NOAPS Race Recap: United Rentals Driven to Serve 250

The United Rentals Driven to Serve 250 at Naval Station Coronado was a test of patience and longevity. Brent Crews and Parker Retzlaff started the race on the front row. Anthony Alfredo and Austin Hill started behind them. Last week’s winner, Justin Allgaier, started back in 16th. The stage lengths were 15 laps for the first two stages, with the final stage being 30 laps.

Bad DAY for a Manhole Cover

Crews got a great start and took the lead through turns one and two. He pulled away from Retzlaff and Alfredo by over half a second. Before the field could complete a lap, the caution came out after Corey Day ran over a manhole cover and began to leak fluids.

NASCAR displayed the red flag to allow for the track to be fixed. The crew of Day was allowed to repair his car under the red flag. The stoppage lasted about 30 minutes.

Day was four laps down after the caution and red flag. NASCAR allowed him to get back on the lead lap with the incident being track-related.

Crews and Retzlaff got the race restarted with five to go in the stage. Crews retook the lead after a great effort from Retzlaff. Hill and Sam Mayer got around Alfredo, who fell to fifth.

Hill continued his ascent, passing Retzlaff to take the runner-up position. He was a second and a half behind Crews.

Crews picked up a huge piece of debris on his front bumper. He had to pit to get the debris off, which allowed Hill to take the lead.

Day also pitted before the stage end. Then, he got a penalty after speeding on pit road.

Hill went on to win stage one in the United Rentals Driven to Serve 250! Retzlaff, Sam Mayer, Alfredo, and Carson Kvapil finished the stage in the top five.

Stage 2

Hill and Kvapil restarted the race on the front row. Hill was quick to retake the lead. Sammy Smith tried to take second, but could not complete the pass on his teammate in Kvapil. Austin Green watched that settle down in fourth.

Crews, who restarted in 10th, began to work his way back to the front. He passed his way to sixth before they finished the opening lap of the stage. Crews then got around Harrison Burton to get to the top five. He did not stop there. He got by Green and then Smith to get onto the podium.

Smith spun around and fell to seventh. He then got turned around again after contact with Sheldon Creed.

Baltazar Leguizamon got loose and into the side of Allgaier, who was turned around.

Lavar Scott had mechanical issues and stopped on the track, which brought out another caution.

Taylor Gray joined Retzlaff on the front row for the restart with five to go in the stage. Retzlaff stayed alongside Gray through turns one and two. Gray took the lead out of turn four. Alfredo tried to take second, but could not get around for the spot.

Allgaier spun around again, falling to the rear of the field.

Rajah Caruth wheel-hopped and spun around. He got his car turned back around and kept it going.

Ryan Ellis had mechanical issues while running in the top five.

Gray and Retzlaff battled for the stage win. Retzlaff got into the wall, which allowed Gray to scamper away to the green-white-checkered flag in stage two of the United Rentals Driven to Serve 250!

Another Red Flag

Gray and Retzlaff got stage three started off from the front row. Retzlaff got a great restart and was able to take the lead.

The fifth caution came out when Day was turned around by Dean Thompson. Day had damage to his right front bumper.

The green flag came back out with Gray and Retzlaff on the front row. Retzlaff struggled off the line, which allowed Gray to take the lead. The sixth caution came out after a huge wreck as the field was getting back up to speed.  Sam Mayer got into the inside wall and shot across the track into the outside wall. The trailing cars had nowhere to go, and a lot of cars wrecked.

NASCAR displayed the red flag to allow for cleanup and track repair. The cars involved in the crash were Alex Labbe, Sheldon Creed, Jesse Love, Justin Allgaier, Sammy Smith, William Sawalich, Brent Crews, Brandon Jones, Austin Hill, Harrison Burton, Dean Thompson, Jeb Burton, Blaine Perkins, Andrew Patterson, Ryan Seig, Sam Mayer, Brennan Poole, Preston Pardus, Jeremy Clements, Brad Perez, Austin Green, Leland Honeyman, and Anthony Alfredo.

24 to go

Gray and Retzlaff took the green flag with 24 to go in the United Rentals Driven to Serve 250. Retzlaff drove out in front to take the lead. Gray tried to stay on the rear bumper of the leader, but could not.

Carson Kvapil caught Gray and challenged for the spot. He took his time and waited for the opportunity. He pulled alongside Gray and snagged the spot. Kvapil was faster than Retzlaff and quickly caught him to fight for the lead.

Kvapil took the lead with 21 to go.

Gray made his final scheduled pit stop with 20 to go.

Leland Honeyman spun into a tire barrier in the Coronado Chicane. That brought out the seventh caution, as NASCAR needed to put the barrier back in place.

Blaine Perkins joined Gray on the front row for the restart. Gray was able to take the lead into turn one. Hill took second as Perkins played the turn very conservatively.

Kvapil battled Hill for second, but could not gain any ground. He was finally able to outbrake Hill and take the position.

Kvapil used his clean air to set the fastest lap of the race and get closer to Gray out front. Gray raced defensively to hold off the faster car behind him. With 14 to go, Kvapil was finally able to drive to the inside and pass Gray for the lead.

On lap 50, Jesse Iwuji made a mistake and drove into a set of tire barriers in turn two. He had damage that threw debris onto the track, forcing NASCAR to throw the eighth caution of the afternoon.

Hill Pulls from Within

Kvapil, Gray, Hill, and Creed were the top four on the restart. Kvapil quickly took his lead back. He pulled away from Gray by over half a second.

Brandon Jones turned around and backed into the tire barrier, but was able to scamper away with minimal damage.

Alex Labbe pulled behind a tire barrier after getting off course.

Hill stayed on the rear bumper of Gray, but was unable to get alongside him.

Brennan Poole got into the wall. He got damage in the incident, but was able to drive off with debris hanging off his car.

Gray slowly began to close the gap a bit. He caught up to Kvapil and started to plan his pass. Gray was able to get next to Kvapil, and they raced side by side. Gray got into Kvapil as they raced hard for the spot, and Kvapil was sent into the tire barrier. Taylor Gray used all of the room Kvapil gave him, and then some.

Gray pulled away with the lead, and Hill was trailing him in second. He began to race defensively to hold onto the lead. Gray took the white flag in the lead. In turn three, Hill drove to the inside of Gray and ran away with the lead. Gray could not close the gap.

Austin Hill took it home to win the United Rentals Driven to Serve 250! Gray, Creed, Kvapil, and Smith rounded out the top five at Naval Base Coronado.

Marvin’s Minute:

The first win for Richard Childress Racing since the passing of Kyle Busch meant a lot to Austin Hill. He did burnouts around the painted number eight in remembrance of the legend. The leaders raced hard and impressed me. Taylor Gray may have taken a bit more room than he should have, but it was hard racing for the inaugural win at the new track. I am sure Kvapil was not too thrilled with it, but I am not upset at the move. The only problem is that he made the move and did not win the race.

I thought the racing was great. Some of it was clean, while some of it reflected the difficulty of the new and narrow track. However, I am not sure NASCAR should do it again. Let the novelty of it stay. We do not need to overkill every good thing we do. Let it be.

Tune in next week as the series goes to the rolling hills of Sonoma Raceway!