PGRL S4 R7 Recap

04 April 2023
Pretty Good Racing League | Season 4 | Round 7
Premier Series | Richmond Raceway

Scott Eckrich emerged victorious in the Skitter Creek Motorsports Group 200, held at the Richmond Raceway. Despite starting in 17th position, Eckrich showed remarkable driving skills, making his way up the field and eventually taking the lead in lap 73 of the race.

The Skitter Creek Motorsports Group 200 was a thrilling race from the get-go, with drivers fighting for position and trying to establish an early lead. Jordan Harnish began the race on pole position, thanks to the Mahan Laboratories “You Finished Last” pole award. He held onto the lead for the first 36 laps, fending off challenges from Colton Salek and Brian Yaczik.

As the race progressed, the drivers were faced with frequent cautions, disrupting their rhythm and making it challenging to implement pit strategies. However, some drivers were able to capitalize on the chaos and make significant gains. Cody Dempster and Scott Eckrich were two such drivers, quickly moving up into the top 10 within the first 20 laps.

Eckrich’s impressive driving was on full display, and he continued to make his way up the field, overtaking Jake Silvia to claim second place behind Salek. By lap 73, Eckrich was finally able to make his move, overtaking Salek to take the lead. The race was not without drama, with several cautions threatening to upset Eckrich’s momentum.

However, Eckrich proved to be a skilled and determined driver, holding onto his lead through several restarts. As the final green flag was waved with just four laps remaining, Jake Silvia was hot on his heels, but Eckrich was able to maintain his composure and outpace the rest of the field to claim the win.

After the race, a delighted Eckrich expressed his satisfaction with his performance, saying, “Really happy to bring it together again. This is usually a really good track for me, so I’m glad I could get the result I felt like I could do here.” The win also put Eckrich at the top of the point standings, with a 31-point lead over Chrobok in second place.

Fans of the Pretty Good Racing League can look forward to the next event, the Get Dirty at Bristol, Get Clean with Mane ‘n Tail 125, which will take place at the Bristol Motor Speedway on April 11th. The event promises to be another exciting race, and fans can catch all the action exclusively on the Virtual Grip Network.

PGRL S4 R6 Recap

28 March 2023
Pretty Good Racing League | Season 4 | Round 6
Premier Series | Circuit of the Americas

The “It’ll Be Something Grand Prix” presented by Brian Yaczik at the Circuit of the Americas was the place to be for racing fans. Woody Mahan had the pole position, thanks to his win of the Mahan Industries “You Finished Last” pole award. However, Colton Salek managed to steal the lead from him on the first lap, leaving Mahan struggling. Unfortunately, Mahan got into a collision with Jordan Harnish and both drivers fell out of the top 20.

Meanwhile, Vincent Crow took the lead on the second lap and began to pull away from Jake Silvia, who was in second place. Scott Eckrich started in 19th place, but he was already up to 8th by the fifth lap, ahead of Cody Dempster. Jeff Ward, who started in 24th place, was running in 10th at that point.

Crow had stretched his lead to more than 7 seconds by the tenth lap of the race, with Mike Rasimas in second place. Eckrich had climbed up to fourth place and was quickly closing the gap to third. Silvia and Rasimas were fighting for second place, with neither driver able to gain a clear advantage. Eckrich was pressuring both drivers as he closed in on them on lap 12.

Ward came down pit road on lap 12 with a unique pit strategy, dropping back to 13th as he rejoined the track. Eckrich made quick work of Silvia and Rasimas, overtaking both drivers and clearing into second place, still more than 9 seconds behind Crow. Thomas George broke into the top 10 as the race approached its halfway point.

The battle between Silvia and Rasimas continued to intensify, with both drivers fiercely competing for the last podium spot. Drivers began cycling through their pit stops on lap 17, with the exception of Ward, who had come down five laps earlier. Crow was still in the lead as the second half of the race began, claiming the PGRL stage points. Crow and Eckrich came down pit road together at the beginning of lap 18, followed by Rasimas and Silvia. Eckrich caught up to Crow on lap 20 and began to overtake him for the lead soon after in turn 20.

Ward caught the battle between Silvia and Rasimas, and the three drivers were aggressively swapping positions, fighting over third place. Ward came down pit road again before lap 24, opting for a two-stop strategy and falling back to 10th place under pressure from Thomas George with 11 laps to go.

