ALGER, Wash. — It’s safe to say that Rico Abreu, Ricky Warner, Zack Middlebrooks and Brady Forbrook have Skagit Speedway figured out.
The No. 24 team is the undisputed team to beat when they roll in the gates at the Burlington, Washington oval right now — having won three-in-a-row and four of their last six at the track after they took Thursday’s opening night of the Skagit Nationals.
Coming from the seventh starting spot for his seventh win of the year, Abreu had to work even harder than originally planned as he was sitting 10th when the first restart fired off on Lap 5.
Charging to his 14th overall win of the season, Abreu’s machine came to life in the later stages of the race and he really turned up the wick past halfway.
On Lap 16, he was running fifth. He was fourth the next lap, then thirrd the lap after that. It only took another three laps to fly into second. Then he romped his way to the lead by Lap 26 and never looked back.
Abreu’s 19th career win with Kubota High Limit Racing stretches his advantage as the winningest driver in series history.
A strong performance from start-to-finish also gave him 486 points in the Skagit Nationals format, making him the early high point man after the first of two preliminary programs.
He’s on the hunt for one of the four coveted lock-in positions to Saturday’s dash in the $126,000-to-win finale.
After leading laps 15-25, Justin Peck came home with a runner-up finish aboard the Rudeen Racing, Rayce Rudeen Foundation No. 26 in a home race for the team owned by track promoter Kevin Rudeen.
Rounding out the podium was local star Colton Heath from down the road in Marysville, Washington. Driving Mike Brown’s No. 1c, Heath led the opening 14 laps on Thursday and gave both Peck and Abreu a challenge as they passed him. He still held on for a career-best podium finish with Kubota High Limit Racing.
After a heat race crash forced him to the B Main, Justin Sanders salvaged his night with a big 21st-to-sixth charge in the feature. That success, coupled with Brad Sweet’s struggles, allowed the Ridge & Sons Racing No. 87 to reclaim the championship lead by a single-point over the Kasey Kahne Racing No. 49.
The finish:
Feature (30 Laps): 1. 24-Rico Abreu[7]; 2. 26-Justin Peck[4]; 3. 1C-Colton Heath[1]; 4. 88-Tanner Thorson[3]; 5. 13-Daison Pursley[8]; 6. 87-Justin Sanders[21]; 7. 18T-Tanner Holmes[13]; 8. 45-Cory Eliason[6]; 9. 7O-Colin Mackey[9]; 10. 55XL-Dominic Scelzi[11]; 11. 2XM-Max Mittry[5]; 12. 14-Daryn Pittman[17]; 13. 9-Chase Randall[15]; 14. 7BC-Giovanni Scelzi[20]; 15. 19-Brent Marks[24]; 16. 42-Sye Lynch[14]; 17. 49-Brad Sweet[23]; 18. 24D-Danny Sams III[10]; 19. 5-Brenham Crouch[12]; 20. 18-Jason Solwold[2]; 21. 95-Justin Youngquist[16]; 22. 21P-Robbie Price[19]; 23. 13L-Tyler Thompson[22]; 24. 26F-Eric Fisher[18]
