PORT ROYAL, Pa. – Earlier in the week, Justin Peck made sure to watch two to three hours a day of old race footage from Pennsylvania’s Port Royal Speedway.
If the 22-year-old were to be in position to win, he needed to learn the intricacies of what he considers one of the trickiest tracks in the country.
On Saturday night, all those hours of study paid off for Peck, who set a swift pace and managed lapped traffic well enough to win the 25-lap, $4,000-to-win sprint car feature at the Port Royal half mile.
It’s Peck’s first win of the year, his first win in the Buch Motorsports No. 13, and his first sprint car win in central Pennsylvania.
He had to hold off Anthony Macri, who finished 1.316 seconds behind, to do it.
“This is my favorite track in Pennsylvania, so it’s nice to get the first [win] here,” Peck said. “I actually spent all week watching [race] film here. That’s what I pride myself on, having that mindset that thinks ahead, maybe more than the next guy in the pit area, going into the weekend.”
On the initial start, pole-sitter Dylan Cisney got the jump over Peck, who spun his tires and fell behind early. But a caution for Lance Dewease and Pat Cannon battling for eighth, before the first lap could be completed, forced a second try.
That’s when, on the second attempt at the start, Peck corrected himself to set up the go-ahead pass around Cisney. Peck sagged off Cisney going into turn one to jump off the cushion and set up the crossover out of turn two.
“That’s what I was able to do,” Peck said. “I felt I was so good out in clean air.”
Peck raced to a two-second lead, but when he caught lapped traffic, Cisney cut the margin in half as Peck struggled to make quick work of slower cars.
“I wasn’t getting through lapped traffic like I needed to,” Peck said. “I wasn’t picking and choosing my lines correctly when I got to them. I didn’t think too far ahead.”
A lap-eight caution for Jason Shultz bailed Peck out of the situation and he extended his lead to two seconds shortly after the final restart.
But over the final eight laps, that advantage evaporated and things got dicey in traffic, this time with the track’s winningest driver from a year ago in Macri applying pressure.
Twice in the closing laps, Peck made the gutsy move to pass lapped cars on the inside in turns one and two – usually the place for a huge run around the top, where Macri excels.
But Peck never faltered and hit his marks smoothly, just as he learned in those hours of film study.
“As long as I hit it with my left side I knew I would get a good launch down the backstretch,” Peck said of leaving the top in turns one and two to navigate lapped traffic. “That was key because [Macri] probably would’ve gotten that run.”
Macri, meanwhile, hustled around the top and pulled alongside Peck several times, but couldn’t complete the go-ahead pass.
It’s a confidence booster for Peck, who’s gearing up for his first full run with the All Star Circuit of Champions in just two weeks.
“It’s good to feel like I know how to win races,” Peck said. “I feel like I’ve had the same speed about everywhere we went with the exception of [Port Royal] last week. … With the All Star [Circuit of Champions tour] coming up, it’s nice to be able to know how to win races. In this game, confidence is everything.
“To have that mindset going into it, it will pay dividends later on,” he added.
Macri and Logan Wagner finished on the podium. Cisney settled for fourth, while Mike Wagner crossed the finish line in fifth.
Blane Heimbach, Ryan Taylor, 20th-starting George Hobaugh, Jeff Halligan, and Mike Walter II rounded out the top 10.
Dewease couldn’t get his No. 69K fixed after the lap-one wreck and finished 24th.
The finish:
1. 13-Justin Peck, 2. 39m-Anthony Macri, 3. 1-Logan Wagner, 4. 5-Dylan Cisney, 5. 55-Mike Wagner, 6. 12-Blane Heimbach, 7. 20-Ryan Taylor, 8. 40-George Hobaugh, 9. 45-Jeff Halligan, 10. 33w-Mike Walter II, 11. 33-Gerard McIntyre, 12. 67-Justin Whittal, 13. 98-Jared Esh, 14. 14t-Tyler Walton, 15. 24-Kerry Madsen, 16. 2-A.J. Flick, 17. 19-Curt Stroup, 18. 55k-Robbie Kendall, 19. 29-Michael Bauer, 20. 07-Lucas Wolfe, 21. 35s-Jason Shultz, 22. 35-Tyler Reeser, 23. 23-Pat Cannon, 24. 69k-Lance Dewease.