In the closing moments of the race, Eckrich was putting down the fastest laps of any driver and extended his lead to more than 18 seconds over Crow, taking the checkered flag. Silvia was able to take third place away from Rasimas in the end. Crow held onto the points lead, finishing 12 points ahead of Eckrich at the end of the night.

Eckrich was thrilled with his performance and commented, “I love these technical tracks; it makes it kind of fun in the driver’s hands. You know, just like get out here, see what you got, wheel it as hard as you can.” Next week, the drivers head to Richmond Raceway for the “Skitter Creek Motorsports Group 200” on April 4th, with the action brought to fans live at 8:50 PM ET only on the Virtual Grip Network!

PGRL S4 R5 Recap

21 March 2023
Pretty Good Racing League | Season 4 | Round 5
Premier Series | Atlanta Motor Speedway

Scott Eckrich with Loud Pedal Motorsports claimed his first win of the season tonight in the Everything Gets Better with Age 250 presented by GamingGuyL with the Pretty Good Racing League at Atlanta Motor Speedway ahead of Jeff Ward and Adam Jurski “This is one of those tracks where you can definitely undercut but with the aero the way it is if you get stuck behind somebody if you try to over cut it you just you don’t really get a lot of gains so you gotta get kind of luck on that front”, Eckrich shared with us regarding his pitting strategy “It’s a super fine line you gotta run to not blow the right rear off and also, you know, maintain the lead for those guys ripping the lip on the restarts and stuff”

Creighton Carter started off on the pole to take the green flag with Kevin Bartelt to his outside. Alex Graetz didn’t waste any time jumping out ahead to take the lead away from Carter going into the 2nd lap. Cody Dempster was aggressively pushing up through the field on his way to the front up 2 spots from his 6th place starting position and closing on Cosmin Ioanesiu. Graetz had extended his lead out to almost 2 seconds with the first 10 laps completed when he lost his car in the corner and went sliding across the infield handing the lead of the race over to Ioanesiu.

Saif Faires was making a hard charge through the field battling Bartelt for 3rd from his starting position back in 13th. Dempster continued his strong pace and had slowly reeled the leader in 30 laps into the run and was able to clear around Ioanesiu after several intense laps. The first driver to come down pit road was Thomas George on lap 40 trying to undercut the field as the rest of the field came down for their stops a few cars at a time over the next 10 laps as differing strategies split the field up.

George inherited the lead up 32 spots from his 33rd place starting position when the pit cycle was complete with Michael Chrobok in 2nd place almost 2 seconds behind him. Eckrich had cleared around Chrobok and was quickly closing on George with the fresher tires between the two drivers taking the lead away fairly effortlessly on lap 58. Eckrich was pushing his equipment trying to break away from Chrobok behind him building up a large gap between them to secure the bonus stage points going into the 2nd half of the night.

Chrobok and Jeff Ward battled over 2nd place as George was again the first to come down pit road looking to undercut the field again. The first caution of the night came out as Dempster lost control of his car going 90 laps into the run giving Eckrich, and many other drivers, an opportune chance to come down pit road while holding onto the lead for the restart. Racing resumed with 64 laps remaining with Eckrich jumping out to a strong lead ahead of Ward.

Ward was pressuring Eckrich for the lead with Ioanesiu close behind as the top 3 broke away from the rest of the field. Ward got to the inside of Eckrich but couldn’t complete the move with the laps quickly counting down. Going into the last 30 laps, the drivers started working through their last pit cycle. Eckrich was again one of the last cars to come down pit road rejoining the track in 12th. George’s early stop strategy that he’s been running all night put him up into 7th for the last stretch.

Eckrich was making quick work of traffic on his way back up to the front. Eckrich cleared around Adam Jurski into 2nd place and was closing on the rear bumper of Ward for the lead. Going into lap 151, Eckrich dove low to get under Ward to take away the lead and started pulling away from Ward. Coming out of the final corner, Scott Eckrich took the checkered flag 1.9 seconds ahead of Jeff Ward. Adam Jurski, Michael Chrobok, and Will Farmer Jr round out the top 5 tonight at Atlanta Motor Speedway.

Vincent Crow holds onto the lead in the point standings with 312 points with Michael Chrobok in 2nd place trailing 17 points behind. Scott Eckrich moves up 2 spots into 3rd with 294 points, Thomas George sits in 4th with 278, and Adam Jusrki rounds out the top 5 with 276 points. The Pretty Good Racing League next heads to Circuit of the Americas for the “It’ll Be Something Grand Prix presented by Brian Yaczik” on March 28th with all the action broadcast live at 8:50PM ET exclusively on the Virtual Grip Network!

