Aaron Reutzel caps 2019 All Star title run with 4-Crown Nationals triumph at Eldora Speedway

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Aaron Reutzel caps 2019 All Star title run with 4-Crown Nationals triumph at Eldora Speedway

Story By: Tyler Altmeyer/ASCOC

Photos By: Dan DeMarco/RacersGuide.com

ROSSBURG, Ohio (September 28, 2019) – Aaron Reutzel’s 2019 Ollie’s Bargain Outlet All Star Circuit of Champions presented by Mobil 1 championship campaign could not have ended more appropriately. Not only did the Clute, Texas-native cap his season with a 16th Series victory, his sixth during the month of September, but Reutzel did so during the 38th running of Eldora Speedway’s historic 4-Crown Nationals; a second consecutive victory for the Texan during Eldora’s season-ending program.

Certainly an ongoing trend in 2019, Aaron Reutzel and Baughman-Reutzel Motorsports officially etched their names in All Star Circuit of Champions history books yet again, this time as an All Star champion for a second consecutive season. Although clinching the 2019 title at the conclusion of the evening’s pill draw, the 4-Crown Nationals triumph certainly put an exclamation point on their season.

Six-time Series champion, Dale Blaney, wrapped-up his 2019 campaign alongside McGhee Motorsports with a runner-up finish in the final championship standings, followed by a pair of rookie contenders, Cory Eliason and Brock Zearfoss, who finished third and fourth, respectively, and Paul McMahan.

“I can’t thank Mike and Josh Baughman enough for believing in me and believing in what this team can do. I’m blessed to be the guy who gets to wheel this car,” Aaron Reutzel explained, driver of the Baughman-Reutzel Motorsports/Folkens Brothers Trucking/Fischer Body Shop/Nattress Construction/No. 87 sprint car. “It’s unbelievable what we have been able to accomplish since we started.”

Starting sixth on the 4-Crown Nationals grid, Reutzel’s path to the top of the charts required finesse, as well as patience, ultimately forced to battle by a handful of the sport’s finest including Gio Scelzi, Cory Eliason, Cale Conley and Cale Thomas.

After moving ahead one position during the initial start, it took Reutzel until lap five to advance one more, this time driving by West Virginia’s Cale Conley to takeover the fourth spot. Meanwhile, Fairland, Indiana’s Cale Thomas was the man in control, utilizing the outside-pole position aboard Ron Gorby’s No. G1 to lead the first six circuits.

Despite a stout pace around Eldora Speedway’s infamous top groove, Thomas’ reign quickly ran out as Cory Eliason made his presence known on lap seven. A diving slider through turns three and four allowed Eliason to gain the top spot, now with Thomas, Gio Scelzi and Reutzel in tow. Unfortunately for Thomas, his run in the top-five ended on lap ten, as incidental contact between himself and Aaron Reutzel led to a 360 degree spin between turns three and four. The spin eventually signaled a caution forcing Thomas to restart at the tail of the field.

With the ensuing single-file restart on his side, it would only take Reutzel one circuit to move his way into the second spot, utilizing the middle line through turns one and two to slingshot around Gio Scelzi.

The main event’s second and final caution appeared on lap 15 setting up a near-identical situation for Retuzel and Baughman-Reutzel Motorsports. Using one lap to set himself up before capitalizing one circuit later, Reutzel’s winning maneuver occurred on lap 16, this time sliding by fellow All Star full-timer, Cory Eliason, with a bold move through turns one and two.

Driving by Thomas early, Eliason had been in command since lap seven.

It was a clear path for Reutzel during his first six circuits in command, but slower traffic soon entered the picture. As lapped cars started to multiply, Eliason seemed to make progress, eventually shrinking Reutzel’s command during their first few laps in traffic. Feeling a sense of pressure, Reutzel quickly found another gear took off, immediately pulling away from the Rudeen Racing entry. By the time the final checkers flew on lap 25, the gap was pushing three seconds.

Gio Scelzi held strong to finish just behind Eliason and Reutzel, followed by Buddy Kofoid and Dale Blaney.

“When I got the lead, I could kinda see the gap I was putting on Cory,” Aaron Reutzel said referring to the Eldora big screen. “I saw when he was getting back to me a little bit, so I kinda searched around and found something else. The big screen definitely helped out here. You can see where other people are and where other people are running. I was way better on the short runs and definitely needed that last caution.”

