ATTICA, Ohio — Craig Mintz doesn’t race as much as he used to but when he does, the Gibsonburg, Ohio, driver is a force to be reckoned with and he proved it Friday to kick off the 44th Annual Overwatch Precision Ohio Sprint Speedweek at Attica Raceway Park.
Mintz, a two-time Attica 410 sprint track champion, drove under Parker Price Miller on lap 15 and navigated through traffic for his third career NAPA Auto Parts All Star Circuit of Champions Presented by Valvoline Oil victory and his 18th career win at Attica. It’s Mintz’s first series win since 2023.
Cap Henry, a three-time winner at Attica in 2026, jumped into the early lead over Australian driver Ryan Newton, Zeth Sabo, Price Miller and Kalib Henry. When the leaders encountered lapped traffic by lap 11, Newton closed on Henry just prior to a caution flying on lap 14. On the ensuing restart, Henry and Newton exchanged sliders in turns one and two and again in turns three and four, but while exiting turn four Henry’s slider collected Newton and both spun with Newton’s car damaged and Henry went to the work area.
Price Miller inherited the lead, but on the next lap Mintz, who started seventh, drove under the Kokomo, Indiana driver’s machine and into the lead. Mintz drove away for the victory over Price Miller, Sabo, who had to battle the last half of the race with Gauge Garcia, who came home fourth and 21st starter Danny Dietrich rounding out the top five.
“The last 10 laps I was bleeding…I couldn’t get around the lapped cars and they were taking the air off the nose and I couldn’t roll the middle. Luckily when I showed my nose to those guys…minus one of them…they didn’t race me back. My guys still believe in me. I’m getting older and not racing as much,” said Mintz.
For Price Miller the night showed improvements for the Indy Race team after struggling at Attica last month.
“Craig was really good. We came here about a month ago and we were way to aggressive and way too tight. We were a bit timid on what to do to the car and we were a bit free,” said Price Miller.
After dropping back a little early, Zeth Sabo powered back and regained third on the white flag lap and finished on the podium.
“I was screwing up entering turn one. I just needed to be up on it and in it and I wasn’t doing it. The past couple of weeks my guys have busted their butts and turned this thing around and I can’t thank Rich and Shelly Farmer and all my guys enough for what they do for me,” said Sabo.
Todd Brennan led the first 16 laps of the UMP late model feature before five-time track champion Devin Shiels was able to get his nose under for the lead. Shiels powered away for his second victory of the year at Attica and his 23rd career win at the track. Brennan, Mike Bores, Cody Scott and Gregg Haskell rounded out the top five.
The finish:
Feature (35 Laps): 1. 09-Craig Mintz[7]; 2. 71-Parker Price Miller[4]; 3. 29Z-Zeth Sabo[2]; 4. 16-Gauge Garcia[12]; 5. 1-Nate Dussel[16]; 6. 48-Danny Dietrich[21]; 7. 101-Kalib Henry[5]; 8. 3-DJ Foos[11]; 9. 27H-Bryce Lucius[18]; 10. W20-Greg Wilson[14]; 11. 15K-Creed Kemenah[23]; 12. 01-Tim Shaffer[20]; 13. 33W-Cap Henry[1]; 14. 5-Kody Brewer[13]; 15. 5AU-Brock Hallett[19]; 16. 49X-Cale Thomas[22]; 17. 19-TJ Michael[8]; 18. 15C-Chris Andrews[17]; 19. 44-Aiden Price[15]; 20. 25R-Jordan Ryan[24]; 21. 14-Zane DeVault[9]; 22. 38-Leyton Wagner[25]; 23. 11N-Darin Naida[6]; 24. 66-Ryan Newton[3]; 25. 28N-Trey Jacobs[10]