PGRL S4 R4 Recap

14 March 2023
Pretty Good Racing League | Season 4 | Round 4
Premier Series | Phoenix Raceway

Adam Jurski with Steel Horse Racing takes the checkered flag tonight in the MARSS Properties Vacation Rentals 250k with the Pretty Good Racing League at Phoenix Raceway ahead of Scott Eckrich and Vincent Crow. “I just had to believe there wouldn’t be a caution, which I wasn’t 100% sure there wouldn’t be at the very end there, but things just played out”, Jurski shared with us at the end of the night, “It kind of got strung out single file up front and it was fairly easy to drive to the front, so I can’t complain about that.”

Clarence Bonner with Apex Simsport led the 30-car field around to take the green flag with Alex Graetz to his outside. Bonner was able to clear out ahead of the field off the jump, but Graetz stayed close behind and started challenging for the lead only 4 laps into the run with Ryan Rose closing the gap to the leaders. Cody Dempster was making a hard charge toward the front early up to 4th going into lap 16 with multiple drivers running very aggressively early on.

Many of the rookie drivers were charging up through the field while familiar names from previous seasons were showing restraint patiently running further back in the running order seemingly knowing something that wasn’t apparent to the others. An incident in the middle of the field brought the first caution of the night with 24 laps behind them allowing everyone an early pit stop for tires that most drivers took advantage of. Going back to green on lap 28, Dempster quickly overtook Ryan Rose for the lead off the jump.

Michael Chrobok was pushing up quickly to challenge Dempster for the lead coming up to the halfway point taking control of the field on lap 57. Mike Rasimas was working hard to reel Chrobok back in pressuring the leader but wasn’t able to make anything of it before getting loose and falling back over 1 second behind Chrobok who was able to claim the bonus stage points just in time as a caution came out a few laps later halting the action with the majority of drivers opting to come back through pit road.

Chrobok was still in control of the field to take the green flag starting off the 2nd half of the night going into lap 85 ahead of Thomas George. Chrobok was able to defend the lead going forward as the familiar names decided it was time to go to include Scott Eckrich, Woody Mahan, Jeff Ward, and Mike Rasimas finding themselves running single file in 3rd through 6th place directly behind George and Chrobok. George was starting to struggle a bit as Eckrich, Mahan, and Ward all cleared around George with around 50 laps to go.

Going into the last 30 laps, Ward got out of shape and made hard contact with the outside wall bringing out another caution. Chrobok made a rare error on pit road costing him time and falling back to 4th as he rejoined the track. Eckrich was in control of the field as racing resumed jumping out to a strong lead with Chrobok going 3-wide over 2nd place overtaking both Rasimas and Brian Yaczik for the position.

A late race caution came out when Yaczik lost his car from contact with the apron sending himself around in turn 4. The top 7 drivers stayed out on track with Adam Jurski being the first driver in line with fresh tires running in 8th as the green flag came back out for the final time with 8 laps remaining. Eckrich had another strong start but Jurski was carving through the field quickly closing on the leader. Adam Jurski was able to take the lead away from Scott Eckrich going into final 2 laps and ran away with the lead to take the checkered flag with Vincent Crow, Jordan Harnish, and Mike Rasimas rounding out the top 5 tonight at Phoenix Raceway.

Vincent Crow holds onto the lead in the point standings with 276 points. Michael Chrobok jumps up 4 spots into 2nd with 229 poitns after a strong run tonight. Thomas George reclaims 3rd with 222 points, Adam Jurski leaps up 6 spots into 4th with 215 points after tonight’s win and is now tied with Scott Eckrich in the points rounding out the top 5. The Pretty Good Racing League next heads to Atlanta Motor Speedway for the “Everything Gets Better with Age 250 presented by GamingGuyL” on March 21st with all the action broadcast live at 8:50PM ET exclusively on the Virtual Grip Network!

PGRL S4 R3 Recap

07 March 2023
Pretty Good Racing League | Season 4 | Round 3
Premier Series | Las Vegas Motor Speedway

Vincent Crow with Team Watson Racing claimed his 2nd win of the new season tonight in the MARSS Properties Vacation Rentals 200 with the Pretty Good Racing League at Las Vegas Motor Speedway ahead of Scott Eckrich and Cosmin Ioanesiu. “Stage win and the race win, I feel like I proved I’m not a hack. This race should’ve been called the ‘Vincent Crow’s not a Hack 500′”, Crow joked with us as the night came to a close, “It’s a really good feel-good win. Daytona was, I was blown out of my mind I won the race and now this race is like ‘Cool, I’m ready for Phoenix’.”

