PGRL S4 R1 Recap

21 February 2023
Pretty Good Racing League | Season 4 | Round 1
Premier Series | Daytona International Speedway

Vincent Crow with Team Watson Racing took the first checkered flag of the new season in the Team Watson Racing Setups 250 with the Pretty Good Racing League at Daytona International Speedway ahead of Jake Silvia and Joshua O’Connor. “I went into this race and said I’m going to race and if I finish, I finish and if I don’t, I don’t”, Crow commented as the night came to a close, “I still can’t believe I won, I don’t win these races.”

Angel Jaime led the 46-car field around to take the green flag kicking off the new 2023 season for the Pretty Good Racing League. In the opening laps, Jaime was able to hold onto the lead riding up and leading the outside lane being pushed out front by Deven Cannon. As the field started to get settled in, a miscommunication further back brought out the caution flag and stacked everyone back together again as racing resumed going into lap 13 with Jaime still in control.

The aggression only increased with several drivers weaving between lines searching for a way to progress forward in the field. Vincent Crow found his way to the front with Aiden Graetz pushing him along the inside as the top lane struggled to get organized being led by Cannon. With Cosmin Ioanesiu’s help, Cannon was able to get back up alongside Crow to challenge for the lead with Jaime tried to take advantage sliding out of the low lane quickly going 3-wide to utilize the draft following Cannon.

Going into lap 35, Jaime got out of shape and slid down to the inside of the track before recovering back in 32 running in the back of the 2nd pack. Out front, both high and low lanes were competitive as drivers were figuring out who they wanted to work with when separated from teammates. An abrupt lane change from Adam Blattel while Cody Dempster was having a strong run along the outside resulted in the leading pack coming together and bringing the caution back out just short of the halfway point of the night giving the field an opportune chance to come down pit road.

Racing resumed going into lap 43 with Chris Stofer out front. The front pack started to break apart and the top 13 drivers started to pull away while negotiating lap traffic going into the 2nd half. Ioanesiu was in control of the lead pack as they crossed the halfway point gaining 10 bonus points being pushed by Jaimes across the line. As the laps counted down, the 2nd group of cars being led by Michael Chrobok was quickly reeling the lead pack in combining the groups together 28 drivers running together with 40 laps to go.

Jeff Ward took control of the field and maintained the lead for most of the 2nd half with drivers running single file behind him trying to stretch their fuel window to make it to the end. A late race caution on lap 82 took away any fuel concerns as the majority of the field came down pit road restacking behind Scott Eckrich to take the green flag with 15 laps remaining. Thomas George pushed Adam Jurski out front along the inside line as Crow and Eckirch teamed up to the outside with Brian Yaczik following them around. As they continued to swap the lead around the caution flag came out for the final time with Vincent Crow taking the win under yellow flag conditions with Jake Silvia, Joshua O’Connor, Scott Eckirch, and Brian Yaczik rounding out the top 5 tonight at Daytona International Speedway.

Vincent Crow starts the season off in the lead with 73 points with Jake Silvia 3 points behind him. Joshua O’Connor sits in 3rd with 59 points, Scott Eckrich is 4th with 58 points, and Brian Yaczik is tied with Adam Jurski for 5th with 56 points each. The Pretty Good Racing League next heads to California for the “Alex’s ‘Totally Legal’ Race Engines 200” presented by JBF at Auto Club Speedway on February 28th with all the action broadcast live at 8:50PM ET exclusively on the Virtual Grip Network!