Starting lineup for Made in America 250

[W. J.]

1. Flemke
2. Hirschman
3. Marquis
4. Stefanik
5. Szegedy
6. Lia
7. Beers
8. Ruggiero
9. Jimmy Blewett
10. Sylvester
11. Yuhas
12. Brown
13. L.W. Miller
14. Jamie Tomaino
15. Christopher
16. Sammons
17. Burt Myers
18. Savary
19. Whitt
20. Barry
21. Civali
22. Hossfeld
23. Houlihan
24. M. Hirschman
25. Coby
26. Jr Miller
27. Jason Myers
28. Hutchens
29. Goodale
30. Silk
31. Clifton
32. Summers
33. Loftin
34. Jamie Tomaino Jr.
35. King
36. Andrews
37. Sesley
38. Gene Pack
39. Fleming
40. Cole
41. Powell
42. Jay Foley
43. Storace

[W. J.]

Pre-race ceremonies are now under way. The race should be under way right after driver intros (going on as I type this) are completed.

[W. J.]

The National Anthem is over, race will start in minutes. Grand Marshall Geoff Bodine has given the command to start engines.

[W. J.]

The 43 car field is now under green.

[W. J.]

10 leads, with 4 in 2nd, but yellow out lap 3 with a crash in turn 4.

[W. J.]

Green out again on lap 12, with Flemke still in the lead, Marquis 2nd, Hirschman 3rd, Stefanik 4th, and Szegedy 5th.

[W. J.]

Massive wreck in turn 4, lap 12, yellow out, at least a dozen cars involved, Marquis now listed as leader.

[W. J.]

The race has been RED flagged on lap 14 for cleanup.

Tomaino Sr, T. Hirschman, Whitt and Beers all taken off on the hook to garage. Hossfeld and Summers on pit road for repairs.

Savary officially out, front end. Race officials inspecting turn 4 gate for damage.
10:48 PM - Welders are now putting plate on SAFER barrier (turn 4) to cover a hole.

Top 5 for restart will be Marquis-4, Stefanik-16, Flemke-10, Szegedy-2, and Sylvester-15.

[W. J.]

The cars are refiring, moving on the track and yellow is out. The race will restart shortly.
Ruggiero and Junior Miller to the garage.

[W. J.]

Green back out, lap 23.

[W. J.]

Marquis continues to lead at lap 30, with Stefanik and Flemke right on his tail. On lap 31, Stefanik goes under Marquis to take the lead. Lap 35, Szegedy to 3rd.

[W. J.]

Lap 40, Hirschman returns to race. Lap 44, yellow out for Gene Pack spin in turn 2.

Green back out on lap 49, Stefanik still leads.

[W. J.]

Lap 50, yellow out again as Hutchens, Foley and King spin in turn 2.

Green out again on lap 56.

[Hampton Jitney]

Hope you got some no doze there WJ. Gonna be a late one.

[W. J.]

Szegedy to 2nd past Marquis, lap 57. Marquis repasses on lap 59 to take 2nd back.

[W. J.]

Lap 70, Stefanik and Marquis now 12 car lengths ahead of Szegedy. Blewett up to 5th spot.

Lap 80, Stefanik now 4 car lengths ahead of Marquis; Szegedy, in 3rd, a straightaway behind.

Lap 88, Top drivers now encountering much lapped traffic, but Marquis is staying with Stefanik, as Sylvester passes Szegedy to take 3rd.

[W. J.]

Lap 95, Marquis now back on Stefanik's rear bumper, as yellow flies for spin by Christopher, and Marquis takes the lead from Stefanik. Christopher black flagged and sent to pits.

[W. J.]

Green back out on lap 102, many cars, but not leaders, pitted during previous yellow. Stefanik back to the lead on the restart, with Sylvester to 2nd, Lia 3rd, Szegedy 4th, Blewett 5th. Marquis pitted during caution.

[W. J.]

Lap 117, Stefanik builds his lead, but a competition caution will come out on lap 125 for a halfway award to the leader. (I know, I don't believe it either.)

[Hampton Jitney]

M'VILLE has done the same for Late Model Races in the past. Actually inverted the field at halfway. Thankfully they don't do this here.

[W. J.]

