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.
