by Jacob Hord, @HordRaceWatcher Photo: Nick Zebelian, @NickZeb
It was another Speedweek-esque day, with temperatures in the upper 80’s and you could squeeze the water out of the air. The action during the feature was just as hot as well. Central Pennsylvania invader Danny Dietrich and All Star regular Zeb Wise paced the field to the green flag. Dietrich took the early lead and built up a huge 3.461 second lead by lap six. On the next circuit, it was an almost four second lead as eighth starting Cole Duncan was making moves through the field.
The first yellow flag came out on lap nine for Skyler Gee, who finished third Friday night at Attica. This was good for Justin Peck, who had just claimed second, and this would put him on Dietrich’s rear bumper. On the ensuing restart, Dietrich held serve, as Cole Duncan went to work on Wise for third. Another quick caution came out for DJ Foos, and on that restart, Duncan got by Peck for second. That would be the last restart of the race. Dietrich eeked away from Duncan and Peck as they waged war for second. By lap 19, Dietrich made his way into lapped traffic and he wouldn’t get out of it for the rest of the feature.
Dietrich was making his way through lapped traffic well, putting some cars between him and Peck, who had reclaimed second from Duncan. That changed five laps later, on lap 25. Peck started to close in on Dietrich and he brought Cole Duncan with him. With ten laps left, you could throw a blanket over the top three runners, and Duncan got back by Peck for second. On lap 35, Dietrich boldly slid Byron Reed in traffic, but it put distance between him and Duncan. Or so Dietrich thought. Duncan also got by Reed and started setting up some runs at Dietrich. With four laps left, Dietrich again gapped Duncan, but Duncan was just setting up a last-minute run.
Duncan got back to Dietrich’s bumper with two laps to go. On the white flag lap, Duncan had a run and went to the top of turns one and two. This gave Duncan another run going down the backstretch. Dietrich chose the bottom of turns three and four, and Duncan had to check up slightly. Duncan went to the top of turns three and four, and used the momentum to power around the outside of Dietrich coming to the checkers in a drag race. Duncan squeaked by and won by .247 seconds over Dietrich and Peck. For Duncan this was his first All Star win at Fremont after finishing second the last two All Star races at The Track That Action Built.