Rico Abreu continued his hot summer stretch with his second High Limit Sprint Car Series win of the season at Huset’s Speedway on Tuesday night. He survived multiple incidents in a chaotic A-Main event and passed Robbie Price for the lead on a late restart.
Price started on the pole and set sail on the opening lap, while Abreu began his race in 5th and immediately began working his way forward. A multi car incident involving Kasey Kahne, Justin Peck, and others put the field back under yellow conditions. Kahne ended up on his side, but was unharmed in the wreck and finished the race.
On the restart, Price once again drove away. Abreu wiggled in turn 2 underneath the 11 of Brandon Mullins and made contact. Mullins hit the wall hard and flipped in the top lane. Sam Hafertepe had nowhere to go and collided with Mullins, damaging both cars heavily. Both were unable to finish the race, but the wreck stopped the field once more.
Ryan Timms crashed on his own on lap 2 of the event, immediately following the second restart of the evening. He too was O.K.
Still only two laps of 35 completed in the event, the race restarted for the third time with Price leading. The field calmed down for a long green flag run and, while Price built up his lead, Abreu steadily moved forwards from the 3rd spot.
With 8 laps remaining, Abreu finally moved past Buddy Kofoid after a spirited battle for the second spot. Lap after lap the two traded sliders and crossovers, but Abreu managed to keep his momentum up out of turn 4 on the high side to maintain the silver position coming to 7 to go. Just seconds later, the caution flag flew again, this time for a slowing Corey Day.
Robbie Price attempted to restart the race from the top lane, which proved to be his undoing. Abreu pounced and drove in deep in turn one, and slid in front of the 7S to claim the lead with 7 laps remaining. From there, he maintained control and cruised to his second High Limit victory of 2023.
Buddy Kofoid also got past Price in the closing laps to capture the runner-up position. Price finished third after leading a majority of the laps. Kerry Madsen finished fourth, and Justin Sanders claimed the final position in the top 5.
After struggling in qualifying, Kyle Larson drove from 17th to 6th during the race. The drive helped him maintain his series points lead over Abreu who, with his win Tuesday, closed the gap to only 33 markers with 3 races remaining.
The High Limit Sprint Car Series will race next at Lernerville Speedway in Sarver, PA on September 26th. The race will be broadcast on FloRacing.
About Me: Ethan Miller is 17 years old and resides in Pennsylvania. He aspires to become a sports writer following high school, and views writing for Speedway Digest as the next step towards a career in journalism. Ethan currently hosts the QuickPitPodcast with a few fellow NASCAR fans, which can be found on all major podcast platforms.
Twitter: pit_quick
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