S9 Round 7: Bristol

Non Charter Race: Bubba Martin never looks back as calamity hits behind him late; wins at Bristol
1. 52
2. 48
3. 59
4. 14
5. 51
6. 23
7. 33
8. 82
9. 91
10. 76
11. 72
12. 88
13. 99
14. 0
15. 41
16. 37
17. 98
18. 32

Charter Race Notes:
Lexi Millers wins at Bristol for her first career win.
Benoit Lothaire Irvine furious at Charles Sandfer and Lafter Stucolé over late race crash
Sky Lukewalker gets one race suspension of crew chief after pit road failure puts him in garage
Zachary Fitzwater runs second to Millers in Bristol event

1. 59
2. 02
3. 78
4. 47
5. 20
6. 23
7, 69
8. 70
9. 06
10. 57
11. 24
12. 96
13. 38
14. 3
15. 80
16. 07
17. 40
18. 45
19. 29
20. 27
21. 79
22. 1
23. 58
24. 34
25. 11
26. 05
27. 14
28. 65
29. 90
30. 10
31. 43
32. 30
33. 46
34. 2
35, 60
36. 52
37. 51
38. 49
39. 53
40. 77
41. 50
42. 48

Christian Merrick Jr. flipped over in a solo car accident on lap 200. Merrick is OK however and will attempt Portland.

With this win, Millers becomes the 50th winner in series history, joining others such as John Bruneil, Brenna Carmichael, and former Cup champion Sally Hunter in the list of drivers with only one win. Millers' first season with ClimberTech Racing did not go well, and before this season she was let off as a nobody by many. (In fact she didn't even run the whole season that year as she was replaced by HG Kendall late in the season.)

The pride of Zagreb, Croatia, Ćićoria Šatska, had an excellent run at Bristol. He mostly stayed out of trouble in the race and at one point was up in third place in the 23 Stacker2 car for Anderson-Yugoslavia Racing. Šatska through this race showed that she could maintain the hype that was given to her by her podium finish at Kentucky. We can tell that Ćićie really likes these high attrition races.

Meanwhile, the source of major media controversy was our other international star, Lafter Stucolé from Spain. Stucolé was involved in the first caution of the race after she ran into the back of Sally Hunter and was severely off the pace from that point on. On lap 380, 20 laps to go, Stucolé was being rapidly caught by Benoit Lothaire-Irvine and Roman Rehall. After Charles Sandfer passed Deb Bruneil for second place, he began to quickly close on both Benoit and Roman, as well as the slowing Stucolé. On lap 387, the running order was as follows:
1. 96 Benoit Lothaire-Irvine
2. 70 Charles Sandfer -0.20
3. 59 Lexi Millers NC (R) -1.02
4. 02 Zachary Fitzwater -1.10
5. 78 Deb Bruneil -2.07
15. 80 Roman Rehall -1L
21. 79 Lafter Stucolé -4L
On lap 387, however, things took a drastic turn for the worse. Benoit would catch up to Stucolé and attempt a pass to the inside. Benoit, with severe damage from a run-in with Vince Freeze on the previous restart (lap 344 for exact) would lose control while inside Stucolé and get hit by Sandfer. Sandfer would go on to push Benoit into the corner and spin him, collecting Roman Rehall in the process and clearing the way for Millers. The Kevin Anderson car was also collected in the incident after Benoit stalled on track as a result of his damages. Benoit would complete the race on the lead lap in 12th, but it was not the result he was hoping for, neither Sandfer, as they both had cars that should have been in the top 5.