From Bryan Hulbert
LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (March 26, 2022) — Deciding to head to I-30 Speedway paid off for Aaron Reutzel, as the Ridge Development No. 8 topped the slide job filled battle at the Hammer Hill Showdown with the Lucas Oil American Sprint Car Series presented by the MAVTV Motorsports Network.
“The car was phenomenal. When we left here last night, we had a game plan on what we were going to do if the track got the same, but it did kind of scare me because I thought the top would go away a lot faster, and it didn’t. This is the I-30 I remember when I first started coming here. It was a lot of fun,” stated Aaron on the front stretch.
Aaron’s first win with the series since 2017, the I-30 triumph, is the 20th time the Clute, Texas shoe has topped the Lucas Oil American Sprint Car Series. Taking the green from fourth, Aaron held that position the opening 11 revolutions as Seth Bergman led the way. Into traffic working Lap 12, Seth made contact with Landon Britt’s left rear tire, forcing the Evergreen Coffee Co. No. 23 around in turn four.
Handing the lead to Blake Hahn, the race went another lap before it was slowed again. Up to second on the Lap 11 restart, Reutzel set sights on Hahn for the lead before the red lights came on for Slater Helt with 14 laps to go.
Kicking off four laps to non-stop slide jobs, Reutzel and Hahn use every inch of the I-30 Speedway surface. Trying repeatedly to break the other’s momentum, Aaron finally grabbed the lead on Lap 19. Having to fend off two more attempts at the point the following lap, Aaron was finally able to get away from the No. 52.
On the race for the lead, Aaron said, “It got a little wild with him. The sliders, the front stretch chops, it just made it wild but fun. It’s a chess match. He did what he had to do, and I did what I had to do, but the way the track was, you had to pick your battles on when and how to slide, and luckily, we got through it.”
Keeping around the top of the Arkansas quarter-mile, Aaron closed on traffic through the final laps but was unchallenged the rest of the way. Making up some time on Reutzel at the end, Howard Moore ended up second by 0.861-seconds. Exchanging the show position numerous times with Hahn, Matt Covington rolled the No. 95 to third with an engine on loan from Linda Howard. Making contact with the wall battling for the lead, Blake Hahn held on for a fourth-place finish, with Dale Howard moving up three spots to finish fifth.
Wayne Johnson went from ninth to sixth while fending off Garet Williamson on the closing lap. Making up 11 positions, Tim Crawley made it to eighth, followed by Derek Hagar in ninth. Oklahoma’s Brandon Anderson completed the top ten.
A field of 49 was on hand Saturday night. The overall quick qualifier was Dylan Westbrook at 12.175-seconds. Setting up five SCE Gaskets Heat Races wins went to Garet Williamson, Aaron Reutzel, Matt Covington, Howard Moore, and Brandon Anderson. BMRS B-Feature wins went to Landon Britt and Ryan Timms. One provisional start was used by Travis Reber.
The next event for the Lucas Oil American Sprint Car Series is the $10,000 to win, Capital City Clash at Jackson Motor Speedway in Byram, Miss. on Friday, April 1, and Saturday, April 2. Tickets are on sale at http://www.ascsracing.com/schedule.
Lucas Oil American Sprint Car Series presented by MAVtv / ASCS Mid-South Region
Hammer Hill Showdown
I-30 Speedway
Little Rock, Arkansas
Saturday, March 26, 2022
The Drivers Project Qualifying (3 Laps)
1. 52-Blake Hahn, 12.288[5]
2. 1X-Tim Crawley, 12.332[9]
3. 24-Garet Williamson, 12.375[1]
4. 14-Jordon Mallett, 12.447[3]
5. 24T-Christopher Thram, 12.493[10]
6. 21B-Brandon Hinkle, 12.626[4]
7. 9JR-Derek Hagar, 12.657[6]
8. 99-Blake Jenkins, 12.664[8]
9. X-Charlie Louden, 12.777[2]
10. 38-Rick Pringle, 13.136[7]
The Drivers Project Qualifying 2 (3 Laps)
1. 8-Aaron Reutzel, 12.242[6]
2. 44-Chris Martin, 12.431[5]
3. 71-Bradyn Baker, 12.471[2]
