AUDIO/RECAP: Short Track Shocker; Harrison Widelitz Survives Yellow Fever for Full Throttle Cup Win at Martinsville

MARTINSVILLE, Va. — Recap by Race Chaser Online Managing Editor Jacob Seelman — LSRTV audio — Real Sim Racing photo —

A week ago, Harrison Widelitz nearly managed to play the thief after taking two tires and coming up just short of an =RSR= Full Throttle Cup Series (FTCS) victory in Fontana, Calif.

This time around, he made the armed robbery hold up.

Widelitz stayed out on older tires to take the lead at lap 122 from Jeff Ward and never gave it up again, leading the rest of the way and holding off a last ditch charge from David Comstock and Adam Benefiel on a one-lap shootout to notch his first career FTCS victory as a substitute for series regular John Abbott.

“Leading up to [the one-lap dash] I was really nervous,” said Widelitz, who became the sixth different winner in six races in 2015. “I hadn’t pitted from lap 34 on, and I knew our tires were pretty bad, but I saw Jeff Ward in the lead and I kept thinking that if I could just get out front, then I would be okay.”

“On that last restart I just told myself, ‘Don’t overdrive, don’t overdrive,’ and then I washed up a good half a car width there in the middle of one, but when I saw Dwayne lose me on the exit of two I figured we were okay and breathed a sigh of relief. I know David got into me there in turn four, but I knew it was coming — it’s Martinsville. I’m just happy to hold on and finally get one here, it means a lot.”

The win for Widelitz was emotional on several fronts, as the young shoe was racing with a heavy heart after losing his stepfather recently.

“He always gave me a lot of advice and told me that ‘Racing is just capitalizing on other people’s mistakes,’ and I feel like that’s what we did tonight. I know he was smiling there at the end.”

On the restart after he took the lead, Widelitz got away and was able to ride for a near-50-lap green flag run (the longest of the race) while fighting through heavy lap traffic before a caution with 30 laps to go for a spin by Scott Stenzel set up a rash of late-race restarts.

However, for all of Comstock, Benefiel and Dwayne Vincent’s efforts, no one could rattle the No. 10 on those restarts — something that Comstock said was the difference at the end of the race.

“You had to get all you could get on the restarts tonight, and Harrison was just so good getting up to speed,” Comstock said. “Track position was critical to winning this race and that, combined with how he kept us guessing on each restart, was the difference tonight. Harrison drove a great race so congratulations to him.”

Benefiel finished third to notch his first top-five finish of the season, barreling through the inside lane late with a near-modified look to his No. 01 Rollspeed Dynamics/One Up Motorsports Ford to pick up spots and valuable points — even knocking his teammate up the track on the final lap.

“Dwayne [Vincent] and I were laughing about it after the race,” Benefiel said. “We know it’s just short-track racing, it’s just how Martinsville is. No hard feelings between us. I’m just glad to finally finish one of these this season, and now we get a week off to work and get better before we head to Texas in two weeks to try and get us a win.”

Points leader Vincent hung on for fourth and defending series champion Eric Brundies rounded out the top five after running as high as second during the race.

Ward, who dominated the middle stages of the race and led 63 laps, faded to sixth at the checkered flag. Greg Evans, Nathan Little, Corbin Himstreet and Rett McBride made up the rest of the top ten.

Dan Murray, who won the fall Chase race at Martinsville in 2014 and started on the pole Monday night, led 32 laps early but was shuffled back into the field through different pit strategies and ultimately stopped on track (after nearly tagging the wall) with seven laps to go to bring out the final caution of the event and set up the one-lap dash to the finish. Murray was credited with 16th, the second-to-last car on the lead lap.

In all, the caution-filled race saw 15 yellows for 83 laps as ruffled sheet metal and battered tempers were the order of the night. The biggest incident came just after halfway, when Mark Bratcher sparked a 10-car pileup that collected names such as Shawn Breitzman, Thomas George, Joey Gattina and Steve Gottschalk in its wake.

With the points scored by Widelitz for the win, Abbott jumps to seventh in points, while Vincent continues to hold the edge at the top of the standings — by 15 markers over Murray.

The =RSR= Full Throttle Cup Series returns to action in two weeks following a break for Easter, with the Real Deal Grafix 300 from Texas Motor Speedway on April 13.

For more information on Real Sim Racing, visit www.realsimracing.com.

Audio with race winner Harrison Widelitz: