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Photo by Doug
Allen
Texan Reutzel Dominates Every Phase of
Perris SoCal Showdown
PERRIS, CA – MARCH 30, 2019
– Aaron Reutzel wrote an eloquent ending
to the eventful and riveting story of the
World of Outlaws NOS Energy Drink Sprint
Car Series’ California swing, ending it
Saturday night in similar fashion to how
it began.
Last year’s Rookie of the
Year Ian Madsen opened the swing in early
March at Thunderbowl Raceway — where
Reutzel won his first ever World of
Outlaws race last year during the swing —
winning everything he could: fastest in
practice, Quick Time, Heat win, drew the
pole for the DIRTVision Fast Pass Dash,
won the Dash, lead every lap in the
Feature and won it.
Reutzel did
exactly the same at the half-mile Perris
Auto Speedway. He was fastest in practice.
Quick Time. Won his Heat race. Drew the
pole for the Dash. Won the Dash. Lead
every lap in the 30-lap Feature and
claimed his second World of Outlaws win at
the SoCal Showdown.
“Unbelievable,”
the Clute, Texas native said, having to
pause afterward, as if to try and grasp
the dominance himself.
Coming into
the Perris race, Reutzel had a top-five
and two top-10 finishes in the California
swing and sat seventh in Series points,
ahead of full-time World of Outlaws
drivers such as Shane Stewart and Madsen.
But to Reutzel, he was having a terrible
year and it was time for a change.
He and his Baughman-Reutzel Motorsports
team made one the morning of the race. It
worked.
“We just went back to
everything we were doing last year,”
Reutzel said. “We just made one little
change and it made the difference.”
That little change; ditching a newly
built car to put an old car back together.
“There’s nothing different between
them,” Reutzel said. “Sometimes you just
get a car that doesn’t work, and that
might have been one that doesn’t work.
Everything else exactly them same. It just
worked out for us.”
With the car
he’s been running, Reutzel said it felt
like he and his team were always playing
catch up when it came to the Feature and
could never qualify well anymore.
“That’s something you can’t do with these
(World of Outlaws) guys,” Reutzel said.
Now, his confidence is back. It showed
on track, holding off two California
natives who grew up racing on the
California swing tracks — rookie Carson
Macedo and Rico Abreu.
In the early
stage of the Feature, Macedo presented
himself as a possible threat to Reutzel,
inching in on him lap after lap. After an
early red flag, for a flip involving Brent
Marks, Reutzel had his biggest challenge
yet with Macedo starting next to him and
Abreu behind them. But when the green flag
dropped, Macedo and Abreu were left
trading slide jobs to determine who would
finish second while Reutzel sailed away.
It was the same story with on another
restart a couple of laps later.
“I
felt like I had a couple of runs at him on
a couple of restarts, and it just seemed
like… It’s just the way it went,” said
Macedo, who finished second. “Aaron did a
good job all night. I felt like we had a
good race car. I felt like we had a good
package all night.”
Macedo has had
one of the best California swings out of
all full-time World of Outlaws drivers,
having finished in the top-10 in all five
races and got his first win of the season
at Silver Dollar Speedway.
“We’re
having a lot of fun right now,” Macedo
said. “We’re putting good runs up on the
board and that’s what it’s all about with
the Outlaws.”
In line with Macedo
and Madsen, Reutzel is the eighth
different winner this year in the past
nine races. And even though it’s his
second ever Series win, it’s still as
special as the first.
“Whether you
have 100 (wins) or your Donny Schatz
getting another one or me getting my
second one, just winning an Outlaw race is
huge in general,” Reutzel said. “It feels
really good to get it.”
Reutzel’s
win closes the story of the 2019 World of
Outlaws Spring Break California swing, but
the Series continues next weekend on
Friday, April 5, for the Wildcat Shootout
at USA Raceway in Tucson, Ariz. and on
Saturday, April 6, for the Arizona Desert
Shootout at Arizona Speedway in Queen
Creek, Ariz.
The Texan’s next
chapter with the World of Outlaws will
begin in May at Eldora Speedway.
As
always, you can catch all the World of
Outlaws NOS Energy Drink Sprint Car Series
action on DIRTVision.com.
For
tickets and more information, go to
www.WorldofOutlaws.com.
NOS Energy
Drink Feature (30 Laps) 1. 87-Aaron
Reutzel [1][$10,000]; 2. 2-Carson Macedo
[3][$5,500]; 3. 24-Rico Abreu [2][$3,200];
4. 49X-Tim Shaffer [6][$2,800]; 5. 26-Cory
Eliason [7][$2,500]; 6. 17-Sheldon
Haudenschild [8][$2,300]; 7. 15-Donny
Schatz [5][$2,200]; 8. 5-Shane Stewart
[10][$2,100]; 9. 49-Brad Sweet
[9][$2,050]; 10. 83JR-Giovanni Scelzi
[14][$2,000]; 11. 45-Chad Kemenah
[4][$1,500]; 12. 41-David Gravel
[11][$1,200]; 13. 83-Daryn Pittman
[12][$1,100]; 14. 18-Ian Madsen
[18][$1,050]; 15. 1S-Logan Schuchart
[16][$1,000]; 16. 19AZ-Hunter Schuerenberg
[13][$900]; 17. 21-Brian Brown [17][$800];
18. 71P-Parker Price-Miller [24][$800];
19. 7S-Jason Sides [23][$800]; 20.
11K-Kraig Kinser [22][$800]; 21.
21P-Robbie Price [20][$800]; 22.
41S-Dominic Scelzi [15][$800]; 23.
19-Brent Marks [19][$800]; 24. 33M-Mason
Daniel [21][$800]; Lap Leaders: Aaron
Reutzel 1-30; KSE Hard Charger Award:
71P-Parker Price-Miller[+6]
Qualifying - 1. 87-Aaron Reutzel, 14.377;
2. 17-Sheldon Haudenschild, 14.398; 3.
15-Donny Schatz, 14.409; 4. 19AZ-Hunter
Schuerenberg, 14.418; 5. 24-Rico Abreu,
14.546; 6. 2-Carson Macedo, 14.559; 7.
26-Cory Eliason, 14.585; 8. 21-Brian
Brown, 14.59; 9. 83-Daryn Pittman, 14.592;
10. 49X-Tim Shaffer, 14.653; 11. 45-Chad
Kemenah, 14.671; 12. 49-Brad Sweet,
14.672; 13. 19-Brent Marks, 14.681; 14.
41-David Gravel, 14.684; 15. 1A-Jacob
Allen, 14.719; 16. 5-Shane Stewart,
14.724; 17. 33M-Mason Daniel, 14.732; 18.
7S-Jason Sides, 14.732; 19. 1S-Logan
Schuchart, 14.748; 20. 83JR-Giovanni
Scelzi, 14.785; 21. 18-Ian Madsen, 14.809;
22. 21P-Robbie Price, 14.832; 23.
71P-Parker Price-Miller, 14.842; 24.
41S-Dominic Scelzi, 14.845; 25. 11K-Kraig
Kinser, 14.929; 26. 13-Mark Dobmeier,
15.399
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