Dandy Dan Does it Again!

​It was Dan Geren who immerged victorious at Chicagoland Speedway Wednesday night, fending off challenges from Jake Wright, Chris Stofer, Adam Blocker, and Big Joe Hassert among others. This allowed Geren to gain some much needed points on Championship leader Jake Wright, who finished third. Wright’s lead now stands at 47 points with 4 races remaining. Andrew Kinsella, who sits third in the championship, finished 5th, leaving the Canadian rookie 112 points back of Wright. It was a fine day for Adrenaline Motorsports at Chicagoland. In addition to Kinsella’s 5th, Chris Stofer came home 2nd, Adam Blocker battled hard with Kinsella to the line to finish 4th, and Tony Showen came home a respectable 7th.

The race started out mirroring the championship, with Points leader Jake Wright on pole by a scant 0.021 seconds over 2nd in points Dan Geren. Before one lap was even complete, however, the caution slowed the field for an incident between Vincent Bluthenthal, George Adams and Brian Greenlee. Netcode contact between Adams and Bluthenthal resulted in the two spinning into the turn three wall, with Greenlee the innocent bystander left with no where to go.

Caution would slow the field once more on lap 7 for contact between Chris Lannini and Jack Bogan. Bogan would continue, but Lannini was suffered more extensive damage. A few drivers opted to get out of sequence and fill up the tank early, most notably Andrew Kinsella, who had started back in 13th position.  Kinsella re-immerged 25th.

On the ensuing green flag run Dan Geren and Jake Wright swapped the lead a few times as the drivers had multiple grooves working on the 1.5-mile tri-oval. Behind them, Blocker, Michael Goodman, Big Joe Hassert and Joe Branch battled to round out the top 5. A long green flag run saw a round of green-flag pit stops with the notoriously tricky pit road entrance nearly catching out a few drivers such as Bob Mikes and Mitchell Mohler. Kinsella would use the pit cycle to lead a few laps, picking up an all important bonus points to keep pace with Geren and Wright. By the end of the window Kinsella had gained back 10 spots in just 40 laps to sit 15th.

Once the pit cycle had sorted itself out, Jake Wright emerged as the leader by 1.2 seconds over Dan Geren. Chris Stofer used a great pit cycle to vault himself up to 3rd place, and was son battling with Geren for 2nd. Big Joe Hassert and Jason Galvin rounded out you top 5.

Just as the next cycle of green flag stops was starting on lap 71, Michael Gray got put into a death spiral on the back straight after net code contact with Woody Mahan, causing chaos for those who had already pitted. Brian Yaczik, Jason Galvin, Jason Robarge, Jorge Anzaldo and Pierre Daigle were among those who found themselves at the at the tail end of the lead lap on the restart. Meanwhile it was a blessing for Kinsella, who by now had worked his way up to 11th, and the others on that short stint strategy, as it allowed them to get back on strategy with the leaders.

Wright would lead the pack back to the green with Geren, Stofer and Hassert hot on his heals. An intense battle broke out between two rookies as Justin Weaver and Adam Blocker traded 5th position back and forth. The important battle, however was at the front of the field as Geren was finally able to solve Jake Wright and take the lead. Wright fell back to 4th as first Stofer then Hassert also got by Wright.

Jason Galvin spun on lap after contact with Chris Lanini, ending his day. Galvin spun down to the inside of the track and the track stayed Green.

Lap 100, and the final round of green flag pit stops hit the field. James Krahula and Big Joe Hassert opted to pit early, while Dan Geren, Jake Wright and Michael Goodman opted to stay out longer. Big Joe Hassert immerged from the pit cycle in the lead by 1 second over Dan Geren, but with 10 lap older tires. Geren would real him in over the coming laps before finally passing Big Joe with 15 laps to go Wright had immerged from the pits in 6th position right infront of Andrew Kinsella, but quickly got 5th from James Krahula before passing Adam Blocker with 13 to go.

Robert Blouin caught the wall with 12 to go, but managed to keep the track green. There was one last bit of drama, however as with just 7 laps to go, the caution was out for Chris Lanini in his third incident of the night spins trying to avoid the slowing car of Dustin Wardlow. On the ensuing caution Big Joe Hassert and James Krahula pitted, hoping fresh tires would allow him to get back to the front. With Just two laps to go, the order was Geren, Stofer, Wright, Blocker and Kinsella. 

While they would ultimately finish this way the final two laps were anything but calm. Wright and stofer battled for 2nd while Blocker, Kinsella and Weaver went 3 wide into turn 1 on the restart. As they crossed the start finish line for the white flag lap, Jason Robarge and Big Joe made contact, taking Joe Branch out with them. Ultimately, nobody and nothing could stand between Dan Geren and the checkered flag. Geren picked up some much need points on championship rival Jake Wright.

If you thought this race sounds action pack, then you should check back Wednesday October 23rd for the plastidip.com 150 at Gateway Motorsport park. Catch the action at 10:30 EDT on GSRC and iRacing live.