Lutz Chases Down Beers In Richmond Modified Battle

Craig Lutz (46) passes Austin Beers en route to victory Thursday night at Richmond Raceway. (Jacob Seelman photo)

RICHMOND, Va. – Craig Lutz has started making a habit of winning when the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour is racing at a NASCAR Cup Series venue.

For the second time this season, Lutz drove to victory in front of a premier weekend crowd, topping Thursday night’s Virginia Is For Racing Lovers 150 at Richmond Raceway in thrilling fashion.

With a car that came to him late in the final run, Lutz chased down Tour point leader Austin Beers and made the winning pass – an inside sweep into turn one – with seven laps left.

From there, Lutz drove out to a .686-second margin and his sixth career Tour victory, but his first triumph at the three-quarter-mile, D-shaped Richmond oval.

It built on Lutz’s earlier win at North Wilkesboro (N.C.) Speedway in May, when the Tour preceded the NASCAR All-Star Race. This time, the Tour opened a tripleheader weekend under the lights in Virginia.

“All our guys worked so hard to get us back where we needed to be. I knew we might have something from the moment we were strong in practice,” admitted Lutz. “We’ve been struggling the last couple of weeks, but we unloaded a good car and that’s a huge part of succeeding in a series as competitive as this one.

“I was confident all day. The first part of the race, I was just trying to manage the equipment,” Lutz added. “I figured there wouldn’t be too many cautions here and just tried to keep my guys up to date with how the car was feeling throughout the runs.”

Lutz was among a group of drivers that pitted during a lap-26 caution period to take fresh Hoosier tires early, in hopes that a longer stretch would allow them to run away from some of the competition.

Craig Lutz celebrates in victory lane at Richmond Raceway. (Jacob Seelman photo)

“Coming in early to take tires ultimately put us in position to be where we were,” Lutz noted. “We took our final set later on, fired off a tick tight and those guys got away from me, but it came back to us when it mattered.

“It takes a lot to do this and it’s rewarding to come out on top in a race like this. We never gave up, and I feel like the best car and the best strategy won tonight.”

The complexion of the race – which was dominated through its middle stint by 19-year-old Trevor Catalano – flipped on its head with 61 to go, when Patrick Emerling spun on the backstretch to bring out the race’s second of three caution flags.

At that point, a 57-lap green-flag run had allowed Catalano to lap all but the top six cars, putting the likes of Beers and defending series champion Justin Bonsignore in dire straits.

The caution allowed Beers to get the free pass, while Bonsignore remained pinned off the lead lap, and also set up the final round of tire changes for the frontrunners – Catalano, Lutz, Ryan Newman, Matt Hirschman, and Corey LaJoie.

Newman cycled to the point after the pit stops, but his time as the leader was short-lived.

Entering the restart zone with 50 to go, a bump from behind by LaJoie sent Newman spinning hard into the outside wall, heavily damaging the Mystic Missile No. 4 and ending Newman’s quest for his first Tour victory since 2011.

Amazingly, no one else was severely collected in the incident, but it did put Lutz into the lead for the next – and final – restart with 42 laps left.

Though Lutz brought the field back to green, Beers’ strength was the short run, and his No. 64 sliced to the lead in just over a lap after the restart.

But when Beers’ car began fading just before 25 to go, Lutz began marching, getting back past Catalano for second and setting his sights firmly on the race leader.

It took until 10 to go for Lutz to get to Beers’ bumper, but he wasted little time in peeking to the inside before pulling fully alongside on lap 143. Once he got into clean air a half-lap later, the die was cast.

Beers finished second and, by virtue of leading the most laps (52) on the night, unofficially extended his Tour point lead to 10 over Bonsignore.

Despite his spin, Emerling rallied back to third, followed by Catalano and LaJoie.

Matt Hirschman was the final car on the lead lap in sixth, with Bonsignore seventh despite qualifying on the pole and pacing 23 of the first 24 laps with his Ken Massa-owned No. 51.

Cup Series playoff hopeful Ryan Preece, Eric Goodale, and rookie contender Stephen Kopcik closed the top 10. Preece was driving his own No. 40 machine in the event.

Newman was scored 16th after the restart crash that eliminated him from Thursday’s action.

Two young guns that have made select NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series starts this year – Luke Baldwin and Conner Jones – finished 17th and 19th, respectively, after both encountering mechanical issues that put them behind the wall.

The NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour season continues Saturday night, Aug. 30 at Oswego (N.Y.) Speedway during the track’s prestigious International Classic weekend.

Emerling is the defending winner of the Toyota Mod Classic 150.

The finish:

1. 46-Craig Lutz, 2. 64-Austin Beers, 3. Patrick Emerling, 4. 56-Trevor Catalano, 5. Corey LaJoie, 6. 60-Matt Hirschman, 7. 51-Justin Bonsignore, 8. 40-Ryan Preece, 9. 58-Eric Goodale, 10. 21-Stephen Kopcik, 11. 48-Danny Bohn, 12. 18-Ken heagy, 13. 3-Tyler Rypkema, 14. 22-Kyle Bonsignore, 15. 129-Mike Marshall, 16. 4-Ryan Newman, 17. 7NY-Luke Baldwin, 18. 70-Andy Seuss, 19. 99-Conner Jones, 20. 59-Tyler Barry, 21. 23-Carson Loftin, 22. 54-Tommy Catalano, 23. 8-John-Michael Shenette, 24. 24-Andrew Krause.