AUDIO/RECAP: Slideways to the Line; Johnathon Caddell Survives, Wins Full Throttle Shootout at Daytona

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. — Audio and recap by Race Chaser Online Managing Editor Jacob Seelman — Johnathon Caddell photo —

Controlled chaos.

Those two words described both the start — and the finish — of Monday night’s =RSR= Full Throttle Cup Series non-points Full Throttle Shootout at Daytona International Speedway, the unofficial start to the 2015 Real Sim Racing season and the final event leading up to next week’s season-opening Daytona 250.

When the smoke cleared, Steel Horse Racing’s Johnathon Caddell, a two-time winner in 2014 FTCS competition, stood triumphant with his first FTCS win in nearly a year after a last-ditch tap by young gun Garrett Atwell sent him skidding across the finish line.

Caddell first took the lead on lap eight of the caution-free 20-lap scramble with a push from 2013 FTCS champion Chad Cole and held it until the white flag, when the No. 44 Penske Truck Rentals Chevrolet of Glenn Campbell surged to the outside to take the lead with help from Matt LaCross.

“At that point I wasn’t sure what was going to happen,” Caddell admitted. “I just stuck to the bottom and hoped it would pay off.”

And pay off it did. Caddell was able to get a push clear when LaCross couldn’t stay hooked up with Campbell and the duo lost momentum. Caddell then held on through Atwell’s last-ditch effort for the win to cross the line and pick up the Shootout trophy.

“That kind of a finish is what these short, non-points races are all about,” Caddell said. “It was definitely exciting for me and I’m sure it was for the people watching too.”

Atwell, who finished second before slamming the outside SAFER Barrier and flipping wildly down into turn one, admitted that with no points on the line, he simply “went for it”.

“That was fun,” Atwell laughed following the event. “I give (Johnathon) props; I’ve never seen someone block so well in my life. Coming off of four I made a move high with the 21 of LaCross and got a good shot from him right as I was getting to Caddell’s rear bumper and I was like ‘Screw it, there’s no points on the line’. So I just dove it down onto the apron and tried to take him out — didn’t work,” Atwell laughed.

“I ended up on my lid, but this was a throwaway car anyways so now we’ll just look ahead to the 250 and give it all we’ve got next week.”

LaCross, Campbell and Jeff Ward rounded out the top five at the finish.

Two major incidents decimated the 34-car starting field.

On the opening lap, Jason Lester’s No. 92 Chevrolet was hooked into the pack after starting 21st and quickly punching his way forward, taking out a number of heavy-hitters including Rett McBride, Nathan Little and David Comstock.

Then, with seven laps to go, Scott Stenzel’s No. 42 Mittler Brothers Chevrolet went for an off-road excursionthrough the tri-oval grass before rocketing up into traffic at the entrance of turn one, collecting polesitter Steve Gottschalk, Brian Macklin, Dwayne Vincent and 2013 Full Throttle Cup Series champion Chad Cole in the aftermath.

In both incidents, due to the race being designated as a no-caution affair, the yellow flag was not displayed.

Only nine cars finished the event on the lead lap.

The =RSR= Full Throttle Cup Series will return to the race track on Monday, Feb. 23 for the final event of Daytona Speedweeks, the Daytona 250. Coverage of the season-opening points event of 2015 kicks off at 9 p.m. Eastern time live on LSRTV.

Audio with race winner Johnathon Caddell: