SprintCarUnlimited.com Staff Report
Rico Abreu has taken a bigger role in his Sprint Car team and has spent the last year working on the chemistry and communication with his crew.
There have been some changes and bumps along the way, but it seems Abreu has found the right combination. And now, he is winning.
A little over a week ago, the California driver won a Pennsylvania Speedweek event. He carried that success into Cosmetic Gasket Ohio Speedweek presented by Hercules Tires and added to his list of 2020 accomplishments Thursday night.
Abreu ended a three-year win drought with the Ollie’s Bargain Outlet All Star Circuit of Champions by leading every lap in the 30-lap main event at Muskingum County Speedway. The victory was worth $5,000.
“Patience was really key when you got into lapped traffic,” Abreu said. “You’ve got guys like Shane Stewart and Aaron Reutzel, [Kyle] Larson, Zeb [Wise], they are all right there this whole swing of races.
“You’ve got to really hustle it, and it’s hard to hustle it on tracks that you can’t really see when you are behind guys and have a really thin cushion. My car had a lot of good right rear squeeze to it, so I could carry a lot of momentum to the center of the corner and kind of back everything up getting off.”
Continued Abreu, “My guys did a phenomenal job. They worked on it all night long. We did little tiny tweaks every time we got on the track from hot laps all the way to the feature.”
Abreu needed a strong start with Reutzel lining up beside him on the front row. He got it and slid through Turns 1 and 2 to grab the point on exit and down the backstretch. Reutzel tried the same move at the other end of the speedway, but Abreu cruised around the cushion and maintained the lead.
The lead cars started to encounter traffic on Lap 7. Despite a super-slick surface and tricky cushion to work with, Abreu was able to clear backmarkers and extend his lead to 1.2 seconds by the 10th circuit.
Things got dicey for Abreu when he tried to lap Tyler Street. He went to the low side entering Turn 1 on Lap 13 but couldn’t pull off the pass. It allowed Reutzel and Shane Stewart to close in a hurry.
Two laps later, the top three were within two car-lengths of one another. Abreu still held a slim lead and once he was able to clear Street, he was able to distance himself from the battle for second.
“You could sense those cars were coming,” Abreu said. “When you make one mistake, you have to rebound from it. When you make three or four in a row with lapped traffic, it’s so hard to predict where they are going to go, let alone see.
“They [lapped cars] create this little whirlwind dust storm off their rear tires when they are sliding across the track. So, it’s really hard to judge the depth of the cushion, your speed. You are trying to base it off lapped traffic, and I had a lot of good momentum on the top.
“I caught some lapped cars running side-by-side, and you try not to get frustrated. I felt like I did, at times, and then I kind of got aggressive and just blew it in on them.”
That philosophy worked over the second half of the race. Abreu cleared a couple more cars and extended his lead to a half straightaway within one lap.
While Abreu drove away, Stewart tiptoed by Reutzel for second coming out of Turn 2 on Lap 16. One lap later, Reutzel pulled a slider through the first and second corner to wrestle the position back.
Abreu extended his advantage to 2.85 seconds with 10 laps to go. Five laps later, Stewart was side-by-side with Reutzel for second, finally making the pass on the low side of Turn 2 on Lap 27.
Despite the dust and visual problems, Abreu stayed pinned to the top and drove away to take the win. Stewart finished second, with Reutzel nipping Kyle Larson at the line for third. Josh Baughman completed the top five.
“My car was really good, and my guys did a great job making the right decisions,” Abreu said. “It’s really key having communication and giving them your feedback. It’s hard to see with some of these tracks, and we hit all our steps tonight.”
Sprint Car Feature Finish, 30 Laps: 1. Rico Abreu; 2. Shane Stewart; 3. Aaron Reutzel; 4. Kyle Larson; 5. Josh Baughman; 6. Brent Marks; 7. Zeb Wise; 8. Cale Conley; 9. Cory Eliason; 10. Hunter Schuerenberg; 11. Joey Saldana; 12. Skylar Gee; 13. Tim Shaffer; 14. Chad Kemenah; 15. Paul McMahan; 16. Greg Wilson; 17. Gerard McIntyre Jr.; 18. Tyler Street; 19. Stuart Brubaker; 20. Trey Jacobs; 21. Jordan Harble; 22. Henry Malcuit; 23. Ryan Broughton; 24. Mitch Harble.
Ohio Speedweek Point Standings (Top 10): 1. Aaron Reutzel 862; 2. Cale Conley 836; 3. Paul McMahan 798; 4. Cory Eliason 770; 5. Zeb Wise 736; 6. Josh Baughman 734; 7. Skylar Gee 730; 8. Greg Wilson 726; 9. Tim Shaffer 722; 10. Stuart Brubaker 656.