4. 10-Landon Britt, 12.556[7]
5. 47-Dale Howard, 12.602[10]
6. 2-Chase Porter, 12.667[1]
7. 98P-Miles Paulus, 12.706[9]
8. 6-Dustin Gates, 12.732[4]
9. 85-Josh McCord, 12.810[8]
10. 2D-Dylan Opdahl, 12.877[3]
The Drivers Project Qualifying 3 (3 Laps)
1. 47X-Dylan Westbrook, 12.175[9]
2. 2C-Wayne Johnson, 12.210[7]
3. 95-Matt Covington, 12.245[5]
4. 5T-Ryan Timms, 12.292[10]
5. 22S-Slater Helt, 12.415[2]
6. 21K-Kevin Hinkle, 12.579[3]
7. 187-Landon Crawley, 12.607[8]
8. 22-Riley Goodno, 12.685[4]
9. 36-Jason Martin, 12.752[1]
10. 10P-Dylan Postier, 12.887[6]
The Drivers Project Qualifying 4 (3 Laps)
1. 3M-Howard Moore, 12.352[1]
2. 14E-Kyle Bellm, 12.612[5]
3. 17B-Ryan Bickett, 12.619[9]
4. 13C-Chase Howard, 12.655[10]
5. 27-Austin Wood, 12.764[3]
6. 30-Joseph Miller, 12.827[6]
7. 6T-Christopher Townsend, 13.077[7]
8. 44R-Ronny Howard, 13.107[8]
9. 88-Travis Reber, 13.107[2]
10. G6-Cody Gardner, 13.107[4]
The Drivers Project Qualifying 5 (3 Laps)
1. 23-Seth Bergman, 12.375[2]
2. 45X-Kyler Johnson, 12.709[6]
3. 55B-Brandon Anderson, 12.793[3]
4. 12-Jeffrey Newell, 12.918[7]
5. 15J-Jeremy Middleton, 13.048[9]
6. 91A-Ernie Ainsworth, 13.066[4]
7. 24W-Jeffrey West Jr, 13.125[1]
8. 19-Jason Long, 13.166[8]
9. 5L-Dusty Young, 13.418[5]
SCE Gaskets Heat Race #1 (8 Laps)
1. 24-Garet Williamson[2]
2. 52-Blake Hahn[4]
3. 14-Jordon Mallett[1]
4. 9JR-Derek Hagar[7]
5. 1X-Tim Crawley[3]
6. 99-Blake Jenkins[8]
7. 24T-Christopher Thram[5]
8. X-Charlie Louden[9]
9. 38-Rick Pringle[10]
10. 21B-Brandon Hinkle[6]
SCE Gaskets Heat Race #2 (8 Laps)
1. 8-Aaron Reutzel[4]
2. 47-Dale Howard[5]
3. 10-Landon Britt[1]
4. 44-Chris Martin[3]
5. 6-Dustin Gates[8]
6. 85-Josh McCord[9]
7. 71-Bradyn Baker[2]
8. 2-Chase Porter[6]
9. 2D-Dylan Opdahl[10]
10. 98P-Miles Paulus[7]
SCE Gaskets Heat Race #3 (8 Laps)
1. 95-Matt Covington[2]
2. 2C-Wayne Johnson[3]
3. 5T-Ryan Timms[1]
4. 22S-Slater Helt[5]
5. 187-Landon Crawley[7]
6. 22-Riley Goodno[8]
7. 36-Jason Martin[9]
8. 47X-Dylan Westbrook[4]
9. 10P-Dylan Postier[10]
10. 21K-Kevin Hinkle[6]
SCE Gaskets Heat Race #4 (8 Laps)
1. 3M-Howard Moore[4]
2. 13C-Chase Howard[1]
3. 17B-Ryan Bickett[2]
4. 14E-Kyle Bellm[3]
5. 30-Joseph Miller[6]
6. 44R-Ronny Howard[8]
7. 6T-Christopher Townsend[7]
8. 27-Austin Wood[5]
9. G6-Cody Gardner[9]
10. 88-Travis Reber[10]
SCE Gaskets Heat Race #5 (8 Laps)
1. 55B-Brandon Anderson[2]
2. 23-Seth Bergman[4]
3. 12-Jeffrey Newell[1]
4. 45X-Kyler Johnson[3]
5. 15J-Jeremy Middleton[5]
6. 91A-Ernie Ainsworth[6]
7. 24W-Jeffrey West Jr[7]
8. 19-Jason Long[8]
9. 5L-Dusty Young[9]
BMRS B-Main 1 (12 Laps)
1. 10-Landon Britt[1]
2. 1X-Tim Crawley[4]
3. 22S-Slater Helt[2]
4. G6-Cody Gardner[15]
5. 12-Jeffrey Newell[3]
6. 15J-Jeremy Middleton[7]
7. 22-Riley Goodno[6]
8. 24T-Christopher Thram[10]
9. X-Charlie Louden[11]
10. 98P-Miles Paulus[16]
11. 6T-Christopher Townsend[9]
12. 2-Chase Porter[12]
13. 10P-Dylan Postier[14]
14. 21K-Kevin Hinkle[17]
15. 91A-Ernie Ainsworth[8]
16. 38-Rick Pringle[13]
17. 30-Joseph Miller[5]
BMRS B-Main 2 (12 Laps)
1. 5T-Ryan Timms[2]
2. 47X-Dylan Westbrook[8]
3. 36-Jason Martin[7]
4. 6-Dustin Gates[1]
5. 187-Landon Crawley[3]
6. 85-Josh McCord[4]
7. 27-Austin Wood[12]
8. 24W-Jeffrey West Jr[9]
9. 2D-Dylan Opdahl[13]
10. 88-Travis Reber[15]
11. 19-Jason Long[11]
12. 44R-Ronny Howard[6]
13. 71-Bradyn Baker[10]
14. 99-Blake Jenkins[5]
15. 5L-Dusty Young[14]
16. 21B-Brandon Hinkle[16]
A-Main (30 Laps)
1. 8-Aaron Reutzel[4]
2. 3M-Howard Moore[3]
3. 95-Matt Covington[6]
4. 52-Blake Hahn[2]
5. 47-Dale Howard[8]
6. 2C-Wayne Johnson[9]
7. 24-Garet Williamson[5]
8. 1X-Tim Crawley[19]
9. 9JR-Derek Hagar[11]
10. 55B-Brandon Anderson[7]
11. 36-Jason Martin[22]
12. 5T-Ryan Timms[18]
13. 13C-Chase Howard[10]
14. 47X-Dylan Westbrook[20]
15. 17B-Ryan Bickett[12]
16. 10-Landon Britt[17]
17. 14-Jordon Mallett[16]
18. 44-Chris Martin[13]
19. 45X-Kyler Johnson[15]
20. 14E-Kyle Bellm[14]
21. 22S-Slater Helt[21]
22. 23-Seth Bergman[1]
23. 88-Travis Reber[23]