Chase Cabre claimed his second win of the season in the Interstate Batteries Monday Night Racing Pro Series event at Richmond Raceway Jan. 9.
He started from the pole and stayed up front much of the race, ahead of all the mayhem in the second half. No one could challenge him on the final restarts.
Cabre is now locked into the second round of the playoffs after taking the checkered flag in the Emergent VR 150.
Two GWCs and some strong runnin' later, Chase Cabre survives the #EmergentVR150 at @RichmondRaceway to punch his ticket into the #MNRPlayoffs Round of 8
Ride along with Cabre to his 2nd-ever victory@Emergent_VR | @MonNightRacing | @interstatebatts | @nextlvlracing pic.twitter.com/HPqu9Di6Ir
— Podium Sports (@PodiumeSports) January 10, 2023
Fellow playoff contender Corey Heim finished second, while Anthony Alfredo, who had internet trouble for several weeks, placed third. Collin Fern and Adam Cabot, also in the playoffs, rounded out the top five.
The next three spots were also claimed by those battling for the title: Matt Stallknecht was sixth, Leighton Sibille was seventh and Ryan Vargas finished eighth. Will Rodgers and Max Kennon completed the top 10.
Other playoff drivers were Joey Padgett in 13th, Garrett Smithley 15th, Nick Olsen 17th, Presley Sorah in 26th and David Schildhouse in 35th.
Tonight’s Action
The first 60 laps were relatively clean, as no caution flags waved for the Super Late Models on the 0.75-mile Virginia track. This was likely because there are no more fast repairs, a rule change after last week’s wild event at Talladega Superspeedway.
Cabre began on the pole alongside Alfredo, though Alfredo lost positions at the start on the outside. Meanwhile, Schildhouse began the race on pit road and went a lap down after not making a qualifying lap.
Back at the front, Cabre, Vargas, Sorah and Cabot all dueled among themselves for the first four spots.
As the race cooled down and the action intensified, cars started battling closer together thanks to more grip on the tires. As a result, some cars got into each other, bringing out the cautions. The first one came around lap 63 for Brandon Brown, who was turned off the nose of Stallknecht and down into Justin Melillo.
Much of the leaders pitted during this yellow, with Padgett making up several spots with his two-tire pit stop.
There were also some trouble on pit road, as Smithley and Reid Wilson crashed after Steve Auffant couldn’t find his pit box. Vargas and Heim sped on pit lane, sending them to the back.
From here on, the cautions became more frequent and involved some playoff drivers, starting with the next restart. Seth Eggert had slowed up for some reason and Heim ran into him, sending Eggert around into another car.
Shortly after the next restart, Sibille was caught up in a bigger crash that saw Ronnie Osmer get up in the air. Rajah Caruth was deemed to have caused this incident and had to drop to the tail end of the line.
After a longer green-flag run, the caution came out once again with about 47 laps left. Gary Sexton got into Schildhouse, who was back on the lead lap, and sent him around. Smithley and George Balfanz Jr. were also involved, and in the chaos, Schildhouse’s car flew up into the catchfence. Somehow Schildhouse was still running after this, but he decided to get some repairs done and went several laps down by the end of the night.
After another caution and restart, Cabre and Alfredo passed Cabot for first and second place with about 36 laps left. A few laps later, Padgett got turned around, while others further in the pack also turned while trying to slow up for the wreck ahead. Padgett was deemed at fault for the incident, as he attempted to go three wide on the three-quarter mile track.
Sorah, who stayed out earlier, decided to pit while running in the top 10.
Restart came with about 25 laps left, but it was short-lived, as the yellow-flag waved once again a few laps later.
In fact, the rest of the race saw several cautions and wrecks, including one with about six laps remaining involving Bailey Turner, Robby Lyons, DJ Cummings, Brett Baldeck and others. Another car flipped during this crash.
Then, just before the white flag, another big wreck occurred, with Vargas and Olsen getting caught up in this one.
However, Cabre survived and sailed to victory at Richmond.
Next week, the ARCA Menards Series cars will head to the legacy version of Daytona International Speedway. Coverage will run Monday, Jan. 16 at 8 p.m. ET on Podium eSports’ Twitch or Frontstretch’s YouTube channel.
About the author
Joy joined Frontstretch in 2019 as a NASCAR DraftKings writer, expanding to news and iRacing coverage in 2020. She's currently an assistant editor and involved with photos, social media and news editing. A California native, Joy was raised watching motorsports and started watching NASCAR extensively in 2001. She earned her B.A. degree in Liberal Studies at California State University Bakersfield in 2010.
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