“I knew [Aaron Reutzel] was going to be there at some stage. We were rolling pretty good. I guess I hung on the wing valve a little too much,” Cory Eliason explained. “I couldn’t figure out why we got so tight at the end. It wasn’t until after the checkers when I looked up and realized what had happened. We were really good really early. I was just trying to pace it and save myself for the end.”

“We didn’t do it from the front row tonight,” Aaron Reutzel continued. “There have been a lot of naysayers the last month or so saying that we’ve only been able to win from of the front row. We drew the worst [dash] pill we could draw tonight. Hopefully that will give them something else to talk about. This has been an absolute dream season. What a way to cap it off.”

Contingency Awards/Results: Eldora Speedway – September 28, 2019:
Event: 38th Annual 4-Crown Nationals
Entries: 42
C&R Racing All Star Warm-Ups: Dale Blaney – 13.258 seconds
Lincoln Electric Fast Qualifier: Gio Scelzi – 13.195 seconds
Ford Performance Heat #1: Greg Wilson
All Pro Aluminum Cylinder Heads Heat #2: Cale Conley
Hunt Brothers Pizza Heat #3: James McFadden
Mobil 1 Heat #4: Buddy Kofoid
Kistler Racing Products Heat #5: Brock Zearfoss
JE Pistons Dash #1: Cale Conley
Fatheadz Eyewear Dash #2: Cale Thomas
Classic Ink USA Screenprinting B-Main Winner: Lee Jacobs
Ollie’s Bargain Outlet A-Main Winner: Aaron Reutzel
MSD Performance Hard Charger Award: Mason Daniel (+6)
Cometic Gasket Most A-Main Laps Led: Aaron Reutzel (16-25)
Rayce Rudeen Foundation First Non-Transfer: Landon Lalonde
(Lincoln Electric, MSD Performance, Fatheadz Eyewear, Rayce Rudeen Foundation, Cometic Gasket: Need decal to qualify for contingency award)

Qualifying

Group (A)

71-Gio Scelzi, 13.195; 2. 99b-Brady Bacon, 13.332; 3. G1-Cale Thomas, 13.432; 4. W20-Greg Wilson, 13.441; 5. 81-Lee Jacobs, 13.471; 6. J4-John Garvin, 13.771; 7. 70X-Justin Peck, 13.784; 8. 9j-Dean Jacobs, 14.086; 9. 4X-Bradley Ashford, 14.158

Group (B)

87-Aaron Reutzel, 13.244; 2. 24-Rico Abreu, 13.545; 3. 99-Skylar Gee, 13.594; 4. 3C-Cale Conley, 13.597; 5. 33M-Mason Daniel, 13.734; 6. 23-Stuart Brubaker, 13.913; 7. 35-Zach Hampton, 14.027; 8. 21N-Frankie Nervo, 14.065; 9. 16c-Ricky Peterson, 14.095

Group (C)

11-Dale Blaney, 13.413; 2. 13-Paul McMahan, 13.518; 3. 9-James McFadden, 13.615; 4. 49D-Shawn Dancer, 13.663; 5. 5T-Travis Philo, 13.758; 6. 22M-Dan McCarron, 13.795; 7. 97-Max Stambaugh, 13.855; 8. 5B-Chad Blonde, NT

Group (D)

67-Buddy Kofoid, 13.585; 2. 98H-Dave Blaney, 13.714; 3. 45-Trevor Baker, 13.782; 4. 20B-Cody Bova, 13.897; 5. 59N-Bryan Nuckles, 13.906; 6. K4-Chad Kemenah, 13.944; 7. 71m-Paul May, 14.005; 8. 70M-Henry Malcuit, 14.039

Group (E)

26-Cory Eliason, 13.402; 2. 12N-Joey Saldana, 13.472; 3. 70-Brock Zearfoss, 13.560; 4. 41S-Dominic Scelzi, 13.784; 5. 2L-Landon Lalonde, 13.815; 6. 40-George Hobaugh, 13.906; 7. 2C-Wayne Johnson, 13.998; 8. O7-Gerard McIntyre, 14.060

Heat #1 – Group (A) (8 Laps) – Top 4 Transfer

W20-Greg Wilson [1]; 2. G1-Cale Thomas [2]; 3. 71-Gio Scelzi [4]; 4. 99B-Brady Bacon [3]; 5. 81-Lee Jacobs [5]; 6. 9J-Dean Jacobs [8]; 7. J4-John Garvin [6]; 8. 4X-Bradley Ashford [9]; 9. 70X-Justin Peck [7]