Tyler Graaf with GRAAFix eSports led the 42-car field around to take the green flag with Angel Jaime to his outside. Graaf jumped out to an early lead with much of the field spreading out using multiple lines around the corners. Scott Eckrich was making an unexpected push to the front, up to 7th in the first few laps, as he has been known for patiently moving up through the field last season. Only 10 laps into the run, Graff had pulled away from the rest of the field by 2.5 seconds with Creighton Carter running in 2nd place clearly saving his equipment for a longer run.

Cody Dempster was aggressively maneuvering around traffic up into 3rd with a large pack of drivers battling hard from 8th back past 30th place all running 2 and 3-wide as the drivers started to feel more comfortable. With the first 15 laps behind them, the front runners were quickly closing on Graaf up front who was quickly falling off the pace. Carter dove under Graaf and was able to clear into the lead with Dempster running close behind. Eckrich was up to 4th and broke away from the large pack of drivers as he started reeling in the leaders.

Dempster wasted no time going after the lead as the caution came out on lap 23 from contact between Will Farmer and Saif Faries resulted in a several drivers getting caught out. Dempster maintained the lead after completing his pit cycle with Eckrich in 2nd. Racing resumed with Eckrich staying alongside Dempster off the jump taking the lead away going into lap 27. Jaime was able to close in on Eckrich taking the lead for himself a few laps later with much of the field shuffling for position.

Vincent Crow was moving up toward the front on the field clearing around Dempster into 3rd and looking to challenge Eckrich for 2nd place. Cosmin Ioanesiu, last week’s winner at Auto Club Speedway, was quietly moving up through the field into 6th place as Eckrich was starting to drop back giving up positions to Crow and Dempster. The field continued making aggressive moves throughout to close out the first half of the night with Crow and Jaime battling hard over the lead.

Crow was holding the lead over Dempster as they crossed the halfway point in the race to secure the bonus stage points before handing the lead over to Dempster. Ioanesiu was maintaining a strong pace running up to 3rd and looking under Crow for 2nd with Colton Salek close behind. Cautions plagued the 2nd half of the race with drivers making more aggressive moves resulting in shuffling the running order around as differing pit strategies staggered the field. Crow was in control of the field over Ioanesiu with 30 laps remaining.

With drivers running into more problems, cautions helped Eckrich get back within reach of the lead with Mike Rasimas breaking into the top 5 going into the last 10 laps. Crow still had a strong hold on the race lead and broke away from the field with Ioanesiu in tow as Eckrich and Rasimas went side by side over 3rd place. One last caution came out restacking the field for a 3-lap shootout with Crow still in the lead. Vincent Crow held the lead unchallenged to take the checkered flag with Scott Eckrich taking 2nd place away from Cosmin Ioanesiu in the end. Colton Salek and Mike Rasimas round out the top 5 tonight at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.

Vincent Crow further extends his lead with 215 points with Jake Silvia now 36 points behind him. Cosmin Ioanesiu jumps up 5 spots into 3rd with 166 points, Thomas George drops back to 4th with 165 points, and Jeff Ward rounds out the top 5 with 163 points. The Pretty Good Racing League next heads to Phoenix Raceway for the “MARSS Properties Vacation Rentals 250K” on March 14th with all the action broadcast live at 8:50PM ET exclusively on the Virtual Grip Network!

PGRL S4 R2 Recap

28 February 2023
Pretty Good Racing League | Season 4 | Round 2
Premier Series | Auto Club Speedway

Cosmin Ioanesiu with Nexxus eSports took the checkered flag tonight in the Alex’s “Totally Legal” Race Engines 200 presented by Julesburg Farms with the Pretty Good Racing League at Auto Club Speedway ahead of Colton Salek and Thomas George. Talking about having to come from the back of the field after being caught up in an incident early in the 1st half of the night, Ioanesiu commented, “We got back on cycle with everybody and just methodically worked the car through the field and somehow got into a position to win it. Runs were made, blocks were thrown, wrecks were had, and somehow, we got a win. I’d say that sums up pretty good.”

