Author: Nathaniel Campbell

LAS VEGAS: Hamilton wins as chaos ensues behind

LAS VEGAS, N.V. — Noah Hamilton leads 22 laps and secures his first victory at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.

Last night saw the 14th round of the 2024 ARCA series at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. 26 drivers would fill out the grid for 100 laps as the sun set in the distance.

Qualifying would see the #42 Nishil Condoor guide his Chevrolet Camaro to pole position with a 31.211, which would end up beating #17 Thomas Villano’s 31.245 putting the point leader in 2nd. Aiden Schramm would start 3rd in the 14 car and would end up leading the most laps with 48 in total.

The green flag would fly as Nishil Condoor would lose the lead early to Aiden Schramm, the race would continue until lap 11 where a yellow flag saw an incident including Mason Hoeffner and Caleb Tipton. This incident would kick off a slue of cautions throughout the first half of the race.

Off that restart, Nick Cordova and Joe Gibbons would end up making contact through the tri-oval which would end up collecting Sam Bennett, Garth Griswold, and Bill Martin. After a single car incident involving Ray Gill, Aiden Schramm and Stewart Harding Walker would make contact in front of the field. This incident would have the #18 Cory Mott collected in the chaos.

At the midway break Noah Hamilton would find his #2 Ford Mustang out front as another yellow flag would fly for an incident started from Gordon Fraley and Haden Higginbotham. After the break Aiden Schramm would find his way back out front.

Well on the first one it seemed that Gordon thought we we’re going to make it four wide and he quarter paneled me – this one now looks like he did the same thing.

Haden Higginbotham, #10 Missile Racing Camaro

Tempers would cool down after two quick cautions but the eventual race winner Noah Hamilton would collect front end damage, he would end up at the back of the field after pitting to repair. A five car battle out front would ensue including Nishil Condoor, Noah Hamilton, Vince Mitchell, Aiden Schramm, and Thomas Villano. Condoor would end up getting the best of the battle as Schramm and Hamilton would battle for 2nd.

However with 11 laps to go, Cory Mott would be involved in another incident where his #18 Camry would end up sliding into the outside wall and clip the #22 Garth Griswold, ending the Hollywood Motorsports driver night early.

On the restart, Thomas Villano would make an aggressive move three wide for the lead and would end up turning then leader at the time Nishil Condoor. Austin Runkel would end up having no where to go and run into the side of Condoor’s machine ending both of their nights.

In total the race would include 12 cautions and with a natural overtime including the final. Joe Wright would end up sideways as drivers came out of turn 4 for the white flag, however a caution would see them line back up and go for it once more.

Hamilton would end up pulling away on the restart as Schramm and Villano battled for 2nd. The feel good story of the night would go to Jonathan Leger as he would make a move of the year contender to pass both Schramm and Villano out of turn 4 to take 2nd place. Both of those drivers would also allow Vince Mitchell to sneak through for 3rd as they had to settle for 4th and 6th.

Thomas Villano holds onto his point lead over a race absent Jim Mott who did not start last night’s event. Top Tier driver Cory Mott who had a pretty rough night would be able to recover to a 9th place finish and catapult himself past an also absent Bob Baker in points.

When asked about winning his first race in Crown Jewel competition Noah Hamilton had this to say.

Feels pretty good, I definitely didn’t expect it that’s for sure. Coming into tonight I thought a top 5 would be a miracle, but it worked out!

Noah Hamilton, #2 Apex Motorsports Mustang

ARCA competition will be on hold next week and will return on August 11th at Irwindale for a short track showdown. Tomorrow night’s Bob Henry’s 2004 Cup action will kick off from Dover at 8:25 PM ET.

OFFICIAL: Crown Jewel adds new rule to complete races under green

CROWN JEWEL HQ — After just one race having a yellow-flag finish, Crown Jewel officials have been pressured by drivers and fans alike to add a green-white-checkered format.

This change comes off a Cory Mott Richmond win with a race totaling 11 cautions and 1 race ending yellow included in that total. This change will be effective starting at Charlotte Motor Speedway tomorrow night for the running of the Coca-Cola 300.

