ALTON, Va. — Sunday’s Whelen Mazda MX-5 Cup presented by Michelin race was a near repeat of Saturday’s, with Jeremy Fletcher (No. 22 McCumbee McAleer Racing) taking the win behind the safety car.
Securing his fourth straight win at Virginia International Raceway propelled Fletcher into the championship lead.
Like Saturday’s race, a rookie started from pole: Helio Meza (No. 27 BSI Racing). The previous day’s polesitter, Justin Adakonis (No. 23 McCumbee McAleer Racing), started from last after swapping to a backup car.
Fletcher had a tremendous start and was able to take over the lead on lap two, while Meza was busy trying to hold off Ethan Goulart (No. 29 Saito Motorsport Group).
Fletcher had to hang on through two restarts from yellow, but was saved by the last full-course yellow, which brought the race to an end behind the safety car.
“Sweeping the weekend for the second time was definitely a nice feeling,” Fletcher said. “I can’t thank Dalton Dow enough for being on the radio with me, and he got me both these wins today, calling these cautions. I want to thank the entire McCumbee McAleer Racing crew. They’ve given me the fastest car all year, and I just got to turn the steering wheel and hit the brake pedal sometimes. I’m super thankful for all of them. This means a lot to me, especially getting the points lead.
“I definitely owe Gresham [Wagner],” Fletcher added. “He should have probably won that race. He had the pace.”
With only two more races to go, Fletcher now leads the points championship by 150 points and is that much closer to winning the $250,000 prize from Mazda.
Meza was Fletcher’s shadow throughout the race, until some contact on the lap 17 restart sent him into the Turn One grass. He was able to hold on but fell to the back of the field.
He had a tricky start to the race, but Gresham Wagner (No. 81 RAFA Racing by MMR) steadily picked his way into the top five by the race’s halfway point. With less than 10 minutes to go, he was filling Fletcher’s rear-view mirror. Unfortunately, he only had one green flag lap to make the pass, before the third and final full-course yellow was issued.
Wagner followed his teammate across the finish line, satisfied that if he couldn’t win it, at least his teammate did. Wagner missed four races this season and is not in contention for the championship.
“I got moved out of the way in Oak Tree early on and got shuffled back to the edge of the top 10,” Wagner said. “So that wasn’t great, but I knew I had a long race in front of me. As the race goes on, the cars get hotter and hotter, so it just gets harder and harder to pass. And you’ve got to pick your moves a bit more, I guess, sparingly, because it has to stick, otherwise you’re just going to get passed by one or two cars behind you and then get stuck behind them.
“Toward the end of the race, I found my rhythm a bit and made the right moves to get up there and fight for the win. The yellow came out right after I’d gotten passed, but I’m definitely happy to see it be my teammate, Jeremy [Fletcher], who has worked hard this weekend and kind of needs that win a bit more than I do going into the finale.”
Westin Workman (No. 13 BSI Racing) started from the 13th spot and was in a veritable hornet’s nest for most of the race. He was eighth before the final restart and was the largest beneficiary of the incident that sent Meza into the Turn One grass.
He kept to the inside and was fourth exiting Turn One. A few corners later, he was around Nathan Nicholson (No. 56 Advanced Autosports) and into third just before the final full-course caution.
“My race was kind of it was fast-paced and slow-paced at the same time,” Workman said. “I felt like I was hanging around that seventh position for a very long time, but the seas just kept parting ways for me, and I was taking advantage of everything that was happening in front of me. On the last restart, three or four cars got together, and I took advantage of it. It was unfortunate that it ended under yellow. I just wish it lasted a little longer, maybe we could have had something for the two MMR cars out front.”
Adakonis took a play from Wagner’s book by starting last and finishing fourth, just as his teammate did in Saturday’s race. Picking up 28 positions in the race earned Adakonis the Penske Shocking Performance Award. He was also the highest finishing rookie, earning him valuable points in the contest for $80,000 from Mazda for being Rookie of the Year.
He gave Meza a tough fight in the opening laps of the race, but Goulart got swallowed up in each restart and ended his day in fifth.
Peter Atwater (No. 26 JTR Motorsports Engineering) finished 15th, earning him the Takumi Award for drivers over the age of 40.
In just her fourth race with the series, Charlotte Traynor (No. 43 Parker Delong Racing), won the highest finishing female award with her 22nd-place finish.
