Cindric makes wild run to second place
ELKHART LAKE – For two amazing laps Saturday, Austin Cindric looked like Superman at Road America.
Team Penske gambled on strategy on a late caution in the CTech Manufacturing 180, having him give up third place to pit for fresh tires and a chance to win. He would have two laps – 8 miles – to climb from 18th in what was bound to be craziness, as the end of a NASCAR road race typically is.
Cindric came within one position and 1.891 seconds of making it work.
“The funny thing is a lot of them just ended up overdriving and getting out of your way,” Cindric said. “Half of the cars I passed just missed the corners.
“It was fun, but it would have been a little more fun if we'd have beat (Christopher Bell).”
The outcome was the opposite of the Xfinity Series season's two previous road races. Cindric beat Bell at Watkins Glen International for his first victory and again at the Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course. This time Bell picked up his first road-course win.
Among those who made Cindric's run easier was Matt DiBenedetto. DiBenedetto led twice for a race-high 18 of the 45 laps but fell out of the top five in his final pit stop. He took the final restart in seventh and clawed his way to second but then missed Turn 14 on the last lap and ran through the gravel trap and into the tire barrier.
DiBenedetto called the mistake, “just dumb” and the biggest “rookie” mistake of his career.
“I was probably four car lengths behind him and it looked like he overdrove it, wheel-hopped into the final corner, hit the bump wrong or I don't know … (and) he got loose and spun off the racetrack,” Cindric said. “I thought I was maybe going to be able to have a run for him. Maybe get a good drive off and maybe side-draft him up the hill. Unfortunate for him, I guess.”
Bell's crew chief, Jason Ratcliff, could barely believe the scoring monitor when Cindric came across the line in second.
“He's really good at this, and I knew the tires would be beneficial, but to make it as far as he did, I was surprised,” Ratcliff said. “Hat's off to him. Because we had clean racetrack, I knew Christopher would be able to stretch it a little bit even though he was on old tires. But new tires are definitely worth something.”
Wisconsin watch
Nic Hammann of Elkhart Lake, racing an Xfinity car for the first time in two years, finished 15th, giving owner Mike Harmon's Chevrolet its best result of the year.
Josh Bilicki of Richfield, the most experienced driver at Road America in the field and the series' only regular from Wisconsin, finished 20th after losing a handful of positions when he ran off track in Turn 8 late in the race.
Westby native Dexter Bean finished 32nd, last among those running.
Dick Karth, a 66-year-old vintage racer from Grafton making his series debut, stayed on the lead lap through the first stage before turning the car over to Timmy Hill. Karth gets credit for their 30th-place finish.
Numbers game
Bell wasn't the only one to pick up his first road-course victory. So did Ratcliff.
His first 52 Xfinity Series wins came on oval tracks. Ratcliff also is a 15-time winner in the Cup Series, 14 of those coming with Matt Kenseth, the 2003 champion from Cambridge.
Francis on cruise control
Two-time defending champion Ernie Francis Jr. couldn't push his Ford Mustang around Chris Dyson's in traffic but found a clear path to victory in the Ryan Companies Road America Classic when a Dyson spun in Turn 5.
With Dyson out of the way Francis dominated for his third victory in the past five races. He finished second to Dyson in the two others.
“It was a real good race between Chris and I,” Francis said. “We were going back and forth with the fastest lap. … Then, coming into the brake zone for Turn 5, he got a little too much wheel hop into it, and I was able to go around.”
Dyson started on the pole and led the first 10 of 25 laps before a tire puncture led to his spin. He subsequently lost his brakes going into Turn 5 and grazed the wall to prevent a multiple-car wreck.
Boris Said finished second, 35.842 seconds back, as he struggled with gearbox problems. Cliff Ebben, the 67-year-old 2016 winner from Appleton, was third.
Tim Kezman of Franksville won the SGT class in an Audi R8 for his second victory in three starts this season. Jeff Courtney, the only entrant in GT, finished 22nd overall in a Maserati GT4.
A comfortable margin for Matos
Rafa Matos led from flag to flag in his Chevrolet Camaro and beat championship leader Marc Miller by 6.751 seconds in the 24-lap TA2 race that started the day's action.
Two Xfinity drivers competed. Brandon Jones finished fifth, and Justin Haley dropped out with a misfire. Redemption
Penalties for two infractions cost Benjamin Pedersen an apparent win Friday, but the 20-year-old Dane atoned with an impressive 6.934-second victory in the second half of the weekend doubleheader. Dakota Dickerson's runner-up finish allowed him to win the championship in the open-wheel steppingstone series.