Reasons for the rule change from officials seems to be persuaded by a last lap incident that involved drivers Bill Martin and Stewart Harding Walker which ended the Chevy American Revolution 200 last week at Richmond. Both drivers mentioned also were docked 100 points each due to reckless driving and violation of Section 4.2.1 of the CJR Sporting Code.

Nishil Condoor driver of the #42 who dominated most of last week’s race spoke about adding the procedure initially on the broadcast had this to say.

I know in real life in 2004 they (NASCAR) implemented green-white-checkered rule in mid-July – Hopefully Cory implements the green-white-checkered rule in mid-July which is now.

Nishil Condoor, #42 Type R Honda

This rule change will see drivers having 1 attempt at a green-white-checkered (better known in today’s racing as Overtime) finish. If a race sees a caution flag with less than 4 laps to go a green-white-checkered will decided the conclusion of the event. Drivers will see 2 laps once the green flag flies, followed by the white, then checkered on the subsequent laps.

At this point in time the vote to change is unanimously favorable by drivers and fans alike, no disposition has come from either side. We will have to see tomorrow if this rule will come into effect at the conclusion of this race, but for the time being green-white-checkered finishes are here to stay.

RICHMOND: Nishil Condoor falls short, Mott takes 2nd win of 2004 Cup

RICHMOND, V.A. — Mott finds victory lane for the 2nd time this week with his 2nd win in the newly re-branded Bob Henry’s 2004 Cup Series.

Tuesday night action at Richmond kicked off at 8:30 ET where 15 drivers took the field for a 200 lap event. Qualifying saw Mott take the pole with a 22.234 and just beat out Nishil Condoor’s 22.262 for the top spot. Auto Club winner Stewart Harding Walker would start 5th with a 22.479, more on him later.

As the green flag flew, Cory Mott would start battle off the jump with Nishil Condoor who would eventually go on to lead the most laps in the night with 138 laps lead. A 6 car incident on lap 2 would bring out the first caution of the night which would include Thomas Villano, Jay Salmon, Joe Gibbons, Jim Mott, Jonathan Leger, and Gordon Fraley. The wreck would total the cars of Salmon and Fraley, who were not pleased with that wreck.

Hilarious how the guy complaining about getting wrecked wrecks 4 people in the first few laps of the race, weird way to make friends on track.

Gordon Fraley, #9 Fraley Boys Racing Dodge

Racing would get back going but the night would be filled with cautions, 11 yellow flags flew in total with a count of 47 laps under yellow. Tempers would not cool down throughout the race as the sun set and track temps dropped for the last half of the race.

A constant battle for 3rd place between Stewart Harding Walker, Joe Gibbons, and Haden Higginbotham would take place through the first half with Higginbotham showing the most speed at first. Harding Walker would eventually fall back to a lap down and Gibbons would lose time to the #10.

On lap 82 tempers would pick back up as Harding Walker was trying to get back on the lead lap, locked up tires going into turn 3 and slid up the track into Higginbotham. Justin Bell would also end up being collected in the incident along with Leeroy Sellers. Higginbotham would end up finishing 13 laps down in 9th place.

Caution wouldn’t fly again until lap 119, when leaders Nishil Condoor and Cory Mott attempting to pass lap traffic would end up making contact and going around in turn 3. The track would stay green until lap 182 where Stewart Harding Walker would find himself in another incident this time with Jonathan Leger who had lost control of his car in turn 4.

Justin Bell who had just secured a 3rd place position missed pit entry under yellow and would end up losing track position after pitting a lap later than the leaders. This mistake would put the #8 of Joe Gibbons back into the top 3 just behind Cory Mott who had just taken the lead and Nishil Condoor.

We’re gonna send it for about 13 laps – hope we put on a show here.

Cory Mott, #1 Top Tier Racing Chevy

A string of late race cautions would plague the race as Cory Mott would secure the win. Under the last restart Joe Gibbons would sneak a nose past Nishil Condoor and squeak out a 2nd place finish, as for a first this year, the race would end under caution.

Joe [Gibbons] had a great run there – and I completely missed him diving underneath me.

