee would be coming, because with double points everyone was racing their hardest.

“We sat out to do this (win the championship), and l couldn’t be happier for our whole team.”

The Mini Stocks brought down the curtain, and for what seemed like the umpteenth time this season, unpredictability was the theme of the night.

Cody Musselman, who had been fast all season long but without a victory, bolted to a big lead early before the red waved for a David Potter flip in turn 4. Potter walked away from his battered machine but was done for the night.

After the green reappeared, Cranmore, along with title contender Anthony Collins, Johnny Bruce Sr, and newly minted champion Doug Hensel in tow. Hensel started 15th after a heat race incident relegated the 18 to the rear of the field.

Cranmore pushed his familiar black No. 2 to the front on lap 8 and cruised home to his first win of the season ahead of a fast closing of “The Racing Prophet Collins”, Bruce, and Hensel.

“i guess getting to victory lane late is better than never,” said Cranmore. “We’ve been fast enough but had some bad luck early on then we took a few weeks off. Hopefully we can finish the season strong.”

The speedway returns to action next Sunday evening Sept. 3, with one of its biggest shows of the season. The FAST Series sprint cars will vie for the $10,000-to-win Pete Jacobs Memorial, while the open 305 sprint cars make their first appearance of the season. The Super Late Models will again race for a $3,000 prize with the Modifieds racing for an increased purse in their second of three King of the County events. The Super Stocks also join the card on the Labor Day weekend classic.

Look for details and a preview of Sunday night’s action on all of Wayne County Speedway’s social media outlets later this week.

Media Results for 8/26/2023 at Wayne County Speedway – Orrville, OH
410 Sprint Cars 17 Entries
A Feature 25 Laps | 00:24:16.355
1. 91-Tyler Gunn[1]; 2. 9J-Trey Jacobs[3]; 3. 4*-Tyler Street[6]; 4. 16-Danny Mumaw[4]; 5. 38K-Chris Myers[2]; 6. 6J-Jonah Aumend[5]; 7. 70-Henry Malcuit[7]; 8. D12-Jason Dolick[10]; 9. 7DK-Dylan Kingan[8]; 10. 57N-Tyler Newhart[9]; 11. 20-Danial Burkhart[11]; 12. 187-Tyler Wiles[14]; 13. 1-Jamie Myers[15]; 14. 2-Joe Adorjan[12]; 15. 0-Brayton Phillips[13]; 16. 17V-William Aumend[16];

Heat 1 8 Laps | 00:08:26.125
1. 16-Danny Mumaw[2]; 2. 91-Tyler Gunn[3]; 3. 9J-Trey Jacobs[4]; 4. 6J-Jonah Aumend[5]; 5. 57N-Tyler Newhart[7]; 6. 20-Danial Burkhart[8]; 7. 0-Brayton Phillips[1]; 8. 1-Jamie Myers[6];

Heat 2 8 Laps | 00:06:26.747
1. 38K-Chris Myers[2]; 2. 70-Henry Malcuit[3]; 3. 4*-Tyler Street[4]; 4. 7DK-Dylan Kingan[1]; 5. D12-Jason Dolick[5]; 6. 2-Joe Adorjan[6]; 7. 187-Tyler Wiles[8]; 8. 17V-William Aumend[7]

Qualifying 8 Laps
1. 9J-Trey Jacobs, 00:14.896[13]; 2. 4*-Tyler Street, 00:14.972[7]; 3. 91-Tyler Gunn, 00:15.200[10]; 4. 70-Henry Malcuit, 00:15.274[9]; 5. 16-Danny Mumaw, 00:15.348[15]; 6. 38K-Chris Myers, 00:15.392[16]; 7. 0-Brayton Phillips, 00:15.976[8]; 8. 7DK-Dylan Kingan, 00:16.002[4]; 9. 6J-Jonah Aumend, 00:16.117[14]; 10. D12-Jason Dolick, 00:16.182[6]; 11. 1-Jamie Myers, 00:16.198[12]; 12. 2-Joe Adorjan, 00:16.793[3]; 13. 57N-Tyler Newhart, 00:16.833[5]; 14. 17V-William Aumend, 00:16.923[1]; 15. 20-Danial Burkhart, 00:17.013[2]; 16. 187-Tyler Wiles, 00:17.111[17]; 17. 1S-James Saam, 00:21.033[11]

