PETERSEN MEDIA
While he will venture off with the World of Outlaws NOS Energy Drink Sprint Car Series when the season starts later this week, Aaron Reutzel still managed to sneak in some All-Star lore over the weekend as the three-time and defending series Champ was able to pick up his 37th career series win on Saturday night at the Screven Motor Speedway in Screven, GA during the opening weekend of action for the ASCoC.
“We had really good speed in Arizona, but we just kind of struggled come feature event time the entire weekend,” Aaron Reutzel said. “We went to work and made some changes and had a really strong weekend with the All Stars.”
Reutzel was stout all weekend in Georgia as he was able to kick the weekend off with a second-place finish to open things up on Friday night as he chased Donny Schatz across the stripe.
Overall Friday night went well for the Texan as he would time in fifth overall in time trials, before racing his way to a third-place finish in his heat race, and a fourth place result in his Dash. Charging from Seventh to second in the ‘A’, Reutzel earned the Hercules Hard Charger award.
Saturday night saw Reutzel get off to a bit of a slow start, but it would ultimately put him in position to set himself up for a strong night.
Timing in 10th fastest overall and third fastest in his time trials group, Reutzel would line up on the front row of his heat race. Storming to a heat race win, Reutzel would punch his ticket into the Dash where he would line up on the pole of Dash No. 2.
Running second in the Dash, Reutzel would take the green flag from the fourth starting position and felt that he had a very strong entry under him heading into the feature event.
Spending much of the first half of the race running in the third position, Reutzel really came on strong during the closing stanzas of the feature as he worked into the second position on the 18th lap and began chasing after Sheldon Haudenschild.
A lap 20 caution would keep the leaders out of traffic and would put Reutzel on the leader’s tail tank. Keeping pace with Haudenschild for four laps, lap 25 saw the 2021 World of Outlaws Rookie of the Year contender make his move and take over the race lead.
Despite cautions on laps 28 and 33, Reutzel was not to be denied on this night as he raced on to pick up his first win of the 2021 season at the helm of the Roth Enterprises/Jason, Tara, and Cole Roth Cattle Co./HR Livestock Transportation entry.
“I really have to thank Dennis and Teresa Roth for allowing Dylan Buswell and myself to come on board with a package that we are really familiar with,” Reutzel said. “They took a big risk, and to win in our fifth night out is really cool.”
The Roth Motorsports team would like to thank Roth Enterprises, Jason, Tara, and Cole Roth Cattle Co., HR Livestock Transportation, Roth Investments, Southern Pacific Farms, All Star Performance, FK Rod Ends, Vahlco Wheels, Triple X Race Co., AL Drive Lines, Brown and Miller Racing Solutions, Wings Unlimited, Kent Performance, Kaeding Performance, Smith Titanium, and Team Simpson for their support in 2021.
ON TAP: Roth Motorsports and Aaron Reutzel will return to action on Wednesday night at Volusia Speedway Park for two nights of ASCoC action before the World of Outlaws campaign comes to life on Friday.
BY THE NUMBERS: Starts-5, Wins-1, Top-5’s-3, Top-10’s-5
STAY CONNECTED: Stay connected with Roth Motorsports by checking out their website, www.rothmotorsports83.com, following along on Twitter and Instagram @RothMotorsports.