Alex Graetz was in command of the 41-car field as the green flag came out with Tim Winecoff to his outside going into the first corner. Saif Faries was making an early charge for the lead diving low as he tried to find the speed to Challenge Graetz. Through the opening laps several drivers struggled to get into a groove and were sent sliding across the infield after misjudging corner exit bringing out early cautions with Graetz under pressure from Norm Pelletier.

Graetz continued to control the field until Cody Dempster took the lead away 22 laps into the night as the top 8 drivers pulled away from the rest of the field. Jeff Ward was making an aggressive move up to the front battling side by side with Faires for several laps as he tried to position himself to take advantage of the halfway point bonus points moving up to challenge Dempster. Ward kept the pressure up around several laps and were quickly approaching the fuel window as another caution came out from contact between Scott Eckrich and Ryan Rose battling over 10th place.

After cycling through pit road, racing resumed going into lap 36 with Dempster still in the lead. Chris Stofer and Colton Salek battled over 2nd as Ward started climbing back up to the leader from 6th place. Vincent Crow was finding a lot of speed along the highline and was quickly pushing up to 4th. Stofer secured 2nd place and immediately cleared around Dempster for the lead as Ward moved up to 3rd being pushed by Crow. The racing up front became intense approaching lap 50 as the drivers fought to get as many bonus points as possible with Ward sacrificing tire wear to jump out front crossing the line into the 2nd half before immediately falling back through the field.

Dempster reclaimed the lead as Ward continued to drop back with Stofer and Salek again battling for 2nd. Thomas George, last season’s points champion, was running in 5th making calculated moves as he quietly moved up toward the front of the field. Salek closed in on Dempster and made several attempts for the lead but wasn’t able to make anything stick with Crow moving up into 3rd and reeling the leaders in. The caution came out on lap 62 when Stofer got loose going down the backstretch giving the drivers an opportune chance to come down pit road within reach of the end in regard to the fuel window.

Salek won the race off pit road and took the lead from Dempster for the restart with 35 laps remaining. Dempster and Crow were able to take advantage as Salek dropped off the pace and started battling over the lead as the laps quickly counted down. Jake Silvia caught the battle and started pressuring Crow as Dempster cleared out front. Graetz rejoined the lead pack and was making aggressive low dives trying to make up any positions he could running in 5th behind Doug Roth.

Salek again started pushing for the lead as the front pack grew larger with time running out. Dempster had a strong hold of the lead with Silvia and Salek running single file tight on his bumper waiting for a mistake out of him going into the closing laps. Cosmin Ioanesiu was quickly climbing up through the lead pack and was up to 4th and quickly reeled Salek as Crow fell back to 5th and was under pressure from Michael Chrobok. Another caution came out with 19 laps to go restacking the field.

The drivers all came down pit road for tires with Dempster leading the field for the restart ahead of Silvia, Ioanesiu, and Salek. With 15 laps remaining in the night, racing resumed with Silvia stayed alongside Dempster for the lead. Salek tried to get under Ioanesiu for 3rd but couldn’t get clear running side by side for several laps until another caution halted the action again.

The green flag came back out going into the final 10 laps with dempster still in control of the field. Off the jump, Dempster was instantly under pressure as he went 3-wide with Silvia and Ioanesiu for the lead. The top 9 hard broke away from the rest of the field with the leading pack pushing their cars to the limit all scrambling to get as good of a finish as possible. Coming down the front stretch with 3 laps to go, Salek tried to force a 3-wide situation driving up between Silvia and Dempster resulting in both drivers sliding across the infield and handing the lead and race win over to Cosmin Ioanesiu taking the checkered flag under yellow flag conditions with Colton Salek holding onto 2nd. Thomas George, Vincent Crow, and Michael Chrobok round out the top 5 tonight at Auto Club Speedway.

Vincent Crow stretches out his lead with 136 points with Jake Silvia now 12 points behind him. Thomas George jumps up 4 spots into 3rd with 120 points, Jeff Ward is up 4 spots into 4th with 115 points, and Michael Chrobok rounds out the top 5 with 114 points. The Pretty Good Racing League next heads to Las Vegas for the “MARSS Properties Vacation Rentals 200” at Las Vegas Motor Speedway on March 7th with all the action broadcast live at 8:50PM ET exclusively on the Virtual Grip Network!

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!