Super Late Models 24 Entries
A Feature 25 Laps | 00:50:41.654
1. 12-Doug Drown[4]; 2. 27W-Eric Wilson[1]; 3. 10-Nathan Loney[3]; 4. 1*-Kyle Moore[7]; 5. 20-Todd Brennan[23]; 6. 59-Larry Bellman[2]; 7. 79-Brad Malcuit[11]; 8. 21-Wes Morrison[17]; 9. 5M-Ryan Markham[13]; 10. 92B-Austin Bright[18]; 11. 14JR-JR Gentry[5]; 12. 17-Tyler Evans[12]; 13. 7-Nick Cox[16]; 14. 50-Ryan Missler[9]; 15. 14C-Mitch Caskey[10]; 16. 94-Mike Bores[6]; 17. 00-Kyle Lukon[8]; 18. 24X-Jason Skelly[15]; 19. 24-Jerry Aber[24]; 20. J28-Jason Henderson[22]; 21. 69R-Doug Baird[19]; 22. 612-Race Gardiner[21];

Heat 1 8 Laps | 00:07:22.000
1. 12-Doug Drown[4]; 2. 00-Kyle Lukon[6]; 3. 50-Ryan Missler[3]; 4. 14C-Mitch Caskey[2]; 5. 5M-Ryan Markham[1]; 6. 7-Nick Cox[5]; 7. 92B-Austin Bright[7]; 8. 612-Race Gardiner[8]

Heat 2 8 Laps | 00:03:33.000
1. 14JR-JR Gentry[4]; 2. 27W-Eric Wilson[3]; 3. 94-Mike Bores[2]; 4. 79-Brad Malcuit[1]; 5. 36-Codee Schneider[6]; 6. 21-Wes Morrison[5]; 7. 69R-Doug Baird[8]; 8. J28-Jason Henderson[7]

Heat 3 8 Laps | 00:17:36.000
1. 1*-Kyle Moore[4]; 2. 10-Nathan Loney[2]; 3. 59-Larry Bellman[1]; 4. 17-Tyler Evans[5]; 5. 24X-Jason Skelly[7]; 6. 24-Jerry Aber[6]; 7. 16-Steve Sabo[8]; 8. 20-Todd Brennan[3]

Qualifying 8 Laps | 00:02:26.000
1. 12-Doug Drown, 00:17.066[9]; 2. 14JR-JR Gentry, 00:17.227[1]; 3. 1*-Kyle Moore, 00:17.243[7]; 4. 50-Ryan Missler, 00:17.348[6]; 5. 27W-Eric Wilson, 00:17.482[18]; 6. 20-Todd Brennan, 00:17.593[3]; 7. 14C-Mitch Caskey, 00:17.594[8]; 8. 94-Mike Bores, 00:17.729[16]; 9. 10-Nathan Loney, 00:17.830[21]; 10. 5M-Ryan Markham, 00:17.831[24]; 11. 79-Brad Malcuit, 00:17.896[5]; 12. 59-Larry Bellman, 00:17.937[13]; 13. 7-Nick Cox, 00:18.106[12]; 14. 21-Wes Morrison, 00:18.114[11]; 15. 17-Tyler Evans, 00:18.160[17]; 16. 00-Kyle Lukon, 00:18.230[20]; 17. 36-Codee Schneider, 00:18.381[14]; 18. 24-Jerry Aber, 00:18.405[15]; 19. 92B-Austin Bright, 00:18.649[22]; 20. J28-Jason Henderson, 00:18.686[4]; 21. 24X-Jason Skelly, 00:18.773[2]; 22. 612-Race Gardiner, 00:19.025[10]; 23. 69R-Doug Baird, 00:19.154[19]; 24. 16-Steve Sabo, 00:19.316[23]

