DRESDEN, Ohio – A third-place run Thursday night at Muskingum County Speedway after starting on the front row helped Aaron Reutzel further pad his Cometic Gasket Ohio Sprint Speedweek point lead.
Reutzel, the pilot of the familiar Folken Brothers Trucking No. 87 for Baughman/Reutzel Motorsports, has a 26-point edge over Cale Conley and the Ravici Racing No. 3c with three rounds remaining.
After Reutzel finished third and Conley was eighth at Muskingum, the margin between the two drivers expanded by 10 points – a difference of two points per position on the race track.
Reutzel leads Conley 862 to 836 in the numerical tally.
Paul McMahan (798) is third in Ohio Speedweek points, but a distant 64 points in arrears, leaving his title hopes quickly fading without at least one victory over the final three nights of the mini-series.
Cory Eliason (770) and Zeb Wise (736) are fourth and fifth in Ohio Speedweek points, respectively.
Josh Baughman is sixth with 734 points, just two behind Wise for a top-five spot, followed by Skylar Gee (730), Greg Wilson (726), Tim Shaffer (722) and Stuart Brubaker (656).
Adding Gerard McIntyre and Jordan Ryan, 12 drivers have competed in all six nights of Ohio Sprint Speedweek to this point.
Cometic Gasket Ohio Sprint Speedweek continues Friday night with the running of the $15,554-to-win Dean Knittel Memorial at Portsmouth Raceway Park. It’s the richest race of Ohio Sprint Speedweek.
Gates open at 3 p.m. and hot laps kick off at 6:30 p.m.