PGRL S3 R12 Recap

08 November 2022
Pretty Good Racing League | Season 3 | Round 12
Premier Series | Phoenix Raceway
Sim Racing Software: iRacing

Thomas George with Steel Horse Racing took the checkered flag as well as the Season 3 Championship tonight in the MC² Editing Services Leading the Way 250k at Phoenix Raceway with the Pretty Good Racing League ahead of Cody Dempster and Michael Chrobok. “We fricken did it!”, George exclaimed as the official points results were released live. “I just said to myself, you just gotta go out and you have to do what you can do, and you know let stuff play out as it’s supposed to… I can’t believe it!”

Isaiah Dupre led the 22-car field to the green flag to kick off the last race of 2022. The early stages of the race saw several drivers struggling with loose conditions on cold tires until getting settled in with the first 10 laps behind them. Mike Rasimas took the lead ahead of Thomas George and Woody Mahan as Dupre fell far back into the field. Michael Chrobok, the points leader coming into the night, was up to 7th and quietly climbing up through traffic making the calculated moves we’ve seen from him all season.

George took control of the field away from Rasimas going into lap 16 and started checking off laps as the field started to spread out around the track with very few side by side battles. Scott Eckrich climbed up into the top 10 running behind Jeff Ward making their expected charge to the front with only 25 laps completed. Going into lap 33, Cody Dempster got loose and slid up toward the outside wall catching Eckrich and bringing out the caution flag giving the leaders a safe chance to come down pit road with George still in control of the field as the green flag came back out.

Yaczik stayed close behind George off the restart with Ward quickly closing on the leading battle from 3rd. Chrobok was up to 5th behind Adam Jurski and Eckrich seemed to be out for the night with significant damage from the earlier incident with Dempster. The drivers were settled into a groove with the laps counting down going into the 2nd half of the night. All 3 championship contenders were running up front with George still in the lead followed by Chrobok and Yaczik. Ward had fallen off the pace and was over 2 seconds behind the leaders running in 5th behind Rasimas.

Chrobok made a risky move coming down pit road under the green flag very early in an attempt to undercut George for the lead. Yaczik saw the move and came down pit road on the following lap, but unfortunately for both drivers Jordan Harnish lost his car trying to get slowed for pit entry and brought out the caution flag forcing Chrobok and Yaczik to restart from the tail of the field going into lap 82 with George still in the lead. Off the jump, George quickly started to pull away from the field building up a gap of over 1 second in the first few laps.

Chrobok was again quietly climbing up through the field back up to 7th as Rasimas was closing the gap to George in the lead with 100 laps completed. Dempster had cleared around Greg O’Berry for 3rd with Ward running directly behind them in 5th. Going into the final 50 laps, 13 drivers were still on the lead lap with George still holding a strong pace in the lead. Yaczik seemed to be struggling running in 11th behind a 3-car battle for 8th between Chance Manning, Rich Jette, and Dupre.

Chrobok reeled Ward and Harnish in and tried to split them. Chrobok was able to clear Ward and dove under Harnish moving up into 5th making aggressive moves to make up lost time with the laps quickly counting down. George and Chrobok came down pit road together on lap 117 under green flag conditions handing the race lead over to Rasimas for the moment. The final pit cycle was completed through the field with 20 laps remaining with George in the lead ahead of Dempster and Chrobok. Chrobok was consistently closing on Dempster who was running a few car lengths behind the leader.

Going into the final 10 laps, the top 3 were coming closer together as Dempster and Chrobok continued to put down faster lap times than George with the leaders quickly negotiating through dense lap traffic. As the checkered flag came out, Thomas George was able to hold the lead and take the final win of the season and secure the season championship with Cody Dempster, Michael Chrobok, Mike Rasimas, and Isaiah Dupre rounding out the top 5 tonight at Phoenix Raceway.

Thomas George overtook Michael Chrobok for the points lead tonight by 2 points to take the championship with 418 points overall. Brian Yaczik finished the season out in 3rd with 394 points. Scott Eckrich held onto 4th place with 350 and Cody Dempster moved up into 5th with 338 points as Season 3 came to a close. The drivers of the Pretty Good Racing League now head off into the off season, but you can find them back here for Season 4 next February on the Virtual Grip Network!

PGRL S3 R11 Recap

01 November 2022
Pretty Good Racing League | Season 3 | Round 11
Premier Series | Martinsville Speedway
Sim Racing Software: iRacing

Michael Chrobok with Loud Pedal Motorsports took the checkered flag in a very chaotic run at Martinsville Speedway in the The Joy of Driving Martinsville 500 with the Pretty Good Racing League ahead of Adam Jurski and Greg O’Berry. “The strategy just kind of worked out for and fell into our cards with the timing of the cautions and stuff”, Chrobok shared with us as the night came to a close, “I kind of just tried to run a pace… at the end and kind of hold a track position.”

