Peck Battles Through To Victory In Michigan

QUINCY, Mich. — In a non-stop 30-lap sprint through lapped traffic around the Butler Battlegrounds, Justin Peck and Brad Sweet waged war with each other in a wildly entertaining battle in front of a standing-room-only crowd.

In the end, it was Peck claiming his second High Limit Racing triumph of the season.

Earning the pole of the Mace Thomas Classic after winning the FK Rod Ends Dash – which came via assistance of the “Ace in the Hole,” a 4th-1st Heat win which guarantees the best Dash starting spot – Peck raced to the early lead and hit his first dose of traffic on Lap 6.

The leaders continued to play a cat-and-mouse game through traffic as the laps ticked away with the most intense moment coming in the closing laps as Sweet narrowly stole the lead from Peck on Lap 25. They unofficially swapped command more than four times over two laps as they went back-and-forth until Peck’s daring move around the outside on Lap 27.

From there, the Rudeen Racing No. 26 still had to survive a scare on the last lap as Aaron Reutzel emerged out of nowhere and nearly stole the win in similar fashion to Kokomo Speedway.

Ultimately, Peck crossed the line with a 0.588-second margin of victory to earn his second trip to Whiskey Myers Victory Lane this year and his fourth-career win with Kubota High Limit Racing.

Reutzel and the Ridge & Sons Racing No. 87, fresh off a $100,000 victory at Port Royal’s Bob Weikert Memorial, came home with a runner-up effort in his first-ever trip to Butler Motor Speedway.

Brad Sweet, who was scored in third-place at the conclusion of the 30 laps, was disqualified for pulling off the track, out of the officials’ sight, and not reporting to the scales post-race.

That incident took the Kasey Kahne Racing No. 49 from a podium result to a DQ and 25th-place finish, officially.

Thus, Rico Abreu was scored on the podium and credited with a third-place finish ahead of Tanner Thorson in fourth and Tyler Courtney in fifth.

The finish:

Feature (30 Laps): 1. 26-Justin Peck[1]; 2. 87-Aaron Reutzel[2]; 3. 24-Rico Abreu[5]; 4. 88-Tanner Thorson[7]; 5. 7BC-Tyler Courtney[13]; 6. 19-Brent Marks[10]; 7. 4-Zane DeVault[11]; 8. 42-Sye Lynch[6]; 9. 11N-Kasey Jedrzejek[14]; 10. 5-Brenham Crouch[4]; 11. 13-Daison Pursley[12]; 12. 9-Kasey Kahne[9]; 13. 19H-Joel Myers Jr[16]; 14. 9R-Chase Randall[22]; 15. 24D-Danny Sams III[8]; 16. 14S-Keith Sheffer Jr[20]; 17. 34-Sterling Cling[18]; 18. 5E-Bobby Elliott[15]; 19. 16C-Max Guilford[19]; 20. 14-Spencer Bayston[25]; 21. 71H-Max Stambaugh[24]; 22. 32-Bryce Lucius[23]; 23. 7N-Darin Naida[17]; 24. 01-Brad Lamberson[21]; 25. (DQ) 49-Brad Sweet[3]