Lap 122, 3 cars spin but continue off turn 2, officials declare this the competition caution. All cars to pit road, on lap 125, behind the pace car.

[W. J.]

The halfway break will be 15 minutes long, as Stefanik receives the halfway leader award of $1500.
The fans in the stands are pretty quiet, someone should have sponsored a trip here for our turn 1 cowboys, LOL!

[W. J.]

The running order at lap 125, by car number, is as follows: 16, 15, 18, 2, 12, 83, 50, 6, 77, 58, 07, 1, 28, 31, 36, all on lead lap.
1 lap down: 4, 59, 10, 47. 3 laps down: 11, 74, 57. 4 laps down: 33, 46, 98. 9 laps down: 14. 11 laps down: 0. 12 laps down: 30. 31 laps down: 48. 33 laps down: 21 (now out of race-motor). 41 laps down:19. 55 laps down: 79.

Halfway break cut short as rain spritzing again, and officials want the cars moving to keep the track dry.

[W. J.]

A number of laps are being run under yellow to dry the track, as 31 cars are still on the track, and Stefanik still leads. No tire changes were allowed under the competition yellow.
Lap 137, RED out as rain has picked up, cars are on it road as track vehicles and jet dryers work on track. (This is going to be a long night.)

[W. J.]

We are back under yellow this beautiful Sunday morning, and the cars are back on the track, running behind the pace car..

Green back out on lap 140, and the race resumes!!!

[W. J.]

Yellow out on lap 147, as 2 cars, Storace and Jason Myers spun in turn 2. Stefanik still leads, with Sylvester, Lia, Blewett and Szegedy rounding out the top 5.

Marquis and Christopher pit during this caution.

Green back out again on lap 155.

[W. J.]

Stefanik is pulling away again by lap 160 as the field runs mostly single file. Blewett moves up to 2nd on lap 163, and Coby gets up to 5th, but yellow out as Goodale spins alone in turn 2.

The top 5 are now Stefanik, Blewett, Sylvester, Clifton and Coby.

[W. J.]

Green back out on lap 171, as Blewett takes a stab at the lead, but Stefanik battles back. Civali up to 5th on lap 175, but yellow flies on lap 176 as Storace spins alone in turn 1.

Green out again on lap 181. On the restart, Blewett is right on Stefanik's bumper, tapping him as they go into turn 2. Stefanik gets loose, slowing, as Blewett takes the lead, and Sylvester 2nd. Christopher now up to 3rd as things heat up going into lap 188.

[W. J.]

Blewett has Sylvester right on his rear, and Christopher is right behind him, with Civali and Szegedy right there also, as Stefanik now runs 6th. Sylvester spins in turn 2 as Christopher passes him going into turn 2, yellow out, lap 194. Stefanik pits for tires, as does Lia.

[W. J.]

Lap 197, rain begins falling again, and the race will be under caution for a while. Nascar officials decide to call the race at lap 200, as the field gets the white flag on lap 199. 12, 36, 28, 2, & 77 are the top 5 for the race as the race is red/checkered. A full rundown will follow this post in a few minutes.

[W. J.]

Still waiting for final results, but Jimmy Blewett said in his post race interview that his pass of Stefanik happened when his (Blewett's) brakes slipped, and when Stefanik got out of shape, Blewett took the opportunity to make the pass for the lead. Blewett dedicated the win to the late Charlie Jarzombek and his car owner, Ed Partridge.

Results are still being tabulated by Nascar, and we must vacate the media center, so the results will have to wait until later on.

[Ace]

WJ, GREAT job with the updates. :applause:

[W. J.]

Thanks, Ace, it's something new we wanted to try, and we will do it again for some future races, wherever computer access is available. I hope everyone else enjoyed it, too, as I noticed some stayed with us all the way to the early morning (1 AM) end of the race (Yawn!). I have to thank Vicki and Walt Newcomb for helping out, as we sat side by side in the Martinsville pressbox, enjoying the race and each other's company.
Now all I need is an assistant 'spotter' to help keep even better track of the on track action. If we can get a sponsor to help out, that would help, too. But I have to say, it was a unique experience, and we only need to work out some of the kinks, and LI Jam will continue to try and bring better and better race coverage to all of our loyal fans.