Greg O’Berry was in control of the 19-car field as the green flag came out to kick off the night’s action with Christopher Dewald to his outside. The front 3 drivers quickly went single file off the jump with James Moore quickly looking to advance up into 2nd around Dewald. In the opening laps, many drivers were struggling through the corners over driving on entry and running up high before recovering as well as losing the rear end of the car on corner exit sliding sideways down the straights.

Thomas George was quietly pushing up through the field up into 3rd with Scott Eckrich directly behind him while the field still struggled to get sorted out. Brian Yaczik ran into trouble early on being sent around after making contact with the inside curb and getting his car high centered only 15 laps into the run. Frequent cautions and restarts plagued the early race causing more problems as the field was not able to get settled in and space themselves out around the track.

27 laps into the night, George was sent around after contact with Tim Winecoff. Luckily for George, the approaching traffic was able to avoid making further contact and George was able to rejoin the track from 14th with minor damage. Winecoff ran into troubles of his own a few laps later making hard contact with the inside wall receiving significant damage as James Moore made a move for the lead holding it briefly before O’Berry took it back a lap later with Eckrich running in 3rd.

Yaczik and George came together after Yaczik got loose coming out of turn 2 also making contact with Adam Jurski 40 laps in with O’Berry still holding the lead. Michael Chrobok was the first driver to come down pit road so far in the race under the latest caution without being involved in an incident. As racing resumed, Mike Rasimas was up to 4th as Eckrich made a quick move to the inside of Moore for 2nd place. Yaczik was able to get back into the top 10 with George up to 8th with 60 laps completed with the field being able to get mostly single filed out for the first time of the night.

With 100 laps completed, the drivers were over 30 laps into the first long green flag run of the night. Chrobok was holding the lead with O’Berry and Eckrich following almost 1 second behind on gap on fresher tires. George was running in 4th and Yaczik in 6th behind Norm Pelletier. Yaczik was able to move up into 5th putting pressure on George going forward as the drivers all seemed to find their grooves with the laps continuing to count down approaching the halfway point of the night.

Eckrich cleared around O’Berry into 2nd and immediately closed on Chrobok in the lead. A few moments later, George was also able to get around O’Berry putting some distance between himself and Yaczik going into lap 128. 2 laps later, Eckrich got under Chrobok taking away the lead with George following him around into 2nd. Yaczik had cleared around O’Berry and soon overtook Chrobok for 3rd running the outside line. With 100 laps remaining, Eckrich was able to stretch his lead out to over 3 seconds as Yaczik closed the gap to George and cleared into 2nd place.

As the laps counted down, the field was mostly single file spread out around the track with Eckrich still in the lead. Yaczik held onto 2nd place with O’Berry holding off George for 3rd. After going through the final pit cycle under a caution, George took the lead ahead of Adam Jurski and Chrobok. Yaczik was back in 5th with Eckrich running in 7th with 50 laps remaining. The field was again shuffled after several chaotic restarts giving the lead over to Chrobok with Jurski directly behind him with 20 laps to go.

Eckrich was aggressively pushing back up through the field running in 4th and pressuring O’Berry hard for 3rd. Yaczik was back in 6th ahead of George with Rasimas consistently pushing up through the field in 8th. On lap 238, Eckrich made a move to the inside of O’Berry but contact was made as Eckrich tried to clear ahead putting Eckrich hard into the outside wall with race ending damage. The race stayed green from the incident and Michael Chrobok maintained the lead to take the checkered flag with Adam Jurski, Greg O’Berry, Brian yaczik, and Thomas George rounding out the top 5 tonight at Martinsville Speedway.

Michael Chrobok jumped up two spots into the lead with 378 points over Thomas George with 369 points. Brian Yaczik fell back to 3rd place with 360 points. Scott Eckrich holds onto 4th with 327 points and Woody Mahan rounds out the top 5 with 299 points. Next week, the Pretty Good Racing League heads to Phoenix Raceway on November 8th for the season finale in the MC2 Editing Services Leading the Way 250K with all of the intense action broadcast live at 8:50PM ET exclusively on the Virtual Grip Network!