Heat #2 – Group (B) (8 Laps) – Top 4 Transfer

3C-Cale Conley [1]; 2. 87-Aaron Reutzel [4]; 3. 24-Rico Abreu [3]; 4. 33M-Mason Daniel [5]; 5. 21N-Frankie Nervo [8]; 6. 16C-Ricky Peterson [9]; 7. 23-Stuart Brubaker [6]; 8. 35-Zach Hampton [7]; 9. 99-Skylar Gee [2]

Heat #3 – Group (C) (8 Laps) – Top 4 Transfer

9-James McFadden [2]; 2. 11-Dale Blaney [4]; 3. 49D-Shawn Dancer [1]; 4. 13-Paul McMahan [3]; 5. 5T-Travis Philo [5]; 6. 97-Max Stambaugh [7]; 7. 22M-Dan McCarron [6]; 8. 5B-Chad Blonde [8]

Heat #4 – Group (D) (8 Laps) – Top 4 Transfer

67-Buddy Kofoid [4]; 2. K4-Chad Kemenah [6]; 3. 45-Trevor Baker [2]; 4. 98H-Dave Blaney [3]; 5. 20B-Cody Bova [1]; 6. 59N-Bryan Nuckles [5]; 7. 71M-Paul May [7]; 8. 70M-Henry Malcuit [8]

Heat #5 – Group (E) (8 Laps) – Top 4 Transfer

70-Brock Zearfoss [2]; 2. 26-Cory Eliason [4]; 3. 12N-Joey Saldana [3]; 4. 41S-Dominic Scelzi [1]; 5. 2C-Wayne Johnson [7]; 6. 2L-Landon Lalonde [5]; 7. 40-George Hobaugh [6]; 8. O7-Gerard McIntyre [8]

Dash #1 (4 Laps)

3C-Cale Conley [2]; 2. 71-Gio Scelzi [4]; 3. 11-Dale Blaney [6]; 4. 9-James McFadden [3]; 5. W20-Greg Wilson [1]; 6. 70-Brock Zearfoss [5]

Dash #2 (4 Laps)

G1-Cale Thomas [1]; 2. 26-Cory Eliason [4]; 3. 87-Aaron Reutzel [6]; 4. 67-Buddy Kofoid [2]; 5. K4-Chad Kemenah [5]; 6. 99B-Brady Bacon [3]

B-Main (12 Laps) – Top 4 Transfer

81-Lee Jacobs [1]; 2. 99-Skylar Gee [2]; 3. 2C-Wayne Johnson [5]; 4. 5T-Travis Philo [3]; 5. 9J-Dean Jacobs [10]; 6. 2L-Landon Lalonde [7]; 7. 97-Max Stambaugh [8]; 8. 21N-Frankie Nervo [6]; 9. 22M-Dan McCarron [13]; 10. O7-Gerard McIntyre [19]; 11. 71M-Paul May [16]; 12. 40-George Hobaugh [14]; 13. 59N-Bryan Nuckles [9]; 14. 23-Stuart Brubaker [15]; 15. 35-Zach Hampton [17]; 16. 70M-Henry Malcuit [18]; 17. 4X-Bradley Ashford [20]; 18. 20B-Cody Bova [4]; 19. 16C-Ricky Peterson [11]

A-Main (25 Laps)

87-Aaron Reutzel [6]; 2. 26-Cory Eliason [4]; 3. 71-Gio Scelzi [3]; 4. 67-Buddy Kofoid [8]; 5. 11-Dale Blaney [5]; 6. W20-Greg Wilson [9]; 7. 3C-Cale Conley [1]; 8. K4-Chad Kemenah [10]; 9. 24-Rico Abreu [14]; 10. 9-James McFadden [7]; 11. 99B-Brady Bacon [12]; 12. 70-Brock Zearfoss [11]; 13. 33M-Mason Daniel [19]; 14. 13-Paul McMahan [17]; 15. 98H-Dave Blaney [18]; 16. 12N-Joey Saldana [13]; 17. 81-Lee Jacobs [21]; 18. 5T-Travis Philo [24]; 19. 41S-Dominic Scelzi [20]; 20. 2C-Wayne Johnson [23]; 21. 49D-Shawn Dancer [15]; 22. 99-Skylar Gee [22]; 23. G1-Cale Thomas [2]; 24. 40-George Hobaugh [25]; 25. 45-Trevor Baker [16] Lap Leaders: Cale Thomas (1-6), Cory Eliason (7-15), Aaron Reutzel (16-25)

2019 All Star Circuit of Champions Driver Standings (FINAL):