Adidas 250 @ Watkins Glen

Carlisle defeats tough competition for Glen victory

In a more competitive race than expected, Bradley Carlisle treated the McBrien Racing team to their first victory of the season after leading the final 5 laps of an excited Watkins Glen race. Breyton Green, who finished second for Big Bang Racing in a great showing for the team, had led 23 laps prior to Carlisle's pass, managed to hold off Ben Atkins, Ike Durbin and teammate Kevin Miller, who finished close in tow to round out the top 5.

The beginning of the race was marred with 9 caution flags; almost double last weeks Empire State 450, which had 5. Notable accidents involved Riley McKee crashing out heavily just 4 laps in, as well as another wild ride for Casey Lester on lap 65, which seen him go up onto his roof for the second week in a row, however he was scooped onto his roof by Ruby McBrien, who had dominated much of the early proceeding of the race from the outside pole before mechanical woes hindered her progress. Another driver who had a good run cut short by this multi-car melee was Daniel Leckliter, who found his way to the lead around the midway point of the event. Leckliter would recover to earn a top 10 finish despite the damage, however, while McBrien, Lester, Gabriel Macena and Darrell Williams were eliminated from the race after the melee.

Empire State 450 winner Matilda Dillinger also led laps in the event, but was restricted to an 11th place finish due to an off-cycle pit strategy, while 450 runner-up Chiyo Minami took the points lead off her, after a solid 7th place finish.

Bradley Carlisle has now tied Frank McBrien and Gareth Carter in the all-time win list, having earned his 40th career victory, and he is now in the STARS Lowe's International Series chase, and will have an opportunity to go for the championship in the final 10 races of the season.

"I'm really hyped about this win!" said Carlisle, "The Big Bang cars had the best strategy but they just don't have what we do. We earned that one on speed! I wasn't going to be denied today!"

While it was happiness for Carlisle, who was seen signing snapbacks for fans after victory lane formalities came to an end, not all was peachy for the team. Evie Vance was on course for her first top 5 finish before she got into Daniel Leckliter, spinning him around in the final turn. Vance had recovered to get herself back into the top 5, before being wrecked in the esses by part-time driver Mac Hanley with just 10 laps to go; an accident that saw Vance almost go onto her roof.

"Firstly, I need to apologise to Daniel Leckliter. I got my line wrong in the final turn, and I'm really just glad his day wasn't ruined by my dumb mistake." said Vance, "I just don't get why Hanley felt a need to turn me in one of the fastest parts of the course. Was he not paying attention? We just got hosed out of a good finish. It sucks."

The McBrien family also suffered issues. Fuel line issues were the name of the game for both Frank and Ruby McBrien; the latter suffering one from the lead of the race, and putting her a lap down.

"I-It's okay. I can do my Rubesty next week!" said Ruby McBrien, "We led laps today and that's what matters... we're fast! I'm just gonna go home and pet my coelacanth plush and be just swell. Dia bought me skittles too so it'll be okay.... aaaaaAAAAAAAAAAAA"

Next week, the STARS Lowe's International Series will head out to New Hampshire Motor Speedway.

F S # DRIVER INTERVAL LAPS LED POINTS STATUS
1 5 92 B Carlisle 78.666 82 19 180 Running
2 22 88 B Green -3.13 82 23* 180 Running
3 4 2 B Atkins -3.43 82 7 170 Running
4 24 65 I Durbin -3.67 82 0 160 Running
5 18 99 K Miller -3.96 82 0 155 Running
6 30 86 M Montellini -8.07 82 3 155 Running
7 21 22 C Minami -10.89 82 0 146 Running
8 1 01 H Tsushima -11.40 82 0 142 Running
9 16 89 L Forrester -14.76 82 0 138 Running
10 33 10 D Leckliter -16.98 82 2 139 Running
11 9 1 M Dillinger -17.23 82 3 135 Running
12 34 98 S Harrow -21.47 82 0 127 Running
13 17 28 R Carter -21.51 82 0 124 Running
14 12 0 M Nishikino -25.77 82 0 121 Running
15 37 57 D Dent -33.09 82 3 123 Running
16 39 82 J Sanders -40.48 82 0 115 Running
17 32 81 N Balandier -42.49 82 0 112 Running
18 7 6 R Matthews -1L 81 7 114 Tire
19 8 31 J Eichholtz -1L 81 0 106 Running
20 36 7 D Johnson -2L 80 0 103 Running
21 26 5 T Benatar -4L 78 0 100 Running
22 14 18 M Hanley -11L 71 0 97 Retired
23 11 19 E Vance -11L 71 0 94 Accident
24 13 50 G Macena -15L 67 0 91 Retired
25 2 29 R McBrien -16L 66 15 93 Fuel Inj
26 40 78 D Williams -16L 66 0 85 Retired
27 6 21 C Lester -17L 65 0 82 Accident
28 3 12 G Macintosh -21L 61 0 79 Accident
29 31 08 Y Kunikida -28L 54 0 76 Piston
30 28 75 W Carmichael -36L 46 0 73 Header
31 10 11 F McBrien -52L 30 0 70 Fuel Ln
32 38 05 M McAllister -54L 28 0 67 Accident
33 35 24 P Vaughn -54L 28 0 64 Accident
34 27 15 B Stansfield -60L 22 0 61 Accident
35 23 00 J Clagett -68L 14 0 58 Clutch
36 19 66 D Donohue -70L 12 0 55 Retired
37 25 20 C Swift -70L 12 0 52 Accident
38 20 44 E Jenkins -73L 9 0 49 Retired
39 15 02 R Truro, Jr. -77L 5 0 46 Tire
40 29 76 R McKee -79L 3 0 43 Accident

None to report.