PGRL S3 R10 Recap

25 October 2022
Pretty Good Racing League | Season 3 | Round 10
Premier Series | Homestead-Miami Speedway
Sim Racing Software: iRacing

Scott Eckrich with GRAFFix LC Motorsports took the checkered flag by 0.056 seconds tonight in a shootout to the end in the High, Wide, and Handsome 200 presented by The Joy of Driving at Homestead-Miami Speedway with the Pretty Good Racing League ahead of Michael Chrobok and Brian Yaczik. Commenting on the late race caution, Scott shared with us, “You never like to see that especially after such a long green flag run… It’s never fun when a giant saving race turns into a hot lapper because you know you gotta like find the edge immediately or you’re going to lose.”

Woody Mahan took the green flag on the pole of the 20-car field with James Moore to his outside. As Mahan cleared ahead of Moore, Brian Yaczik pushed to the inside overtaking both drivers on the 2nd lap. Moore stayed with Yaczik challenging for the lead knocking Yaczik back to 3rd behind Jonathan Cogswell. With 10 laps behind them, Cogswell became the 4th different leader early in the race with Moore looking to take the position back. Scott Eckrich was quietly climbing up through the field up 8 positions from his 20th place start.

Coming off a restart, Yaczik was able to charge back to the front to battle for the lead with Moore with 20 laps completed. Jordan Harnish took advantage of the restart making up several positions and was pressuring Moore for 2nd place. Yaczik was in control of the field ahead of Cogswell as another caution came out when Moore who was in the lead got loose and spun around 35 laps into the run. The field came down pit road before restacking to again take the green flag.

Yaczik had a good launch off the restart pulling out to a strong lead. Mike Rasimas was up to 3rd with newcomer Barrett Polhemus battling with him. Michael Chrobok climbed up into the top 5 and was looking to challenge both drivers going forward. Yaczik seemed to be relaxing his pace to save his equipment for a longer run as he gave up the lead and fell back to 3rd ahead of Rasimas with 50 laps completed. Cogswell moved up into the lead with Polhemus close behind.

65 laps in the night, Polhemus and Chrobok were running side by side battling for the lead with Chrobok to the inside and Eckrich overtook Rasimas for 3rd as Eckrich started pushing much more aggressively going into the 2nd half of the race. Polhemus reached the first lap traffic on lap 72 with Chrobok and Eckrich single file directly behind him keeping the pressure high. Eckrich was able to overtake Chrobok for 2nd closing in on Polhemus before diving deep to take away the lead with 80 laps completed.

Drivers started coming down pit road under green flag conditions in small groups of few cars at a time going into the final 50 laps as the field settled into a groove and were spreading out around the track. As the pit cycle completed, Polhemus was again in control of the field with almost 1 second between himself and Rasimas in 2nd and Eckrich several seconds back in 3rd. Chrobok and Yaczik were over 3 seconds behind Eckrich and were battling hard over 4th place as the laps counted down.

With 30 laps remaining, Eckrich had completely closed the gap to the leader and was aggressively pressuring Polhemus. Eckrich stayed tight against Polhemus for nearly 20 laps before seeing his opportunity on lap 122 to dive beneath Polhemus to take away the lead with 12 laps to go. A late race caution came out a lap later setting up a sprint to the end. Eckrich was in the lead ahead of Chrobok and Polhemus as the field came back together after the pit cycle to take the green flag once again.

Eckrich had a good jump off the start with Chrobok close behind holding off Thomas George. Yaczik got a nose beneath George to take 3rd place while Chrobok tried to get a good enough run to make a pass attempt with 4 laps remaining. Chrobok clear into the lead but Eckrich was still pushing and reclaimed the position before taking the white flag. Chrobok lined up for another attempt coming out of the final corner, but it wasn’t enough as Scott Eckrich took the checkered flag ahead of Michael Chrobok by 0.056 with Brian Yaczik, Thomas George, and Barrett Polhemus rounding out the top 5 tonight at Homestead-Miami Speedway.

Thomas George holds onto the lead with 363 points over Brian Yaczik with 349 points. Michael Chrobok holds onto 3rd place with 339 points. Scott Eckrich moved up 2 spots into 4th with 299 points as Cody Dempster rounds out the top 5 with 296 points. Next week, the Pretty Good Racing League heads to Martinsville Speedway on November 1st for the Joy of Driving Martinsville 250 with all of the intense action broadcast live at 8:50PM ET exclusively on the Virtual Grip Network!