Reutzel Second at Short Track Nationals!

To say that Aaron Reutzel and the BC Fundz/Wren Motorsports No. 87 Triple X Sprint Car team had a good week at I-30 Speedway’s Short Track Nationals would be a gross understatement.

After winning last Wednesday night’s Short Track Nationals Open, the Clute, TX, racer finished off the week with a runner-up finish in the Thursday night preliminary and then another strong second-place in the 27th Annual STN championship finale on Saturday night.

The three nights of action netted Reutzel and crew nearly $13,000.

“I figured going in that we could at least make the show and go from there,” Reutzel said.  “I didn’t know if we could contend for the win though, especially after the last two months for us.”

Contend he did, as the Wells-powered Momentum Racing Suspensions/Danny Sander Construction/ButlerBuilt machine was among the fastest every time it hit the high-banked, ¼-mile I-30 Speedway clay oval.

After taking the $2,000 winner’s share in the Wednesday night STN Open, Reutzel led the initial 24 laps of the Thursday night preliminary feature only to finish second after an unlikely chain of events opened the door for Brian Brown to steal the win at the line.

“I wanted to win that one too, but we were locked in to the front three rows so it was alright,” Reutzel said.

After picking up an extra $500 by handing the ace to Brown in the Cheater’s Day style draw for the Dashon Saturday night, Reutzel earned the second row inside position for the $15,000-to-win STN finale.

“Tilling the track before the feature killed us, I couldn’t believe how long it actually stayed after that,” Reutzel commented.

With Brown setting the early pace, Reutzel dueled with eventual race-winner Christopher Bell for second in the early portion of the race before dicing for runner-up honors with Brown over the latter portion.

“The Saturday ‘A’ Main was probably the worst we were all weekend, I just couldn’t get the wing all the way back and we were tight in one and two,” Reutzel explains.

Still, Reutzel was able to outlast Brown for second in the closing laps aboard the Basic One Services/Lone Star Hydro Maintenance/Wright Way Logistics machine.  “I knew my car was getting better as the race went on, I just had to be patient and not make any mistakes.”

“And we finished second to Bell, so that’s pretty much like a win,” Reutzel says.

With a runner-up finish in the 27th Annual COMP Cams Short Track Nationals presented by Hoosier Tires finale, Reutzel ran his season record at I-30 Speedway to three wins and two runner-up finishes in five starts.

“We get around there decent when it’s heavy, and we’re really good there when it slicks off some,” Reutzel says of his I-30 Speedway success in 2014.

With five finishes among the top four over the past two weekends, Reutzel is set to finish out the season in strong form beginning with a possible wingless outing this weekend in Arizona.  After that, the final two weeks of action on the Lucas Oil ASCS National trail await with an El Paso-Las Cruces weekend onNovember 7-8 and then a Cocopah double on November 14-15.