by Jacob Hord, @HordRaceWatcher
After all the dust had settled from the hustle and bustle of The Brad Doty Classic/Eldora Million/Kings Royal week, it was time to get back to work at Attica Raceway Park with the AFCS Sprints. For reasons out of their control, it was an uncharacteristically late night in Attica, but when the feature rolled off for 30 laps and $4,000 to win, it would be Hunter Schuerenberg and TJ Michael who paced the field to the green flag.
Schuerenberg got the jump on Michael, but the yellow flew for fourth-starting Zeth Sabo, who was sideways in turn one, but kept it going. This sent Sabo to the tail, making it much harder to defend his win from two weeks ago. On the complete restart, fifth-starting Cap Henry made a move in turns one and two, and found himself challenging Schuerenberg for the lead as Tyler Gunn, Chris Andrews, and TJ Michael followed. Henry and Gunn briefly battled for second, but Henry would position himself solidly in second.
Schuerenberg, with a clear track ahead of him, put .655 seconds between him and Henry on lap three, and then steadily added to his lead. Meanwhile, Andrews and Michael were battling for fourth, but the red flag would come out for Jake Hesson, who had a fire on his car. This was great timing for Schuerenberg, because he had just gotten into lapped traffic. Schuerenberg got the jump on Henry on the ensuing restart as Michael and Gunn battled for third. Michael would claim the third position and take Andrews with him, relegating Gunn to fifth. Soon after on lap seven, Andrews would get by Michael for the final podium spot.
Schuerenberg once again enjoyed a steady lead in the .800-.900 second range. The yellow would fly once again on lap 11 for a spun car in turn one, almost collecting Henry. This restart saw Schuerenberg dive low in turns one and two, leaving Henry to take the high side. Schuerenberg held the lead down the backstretch, but Henry was able to show a nose going into turns three and four. Then, the red flag flew again as Trey Jacobs and Travis Philo made contact while battling for sixth, tipping Jacobs over.
On this restart, it was Schuerenberg who went up top, much to the advantage of Henry, who used the low side to pull alongside Schuerenberg down the backstretch. Henry slid into turns three and four, and crossed the line as the leader.
“We had a couple restarts, and kind of got to play around and see what a good way to keep up with Hunter was,” said Henry. “The bottom was better. On the other end, I slid him [Schuerenberg], so he must’ve thought that the top was better. With years of racing here, I knew that it was a momentum deal and for one lap I could make it work. Hunter gave me the bottom on the next restart and I was okay with that,” Henry said with a smile.
“We were able to clear him, and then get back down to the bottom to complete that lap, and that was the difference,” said Henry.
Henry then set sail, as Schuerenberg would have his hands full with Andrews, who wanted the second spot. Henry’s lead grew to 1.123 seconds on lap 16 as Schuerenberg and Andrews jostled for P2. As they got to lap 17, lapped traffic became a factor for the first time.
As Henry sliced and diced through traffic, his lead did grow marginally to 1.301 seconds by lap 18. Henry had a somewhat clear track ahead of him, but there weren’t any lapped cars between him and Schuerenberg. The lead held steady at 1.247 seconds, though. The top three were back in some lapped traffic on lap 21, and Andrews was using it to advantage on Schuerenberg: he was all over him. Schuerenberg and Andrews did cut into Henry’s lead, toning it down to .971 seconds as Schuerenberg clinged to the second spot.
As lap 24 turned to lap 25, Henry’s lead grew, and Andrews was able to get by Schuerenberg and set his sights on Henry for the lead. Henry was once again dealing with lapped traffic with a 1.457 second lead, which allowed Andrews to close in. The lead was cut to .724 seconds, then down to .542 seconds on lap 28. Andrews was going to make it interesting if nothing else.
“I caught a couple lapped cars at the wrong time for me and ended up on parts of the race track where I really didn’t want to run at that point of the race. So at that point, it was just trying to back into rhythm, get back to what we were doing and try to seal it off,” Henry said.
Alas, Henry was able to get a lapped car between himself and the charging Andrews as the white flag flew, and that was enough to stall out Andrews’ run. Cap claimed win number two of 2023 at Attica, his sixth win overall this season. Andrews and Schuerenberg rounded out the podium.
For Henry, it was a nice rebound race in the AFCS Series, his last start ended with him on the hook, so he was able to gain back valuable points and momentum going into the back half of the weekend at Fremont Speedway: “We haven’t been as good here [Attica] as we have been at Fremont, we’ve been working away at it. We’re not awful here by any means, but not as good as we wanted. So to get back to it, get a win here again, it’s definitely a little bit of confidence going into tomorrow,” Henry concluded.
Cap Henry’s full interview can be found here: Cap Henry wins at Attica 7/21/23