Lonnie Wheatley
CLUTE, Texas (March 24, 2017) – Aaron Reutzel closed out the opening weekend of the Lucas Oil ASCS National Tour with a strong sixth-place finish in the 44th edition of Devil’s Bowl Speedway’s “Spring Nationals” last weekend in Mesquite, TX.
Lucas Oil ASCS National Tour action continues for Reutzel and the Dissolvalloy Downhole Revolution/BC Fundz No. 87 Triple-X Sprint Car team this Sunday night at Moberly, Missouri’s Randolph County Raceway after the $15,000-to-win NCRA Air Capital Shootout at 81 Speedway near Wichita, KS, on Friday and Saturday.
Reutzel’s bid for a second Lucas Oil ASCS National Tour title in three years got off to a rough start after he missed the feature cut in last Friday’s prelim.
“It was fairly typical Devil’s Bowl,” Reutzel says. “We drew bad and then it was one lane in the heat race, we just passed one car.”
The run through the “B” didn’t work out either for the driver of the Wren Motorsports/Momentum Racing Suspensions entry. “We were up to fifth, then the motor didn’t seem right so we called it a night.”
With a rough opening night at the Devil’s Bowl Speedway in the books, Reutzel and the Nattress Construction/Wings Unlimited team bounced back in strong form with an impressive Saturday night.
“It was a lot racier track, we went from eighth to fourth in the heat race and then won our qualifier from fourth,” Reutzel recalls.
From there, Reutzel started the feature in seventh and ultimately finished out the weekend sixth aboard the Wright Way Logistics/Walker Performance Filtration entry.
“We were good in the feature, just not good enough to drive by people,” Reutzel says. “It was a step in the right direction though, it’s better than we have been there in the past.”
Reutzel sets his sights on some big money with a return to Kansas’ 81 Speedway this weekend. It’s a place that he has been to only once when he stormed to victory lane in Regional competition in June of 2014.
“We were really good there, we can just hope for more of the same,” Reutzel says.
Sunday’s ASCS outing at Moberly’s Randolph County Raceway marks his first visit to the Missouri oval.