ATTICA, Ohio — It was a veteran move by 48-year-old Byron Reed.
Stalk the young driver and use lapped cars to make your move. Reed passed Cole Macedo in the last corner of the last lap to score his 43rd career 410 sprint victory at Attica Raceway Park Friday night.
It was Reed’s first victory at the third-mile track since 2019.
“In that situation it’s always better to be in second,” Reed said. “There wasn’t many cars here tonight…usually in the feature lapped traffic comes into play but I really wasn’t sure with this few of cars. Right at the end there was just enough lapped traffic…it got to where the lapped cars were going good around the bottom. They were almost the same speed as I was running the top. I think he abandoned the top probably feeling the same way and he got kind of blocked a little bit and I went where he wasn’t,” said Reed.
Big picture for Macedo though, as he came into the night leading the Attica points and a second place run on Mid-Season Championship Night pads his lead. He also is in contention for the All-Pro Aluminum Cylinder Heads/Kistler Racing Products 410 Attica Fremont Championship Series Presented by the Baumann Auto Group.
Doug Drown needed a change of luck. So, he changed his late model’s number to 777, the number his grandfather and dad carried. It worked as the former Attica champion drove to his 29th career late model victory.
“I never carried that family thing on and our season has been crap since Florida. It’s been a struggle. We bought this car off Matt Irey a couple of months ago and I have it for Charlie Duncan to drive and he said basically just go ahead and put 777 on it and maybe we’ll change our luck and sure enough it worked,” said Drown beside his Ely Road Reel, Joyride Transport, 89 Homes, ABR Farms, Wooster Glass, Malcuit Racing Engines backed machine.
“I really wasn’t pushing it too hard…I didn’t know how hard I could even push this thing. When we had that purple Swartz car we pretty much dominated here. We put that same set-up on this thing and obviously it got the job done. My guys worked their tails off because we actually didn’t decide to race this. I sold my Rocket on Wednesday and everybody had late nights on Thursday and today all day. So my Uncle Scott, Charlie, Danny, DJ Miller, my dad, Marvin…definitely happy for everyone that helps us,” added Drown.
Jamie Miller knew he had a good car at the drop of the green flag for the Fremont Fence 305 Sprint feature. Miller, a two time Attica champion, charged from eighth to third on the opening lap utilizing the extreme high line and took the lead on lap three. Though five time track champion Paul Weaver drove from 11th top second and closed the final two laps, Miller was too strong and scored his third victory of the season and the 30th of his career at Attica.
Miller’s win coupled with Weaver’s second place finish tightens up the battle for title of the NAPA of Bryan 305 AFCS Presented by Jason Dietsch Trailer Sales. And with double points on the line, Miller pads his advantage in the track’s points as well.