MENOMONIE, Wis. — It might as well be rebranded Rico’s Roto-Rooter Midweek Series considering Rico Abreu’s domination of the mini-series.
The fan favorite made it three-for-three with the Roto-Rooter Midweek Series on Wednesday night, beating Kyle Larson in a thrilling race that resulted in a photo finish at Red Cedar Speedway.
Coming from the fourth starting spot, Abreu trailed Kyle Larson and Tanner Thorson in the early running after a dramatic moment saw pole sitter Justin Peck drop out of the race when the green flag waved.
Larson quickly returned to form in Paul Silva’s No. 57 sprint car as he controlled the opening 16 laps of Wednesday’s 30-lapper.
Abreu came to life at the halfway restart as he swooped by both Larson and Thorson to steal the lead with a slider on Lap 16.
From there, he cruised down the closing stretch until lap traffic allowed Larson to catch up and make it tight on the final lap.
In the end, the margin of victory was a narrow 0.133 seconds between Abreu and Larson at the checkered flag — making Red Cedar home to the fourth-closest finish in Kubota High Limit Racing history.
In fact, the three Roto-Rooter Midweek Series events have provided the third, fourth and fifth closest finishes in history — with Abreu coming out on the winning end each time.
Larson came home with a runner-up result as Tanner Thorson rounded out the podium in third place, marking his third-career podium with Kubota High Limit Racing in the Rod Gross Motorsports No. 88.
The finish:
Feature (30 Laps): 1. 24-Rico Abreu[4]; 2. 57-Kyle Larson[2]; 3. 88-Tanner Thorson[3]; 4. 87-Aaron Reutzel[7]; 5. 49-Brad Sweet[12]; 6. 19-Brent Marks[10]; 7. 14-Spencer Bayston[15]; 8. 13-Daison Pursley[5]; 9. 7BC-Tyler Courtney[18]; 10. 9R-Chase Randall[6]; 11. 88W-Austin McCarl[11]; 12. 9-Kasey Kahne[9]; 13. 3-Ayrton Gennetten[8]; 14. 14BC-Corey Day[20]; 15. 39M-Anthony Macri[13]; 16. 24D-Danny Sams III[16]; 17. 5-Brenham Crouch[17]; 18. 19H-Joel Myers Jr[21]; 19. 74N-Luke Nellis[23]; 20. 42-Sye Lynch[14]; 21. 4-Jeremy Snow[24]; 22. 87A-Austin Hartmann[22]; 23. 16C-Max Guilford[19]; 24. 26-Justin Peck[1]
