CASA GRANDE, Ariz. — It was only a matter of time until Tanner Thorson and Rod Gross Motorsports collected their first Interstate Batteries High Limit Racing win of the season. It came Friday night at Central Arizona Raceway.
After an outstanding start to the season, highlighted by finishes of fifth, fourth, second and second, which propelled him to the early championship lead, the Minden, Nevada broke through for his first victory on night two of the Cactus Classic presented by Avanit Windows & Doors.
Starting third in Friday’s 25-lapper, Thorson had his hands full with Rico Abreu in the opening stages while Aaron Reutzel drove off with the advantage. Once Abreu was fended off and lap traffic became a factor, Thorson immediately roped in Reutzel and cleared him with a slider by Lap 8.
Although he would not relinquish the lead for the rest of the race, fans were treated to a sensational battle as Reutzel, Abreu, and Courtney closely chased him through an intense bout of traffic at the Casa Grande, Arizona oval.
It appeared as if a thrilling three-way battle was set to decide things on the final lap before James McFadden brought out the caution and created a green-white-checkered ending.
From there, the Rod Gross Motorsports No. 88 was able to handle the restarts with ease and earned his first ticket to Whiskey Myers Victory Lane this season. He became the 11th driver to reach three High Limit Racing wins and became the fifth different winner in five races this season.
Aaron Reutzel settled for a second-place finish after leading the opening seven laps on Friday. It was a strong bounce back for the Ridge & Sons Racing No. 87 team after a flip on Thursday night saw them relinquish the points lead to Thorson.
Pulling a last-lap pass on Tyler Courtney, Rico Abreu was able to steal the final podium position in his Tony Stewart/Curb-Agajanian Racing, Carquest No. 24. The defending High Limit champion has yet to finish worse than seventh through the opening five nights into his partnership with TSR.
The finish:
Feature (25 Laps): 1. 88-Tanner Thorson[3]; 2. 87-Aaron Reutzel[1]; 3. 24-Rico Abreu[2]; 4. 7BC-Tyler Courtney[4]; 5. W-Brad Sweet[15]; 6. 55-Kerry Madsen[6]; 7. 77-Giovanni Scelzi[5]; 8. 87X-Logan Seavey[10]; 9. 26-Justin Peck[16]; 10. 88N-DJ Netto[13]; 11. 10-Ryan Timms[7]; 12. 5-Brenham Crouch[12]; 13. 19-Brent Marks[8]; 14. 17GP-Hank Davis[19]; 15. 6-JJ Hickle[24]; 16. 13-Tanner Holmes[9]; 17. 24D-Danny Sams III[14]; 18. 21-James McFadden[18]; 19. 42-Sye Lynch[23]; 20. 19JR-Joel Myers Jr[17]; 21. 21P-Robbie Price[22]; 22. 21B-Brian Brown[11]; 23. 9R-Chase Randall[21]; 24. 9-Daison Pursley[20]