PLYMOUTH, Ind. — Scoring his first Ollie’s Bargain Outlet All Star Circuit of Champions presented by Mobil 1 triumph since Ohio Sprint Speedweek competition at Fremont Speedway on July 5, Aaron Reutzel marched to victory Saturday night at Plymouth Speedway.
Reutzel led the final 32 laps in the 35-lap event, holding off Tony Stewart for the $5,000 triumph.
Starting outside the front row, Reutzel survived a slide job battle with fellow front row starter Hunter Schuerenberg, only to find himself in a constant mix of slower traffic for the remainder of the 35-lapper.
Despite Schuerenberg’s early attempts, and some hints of pressure from Tony Stewart/Curb-Agajanian Racing, Reutzel maintained in control, now on top of the 2020 All Star championship points battle by 84 markers.
Stewart held on to finish second, followed by Schuerenberg, a hard-charging Justin Peck and Shane Stewart.
“That was the longest I’ve ever gone without winning in the last five or so years. Someone had to draw a map for me to even get down to victory lane,” said Reutzel. “We’ve had a lot of bad luck. Some of it was self inflicted, some of it not. It’s not from a lack of effort, I can sure tell you that. We try as hard as we can every single night and I think that’s why you see us get frustrated with each other because we are trying so hard.
Despite the initial four circuits consisting of a turn-to-turn battle with pole sitter Hunter Schuerenberg, actually exchanging the lead nearly every corner with Schuerenberg leading laps one and three and Reutzel leading laps two and four, the only other sense of pressure for Reutzel came in the form of Tony Stewart.
Stewart, who started fifth on the feature grid, powered his way to second on lap four, next setting his aim on the tail tank of Aaron Reutzel. By lap 17, Reutzel was beginning to escape through the tail of the field, first utilizing a caution flag on lap 10 to build momentum through clean air.
A caution on lap 29 would give Stewart one final chance to sneak by the familiar No. 87, but it was too late.
“Tonight we came in here with some confidence, especially since we haven’t lost here as an All Star,” Reutzel continued. “This is a track that really fits my driving style. It gets wide and the harder you run through the corners, the more speed you can make up. You don’t get that with a lot of tracks. This is definitely a one-of-a-kind racetrack and I really enjoy coming (Plymouth Speedway).”
The finish:
Feature (35 Laps): 1. 87-Aaron Reutzel [2]; 2. 14-Tony Stewart [5]; 3. 55-Hunter Schuerenberg [1]; 4. 13-Justin Peck [14]; 5. 71-Shane Stewart [4]; 6. 7BC-Tyler Courtney [7]; 7. 11-Zeb Wise [10]; 8. 99-Skylar Gee [6]; 9. 17-Ian Madsen [3]; 10. 26-Cory Eliason [11]; 11. 22M-Dan McCarron [8]; 12. 8M-TJ Michael [15]; 13. 21-Brinton Marvel [22]; 14. 5R-Ryan Ruhl [23]; 15. 21N-Frankie Nervo [19]; 16. 14W-Chad Wilson [18]; 17. 18S-Micheal Summers [21]; 18. 27K-Zab Broughman [24]; 19. 10S-Jay Steinebach [20]; 20. 16C-Chase Ridenour [16]; 21. W20-Greg Wilson [17]; 22. O2-Brandon Long [12]; 23. 23-Cole Macedo [9]; 24. O7-Gerard McIntyre [13] Lap Leaders: Hunter Schuerenberg (1), Aaron Reutzel (2), Hunter Schuerenberg (3), Aaron Reutzel (4-35)