by Jacob Hord, @HordRaceWatcher
After a couple of weeks off for the Attica Independent Fair, and the Knoxville Nationals, it was time to wave the green flag once again at Attica Raceway Park for another addition of the AFCS Sprints Series. Twenty-five 410 machines unloaded pitside, including DJ Foos, who was back at Attica for the first time since being burned back in April.
When it was time for the Feature to go green it would be Chris Andrews, who still was looking to get into the win column for 2023, and Tyler Street, who was making his first Attica appearance since June, on the front row with DJ Foos, Sean Rayhall, and Trey Jacobs as the top five.
As the green flag flew, Andrews got the jump on Street up top, as sixth-starting Cap Henry made his way into third. Cue the JAWS music. But, Andrews did rack up a 1.415 second lead over Street and Henry by lap two. As Henry stalked Street four second, eighth-starting Skylar Gee was going to work on Rayhall for fourth. Gee claimed the fourth spot as Andrews built his lead up to 3.578 seconds.
Andrews was about to reach lapped traffic on lap nine, carrying a 1.277 second lead, but on lap 11, Henry was right on Andrews’ tail. As they went down the backstretch, Henry took the lead. Even though the top two were near lapped traffic as they battled for the lead, they weren’t passing said lapped traffic, which helped keep Andrews close on Henry’s rear bumper. The traffic wasn’t getting any lighter for Henry, as Andrews kept close tabs on him, only .440 seconds behind at the halfway point, and Foos lurking.
At this point, there were no lapped cars between Henry and Andrews, and that continued until lap 20, when Henry was finally able to get the 9Z of Duane Zablocki between himself and Andrews. Then, Henry was able to build a lead. Henry grew his lead to 1.187 seconds, as Foos inched closer to Andrews, but Reed was also getting close to Foos. Reed would claim the third spot from Foos on lap 23.
Meanwhile, Henry and the Jeff Ward Motorsports #33W car were still mired in heavy lapped traffic. Henry was able to get three lapped cars between himself and Andrews by lap 25, allowing the lead to swell to 2.397 seconds. But, Andrews was hungry for the win. Even with Reed bearing down on him, he made quick work of Brian Smith and Reece Saldana, and all of the sudden, there weren’t any cars between Cap Henry and Chris Andrews. Unfortunately for Andrews, he just ran out of time. He did take a second out of Henry’s lead, but that was on the white flag lap, and Henry crossed the line first by 1.217 seconds over Andrews, Reed, Tyler Gunn (from 18th) and Foos.
“Chris [Andrews] was really good out in clean air. I got lucky being in second there is always better when you come to traffic, I was able to start moving around before we got there and see what I could do. I kind of figured out that the bottom of one and two was pretty good and managed to use that to get by Chris and roll by a handful of lapped cars,”said winner Cap Henry.
“I knew that Chris was running second and that he would get up on the wheel and try to get the lead back. I felt like I ran a pretty good pace most of the race, and never saw his nosewing, so for the most part, I was okay,” continued Henry.
Cap Henry’s full interview can be found here: Post Race: Cap Henry gets win #8 of 2023. Attica 8/18/23
DJ Foos’ pre-race interview can be found here: Pre-race: DJ Foos makes his return to racing