Nishil Condoor, #42 Type R Honda

Cameras would end up catching a glimpse of the cause for caution, where Bill Martin seemingly had a “stuck throttle” heading into turn 1. The recipient of the incident was Stewart Harding Walker, who broadcast cameras would also catch intentionally hitting Martin back down pit road. Unsure of penalties coming out of this situation, check back tomorrow for a full week penalty report from Race Control Gordon Fraley.

Mott would extend his point lead over Gibbons with the win and seemed optimistic about next week’s race at Charlotte in post race interviews. Action tonight will kick off race 20 of the Circuit Cup Series year at the Chicago Street Course. Tune in to the broadcast at 8:10 ET to watch that action.

FONTANA: Cory Mott scores second victory of the season in ARCA

FONTANA, C.A. — Cory Mott leads 19 laps en route to his 2nd win of the ARCA season.

Sunday night kicked off the 12th round of the Grand National Tour (ARCA) for the Crown Jewel Racing community. 13 drivers set the grid for a 75 lap event held at the slick and hot Auto Club Speedway in Fontana, California.

Newcomer Aiden Schramm was able to put himself on pole with a 42.435 holding off Haden Higginbotham’s 42.491. Schramm would end up leading the most laps in the race with a total of 51, but would eventually fall back to 4th by the end of the race.

Chaos started the race early on as on lap 3 Bob Baker and Jonathan Leger came into contact out of turn 4 and would have to use their fast repairs. Just 2 laps later Bill Martin would end up mowing down the outside wall and have to use his fast repair as well.

The race would stay green however until lap 9 where Gordon Fraley would attempt to make a slide job for the lead out of turn 4. He would end up getting turned off the nose of Schramm and crashed down pit road. The next caution would be on lap 14 just off a restart, where Cory Mott would end up sliding too far up in turn 1 and come into contact with Tyler Krawczyk who would also collect Ryan Taft in the incident. Both Krawczyk and Taft would end up over 50 laps down and would not be able to finish the race. After that only two more caution flags flew, one for incident and one for the halfway competition yellow.

At the break, current points leader heading into the race Thomas Villano would end up taking the lead over Schramm, but would end up dropping back in the field after pit stops. The field would go back green with Schramm in front with Haden Higginbotham back on his outside.

An underdog story of the night came from Bill Martin as he would slowly move his way up the field. Martin would start 8th and by lap 46 he found himself up to 3rd, he would hold that position to the end of the race and secure his first top 5 in the Crown Jewel community.

I’m still trying to learn – This is a good confidence booster for me and hopefully I can improve throughout the rest of the year.

Bill Martin, #75 High Rock Vodka Chevrolet

Haden Higginbotham would finish 2nd and secure his 8th top 5 of the season, and close back in to the top 3 in points. The Missile Racing driver was looking to tie the season high of 3 wins held by Thomas Villano and other Missile Racing driver Ryan Persinger. Persinger, however was absent once again from the field and would continue to drop in standings, now sitting currently in 8th.

Well I ran well today, could’ve gave Cory more of a run for his money but it would really help if my teammate Ryan would do a race every once in a while. I’ll have to yell at him a different date about that.

Haden Higginbotham, #10 Missile Racing Chevrolet

Top Tier would pick up another win with Cory Mott as he would dominate the closing laps of the race. Both of the other podium drivers Higginbotham and Martin would go on to say in post race interviews that he was able to save his tires the best out of everyone. With a track temperature of 117 at the beginning of the race, drivers were sure to be slipping and sliding everywhere on the racing surface.

I used the first half of the race to learn – turns out these cars are similar to the cup cars (Next Gen) where you just wrap the bottom for the first 20 laps, and slowly drift up the track. I could tell Haden was really pushing behind me but once I got around Aiden, it would pretty much be just hitting my marks.

Cory Mott, #73 Top Tier Racing Chevrolet

Next week will be an off week for the Grand National Tour so drivers will be well relaxed for their next outing at Phoenix Raceway on the 21st of July. Thomas Villano was able to put 4 more points between himself and current 2nd place Jim Mott. Tonight’s action will kick off at 8:25 PM ET with the Sportsman Truck Series at Chicagoland Speedway.