UMP Modifieds 21 Entries
A Feature 20 Laps | 00:19:07.149
1. 14-Dalton Lane[4]; 2. 42-Nate Young[5]; 3. 01-Colton Shaw[8]; 4. 4-DJ Cline[3]; 5. 60-Jimmy Humphrey[7]; 6. 16-Caden Alexander[6]; 7. 105-Zach Johnson[9]; 8. 69-Ryan Robey[13]; 9. F4-Greg Johnson[11]; 10. 187-Doug Drown[21]; 11. 75-Tristen Bickford[10]; 12. 3JR-Mark Baier[16]; 13. 36-Brent Coffman[15]; 14. 185-Ron Miller[12]; 15. 5-Ryan Markham[1]; 16. 69M-Jacob Myers[19]; 17. 21-Dwayne Powell[18]; 18. 21R-Randy Bauknecht[14]; 19. 1-Vincent DePizzo; 20. 22G-Jesse Griffitts; 21. 54-Zack Hausk

Heat 1 8 Laps | 00:08:19.437
1. 5-Ryan Markham[1]; 2. 14-Dalton Lane[4]; 3. 60-Jimmy Humphrey[5]; 4. 4-DJ Cline[6]; 5. 105-Zach Johnson[2]; 6. F4-Greg Johnson[8]; 7. 69-Ryan Robey[7]; 8. 36-Brent Coffman[9]; 9. 22G-Jesse Griffitts[11]; 10. 69M-Jacob Myers[10]; 11. 54-Zack Hausk[3]

Heat 2 8 Laps | 00:09:59.370
1. 42-Nate Young[1]; 2. 1-Vincent DePizzo[2]; 3. 01-Colton Shaw[4]; 4. 16-Caden Alexander[8]; 5. 75-Tristen Bickford[3]; 6. 185-Ron Miller[7]; 7. 21R-Randy Bauknecht[5]; 8. 3JR-Mark Baier[6]; 9. 187-Took Wiles[9]; 10. 21-Dwayne Powell[10]

Qualifying 8 Laps | 00:08:22.608
1. 14-Dalton Lane, 00:18.554[14]; 2. 01-Colton Shaw, 00:18.724[11]; 3. 54-Zack Hausk, 00:18.985[6]; 4. 75-Tristen Bickford, 00:19.106[9]; 5. 105-Zach Johnson, 00:19.130[3]; 6. 1-Vincent DePizzo, 00:19.186[19]; 7. 5-Ryan Markham, 00:19.210[12]; 8. 42-Nate Young, 00:19.309[21]; 9. 60-Jimmy Humphrey, 00:19.351[10]; 10. 21R-Randy Bauknecht, 00:19.354[1]; 11. 4-DJ Cline, 00:19.526[8]; 12. 3JR-Mark Baier, 00:19.564[2]; 13. 69-Ryan Robey, 00:19.715[4]; 14. 185-Ron Miller, 00:19.784[17]; 15. F4-Greg Johnson, 00:19.974[18]; 16. 16-Caden Alexander, 00:19.988[16]; 17. 36-Brent Coffman, 00:20.058[5]; 18. 187-Took Wiles, 00:20.080[7]; 19. 69M-Jacob Myers, 00:20.730[15]; 20. 21-Dwayne Powell, 00:21.165[13]; 21. 22G-Jesse Griffitts, 00:22.690[20]

Super Stocks 10 Entries
A Feature 15 Laps | 00:10:55.726
1. 18-Braden Tucke[4]; 2. 14-Codee Schneider[5]; 3. 771-Brandon Craver[2]; 4. 77-Rob Melzer[1]; 5. 51-Paul Holmes[3]; 6. U4-Paul McVicker[6]; 7. 28-Brad Hensel[9]; 8. 21D-Kyle Moore[7]; 9. 4Z-Zach Myers; 10. 77H-Matt Hensel

Heat 1 8 Laps | 00:03:45.689
1. 21D-Kyle Moore[4]; 2. 771-Brandon Craver[3]; 3. 77-Rob Melzer[2]; 4. U4-Paul McVicker[1]; 5. 28-Brad Hensel

Heat 2 8 Laps | 00:08:46.578
1. 14-Codee Schneider[4]; 2. 18-Braden Tucke[2]; 3. 51-Paul Holmes[3]; 4. 4Z-Zach Myers[5]; 5. 77H-Matt Hensel