Green indicates a driver is locked in on wins.
Yellow indicates a driver is currently in on points.
Red indicates a driver must win to makes the playoffs. (not yet relevant)

Top 20 in Chase Standings
16 drivers make the STARS LIS Chase.

1st: #1 Matilda Dillinger (1 win)
2nd: #92 Bradley Carlisle (1 win)
3rd: #22 Chiyo Minami
4th: #86 Marcus Montellini
5th: #88 Breyton Green
6th: #89 Luke Forrester
7th: #50 Gabriel Macena
8th: #2 Ben Atkins
9th: #98 Spencer Harrow
10th: #99 Kevin Miller
11th: #65 Ike Durbin
12th: #24 Patrick Vaughn
13th: #18 Mac Hanley
14th: #10 Daniel Leckliter
15th: #76 Riley McKee
16th: #0 Maki Nishikino
-------------------------------------------------------------------
17th: #11 Frank McBrien
18th: #7 Dalton Johnson
19th: #6 Ryan Matthews
20th: #66 Dean Donohue

8th in points (#01 Hanamaru Tsushima) is not eligible for the STARS Lowe's International Series Chase as she has declared her intentions to compete for the STARS Kobalt Tools Truck Series chase.

14th in points (#26 Spencer Libra) is not eligible for the STARS Lowe's International Series Chase as he has not attempted every race this season.

Pos +/- Driver ST W T5 T10 AvFP P AvSP PTS BF/BN
1 +1 C Minami  2 0 1 2 4.50 0 14.00 156 0/0  

2 -1 M Dillinger  2 1 1 1 6.00 0 6.50 149 7/7  

3 +4 M Montellini  2 0 0 2 6.50 0 23.50 137 19/12  

4 +26 B Carlisle  2 1 1 1 15.50 0 4.00 115 41/22  

5 +32 B Green  2 0 1 1 19.50 0 24.50 107 49/8  

6 +5 L Forrester  2 0 0 2 9.50 0 20.50 105 51/2  

7 -4 G Macena  2 0 1 1 13.50 0 25.50 104 52/1  

8 +7 H Tsushima  2 0 0 1 11.50 1 17.00 100 56/4  

9 +27 B Atkins  2 0 1 1 19.50 0 3.00 94 62/6  

10 +2 S Harrow  2 0 0 0 11.50 0 31.00 91 65/3  

11 +18 K Miller  2 0 1 1 17.00 0 24.50 90 66/1  

12 +21 I Durbin  2 0 1 1 18.50 0 32.00 90 66/0  

13 -8 P Vaughn  2 0 1 1 19.00 0 35.50 85 71/5  

14 -10 S Libra  1 0 1 1 4.00 0 6.00 81 75/4  

15 -5 M Hanley  2 0 0 1 15.50 0 13.00 76 80/5  

16 +5 D Leckliter  2 0 0 1 15.50 0 25.50 73 83/3  

17 -11 R McKee  2 0 0 1 23.00 0 19.00 73 83/0  

18 -1 M Nishikino  2 0 0 0 15.00 0 17.50 70 86/3  

19 -10 F McBrien  2 0 0 0 21.50 0 12.50 67 89/3  

20 -12 G Carter  1 0 0 1 8.00 0 26.00 60 96/7  

21 -2 D Johnson  2 0 0 0 19.50 0 35.00 50 106/10  

22 +5 R Matthews  2 0 0 0 22.50 0 6.00 46 110/4  

23 -9 D Donohue  2 0 0 0 25.00 0 17.50 45 111/1  

24 +4 J Eichholtz  2 0 0 0 23.50 0 15.00 42 114/3  

25 -- R Carter  1 0 0 0 13.00 0 17.00 41 115/1  

26 -- N Prowse  1 0 0 0 13.00 0 13.00 41 115/0  

27 -- D Williams  2 0 0 0 23.00 0 36.00 41 115/0  

28 -- J Sanders  2 0 0 0 25.50 0 24.50 40 116/1  

29 -- E Vance  2 0 0 0 24.00 0 11.00 39 117/1  

30 -- D Dent  1 0 0 0 15.00 0 37.00 36 120/3  

31 -- J Clagett  2 0 0 0 26.50 0 22.00 36 120/0  

32 -- N Yazawa  1 0 0 0 17.00 1 1.00 35 121/1  

33 -- T Benatar  2 0 0 0 26.50 0 27.50 33 123/2  

34 -- W Carmichael  2 0 0 0 27.00 0 21.00 33 123/0  

35 -- M McAllister  2 0 0 0 27.50 0 37.50 31 125/2  

36 -- N Balandier  1 0 0 0 17.00 0 32.00 30 126/1  

37 -- G Macintosh  2 0 0 0 29.50 0 13.50 28 128/2  

38 -- Y Kunikida  2 0 0 0 31.50 0 25.50 23 133/5  

39 -- C Swift  2 0 0 0 31.50 0 22.00 23 133/0  

40 -- R McBrien  2 0 0 0 32.50 0 20.50 22 134/1  

41 -- B Ward  1 0 0 0 22.00 0 30.00 21 135/1  

42 -- C Lester  2 0 0 0 33.00 0 7.00 21 135/0  

43 -- B Stansfield  1 0 0 0 34.00 0 27.00 9 147/12  

44 -- S Peterson  1 0 0 0 38.00 0 35.00 5 151/4  

45 -- E Jenkins  1 0 0 0 38.00 0 20.00 5 151/0  

46 -- R Truro, Jr.  1 0 0 0 39.00 0 15.00 4 152/1