STAFFORD SPRINGS, Conn. – Parker Retzlaff remained unbeaten in Grand National Tour competition Wednesday night with a wire-to-wire victory at the virtual Stafford Motor Speedway.
Retzlaff, who qualified on the pole during two-lap time trials to kick off the night, utilized that track position early and never looked back.
The 16-year-old from Rhinelander, Wis., led all 100 laps of the Liuna 100 en route to his third win in three Grand National Tour starts and his fifth victory overall in NASCAR Roots competition.
Retzlaff has swept both the Grand National Tour’s three events and a pair of NASCAR Roots iRacing League races in the last three weeks, running his win total up in impressive fashion during that span.
In regards to his rout at Stafford, Retzlaff fended off every advance that veteran Josh Berry made during the feature and took the checkered flag clear of Berry’s Chevrolet by .666 seconds.
“We had a really solid qualifying effort and I think that was the key; I just tried to stay out front all the way,” noted Retzlaff. “I saved a little bit when I could and we had just enough to hold off Josh Berry.
“The lane changed a little bit – I was using the apron in turn one to turn the car a little bit on older tires – but overall it didn’t shift that much,” he added. “Overall I feel pretty confident right now and hope we can keep this streak going one more week.”
Berry crossed as the runner-up and admitted that the final result simply came down to track position.
“I’m not really sure what more I needed; it was just really hard to pass,” Berry noted. “Parker was really good. I think we were both really close. It was just going to come down to who was in front of who there on the late run, and he had the advantage with being out front.
“I was hoping it would go green for a while, because I thought that was my best chance,” Berry added. “He (Retzlaff) could fire off better than I could. All in all, it was pretty fun, though. It was a clean race.”
JD Motorsports with Gary Keller PR manager Leighton Sibille completed the podium, followed by Stafford modified regular Mike Christopher Jr. and ARCA Menards Series West young gun Jagger Jones.
Nick Sanchez, Travis Hydar, Ryan Blanchard, Brett Moffitt and Tim Mangini filled out the top 10.
Five caution flags, including a competition break at the halfway benchmark, slowed the pace for a combined 26 laps. The average race pace was 72.501 mph around the flat half-mile oval.
The Grand National Tour’s four-race calendar comes to a close on May 6 at the virtual Five Flags Speedway in Pensacola, Fla.
The results:
1. 42-Parker Retzlaff [1], 2. 88-Josh Berry [2], 3. 97-Leighton Sibille [9], 4. 13-Mike Christopher Jr. [3], 5. 98-Jagger Jones [27], 6. 6-Nick Sanchez [17], 7. 58-Travis Hydar [14], 8. 9b-Ryan Blanchard [12], 9. 24-Brett Moffitt [15], 10. 275-Tim Mangini [18], 11. 50-Peter Bennett [10], 12. 38-Todd Gilliland [7], 13. 07-Corey LaJoie [4], 14. 43-Garrett Smithley [24], 15. 33-Kaz Grala [[28], 16. 89-Landon Cassill [8], 17. 99s-Matt Swanson [22], 18. 56-Timmy Hill [25], 19. 03-Troy Talman [26], 20. 5-Matt Mills [20], 21. 19-Derek Kraus [23], 22. 4-Chase Cabre [6], 23. 26b-Travis Braden [11], 24. 20hb-Harrison Burton [21], 25. 74-Gio Bromante [13], 26. 43n-Bryan Narducci [5], 27. 18-Ty Gibbs [19], 28. 81-Christian Eckes [16].
Lead Changes: None
Lap Leaders: Parker Retzlaff 1-100
Laps Led: Parker Retzlaff 100
Caution Flags: Five for 26 laps
Margin of Victory: .666 seconds
Time of Race: 41 minutes, 22.716 seconds
Average Speed: 72.501 mph