Qualifying 8 Laps | 00:04:04.000
1. 21D-Kyle Moore, 00:20.352[7]; 2. 14-Codee Schneider, 00:20.367[10]; 3. 771-Brandon Craver, 00:20.385[9]; 4. 51-Paul Holmes, 00:20.562[6]; 5. 77-Rob Melzer, 00:20.628[5]; 6. 18-Braden Tucke, 00:20.717[4]; 7. U4-Paul McVicker, 00:21.125[8]; 8. 77H-Matt Hensel, 00:21.502[2]; 9. 28-Brad Hensel, 00:24.058[3]; 10. 4Z-Zach Myers, 00:24.887[1]

Mini Stocks 19 Entries
A Feature 12 Laps | 00:17:30.608
1. 2-Justin Cranmore[7]; 2. 71-Anthony Collins[8]; 3. 7CM-Cody Musselman[2]; 4. 66-Johnny Bruce Sr[6]; 5. 18-Doug Hensel[15]; 6. 278-Zack Hershey[5]; 7. 98X-Austin McIlvain[16]; 8. 18X-Dustin Bedlion[3]; 9. 711-Kenny Long[1]; 10. 11-Trent Bishop[13]; 11. 29-Mitch Reichard[12]; 12. 23P-Kyle Petit[4]; 13. 44L-Don Lehman[14]; 14. 81-Chris Mullinex[10]; 15. 7C-Billy Dawson[18]; 16. 100-David Potter[9]; 17. 54C-Clayton Evans[11]; 18. 8-Cory Brown; 19. 15-Kenny Marietta

Heat 1 6 Laps | 00:06:56.560
1. 7CM-Cody Musselman[4]; 2. 23P-Kyle Petit[1]; 3. 66-Johnny Bruce Sr[7]; 4. 71-Anthony Collins[5]; 5. 100-David Potter[2]; 6. 54C-Clayton Evans[8]; 7. 11-Trent Bishop[3]; 8. 18-Doug Hensel[9]; 9. 8-Cory Brown[6]; 10. 15-Kenny Marietta[10]

Heat 2 6 Laps | 00:04:35.535
1. 2-Justin Cranmore[6]; 2. 278-Zack Hershey[7]; 3. 711-Kenny Long[3]; 4. 18X-Dustin Bedlion[8]; 5. 81-Chris Mullinex[4]; 6. 29-Mitch Reichard[5]; 7. 44L-Don Lehman[1]; 8. 98X-Austin McIlvain[2]; 9. 7C-Billy Dawson[9]

Its Raceday at Wayne County Speedway!!

On hand tonight:
Pine Tree Towing and Recovery Sprints
Malcuit Tavern Late Models
Flynn’s Tire & Auto Service Modifieds
McKenzie Concrete Super Stocks
Joyride Transport Mini Stocks
VARC Vintage Race Cars

Gates open at 3, hot laps at 6, racing at 7:15! General admission is $20 with kids 12 and under always free, $35 pit pass

Come join us as we crown our 5 Season Champions tonight!

Written By: Randy Worrell (Ranger)

ORRVILLE – First-year driver-owner combinations in sprint car racing are at times as unpredictable as the sport itself. Conventional wisdom – with history to back it – says few pay immediate dividends and even fewer survive.

Enter Napolean’s Tyler Gunn and Wooster-based co-owners Sid and Beth Eikelberry and Seneca County’s Jim Sipes.

The trio – which went from virtual strangers and an introductory mid-winter phone call – to one night away from securing their first O’Reilly’s Chase for the Championship in Wayne County Speedway’s Pine Tree Towing and Recovery 410 Sprint Car division – has been the rare exception.

“I didn’t really know Sid and Beth, and it was only after we made this deal that I realized l actually had met Jim once at Attica,” said Gunn. “I always try and shake everyone’s hand that stops by to see us, because you never know what may happen. And it ended up turning into this deal.”

Gunn showed immediate speed early on by displaying an uncanny ability to navigate the treacherous high side around the 3-8-mile oval, despite limited experience at the WCS facility and recorded a pair of early wins.

A mid-summer series of events, however, which included a rain drenched Speedweek race, a nearly three weeks break in the schedule, and a couple of torn up race cars set the JRayl Trucking-sponsored 91 back a notch.

“At the end of last year, mechanic Zach Holloway came off the road with a touring team and we ended up teaming up together,” added Gunn. “So, when we started talking this winter about (the 91) deal, I didn’t want to do it without Zach involved. After our first race together, we knew it wasn’t going to be any problem at all in getting everyone on the same page. We all clicked right away.”

The “Machine Gunn” saw his point lead shrink in the middle of the summer as former track champion Danny Mumaw returned to his previous form and rattled off a pair of wins, and Tyler Street, who is always on the gas at the ultra-fast 3-8-mile, also recovered from a stretch of bad luck as well with Mumaw actually taking command of the points lead following his second win just a weeks back.

Gunn returned to his winning ways last week, however, with his third victory of the season and holds a slim margin over Mumaw (453-438), with Street just six back of Mumaw with 432 heading into Saturday’s double-points championship night.

“I’m not sure what, if any, strategy we will have other than just keeping pace somewhere in the pack with Danny and Tyler close by,” said Gunn. “We tore up a few cars earlier, but Zach really has a handle on our RPM-chassis cars, and we feel like we are comfortable and firing on all cylinders again.

“We flipped a few weeks back while running third, and l know l can’t do anything stupid like that on Saturday, but who wants to finish second or third? We started the season with a goal of winning the championship, and we are in a position to do that, but we also want to win. We’ll just do our best and see where we are at the end of the night.”

Saturday’s Season Championship night presented by Southeastern Equipment begins with warm-ups at 6 p.m. and racing at 7:15.

Written By: Randy Worrell (Ranger)

ORRVILLE – Of the Fast Five Series drivers leading points battles heading into Saturday’s Season Championship, Braden Tucke sits in the most precarious seat of them all.
And arguably the most deserving of capturing an O’Reilly Auto Parts Chase for the Championship crown, as well.

Tucke took the Wayne County Speedway’s McKenzie Concrete-backed Super Stock division by storm early on by winning two of the first seven races and solidifying his green and white 18 machine as one of the quickest in the class.

Tucke enters Saturday night’s fray with 592 points, holding a slim lead over Rob Melzer (574), Kyle Moore (573), and Codee Schneider (548). A mid-summer combination of mechanical woes and unfortunate on-track incidents, coupled with the consistency of Melzer (2 wins and numerous top fives), and the meteoric rise of Schneider – also with a pair wins – has tightened the battle with double points at stake on Saturday, too.

And the return to dominance of Kyle Moore, as well, promises to make the Southeastern Equipment-sponsored event a tense one for all involved.

“We had everything where we wanted it at the start of the season, but we just got in a slump mid-summer, and it’s been tough ever since,” Tucke said. “And you add in that Melzer is always in the top five, and Codee has found a lot of speed here lately, and it’s been tough. On top of that, Kyle and Bob have their car figured out again, too.”

WCS statistician Mike Swanger has tabulated that Tucke can wrap up his first title in just his second season of Super Stock racing with a second-place finish regardless of either Melzer or Moore riding to victory. A combination of heat race wins and the 3 bonus points that go along with it (x2), opens a few other scenarios, but a bridesmaid result will seal the deal for the family-owned team from Canton.

“It would mean everything to get the championship, because realistically, with Kyle and (Bob Daugherty’s 21 car) out there it’s very, very difficult to win races,” said Tucke. “Even though it’s everyone’s goal to win races, we started the season points racing all along and that was our goal going in.”

With Moore’s win last week, the defending track champion will start no better than eighth on Saturday, with the field in front of Moore lining up according to the re-draw following preliminary action.

“Track position will be everything Saturday,” said Tucke. “There’s not much strategy involved, we’re going to have to go from the start and go as hard as we can for 15 laps.

“It’s definitely been a tense week. We’ve been on the car since Sunday morning and we’re going to have to have it good (on Saturday). The car, myself, the adjustments, everything we do. We’ve put a lot of time and effort into this, and it would be our biggest moment in the ten years that our family has been racing.”

Saturday’s action unfolds with warm-up slated for 6 p.m. and racing at 7:15.