After The Flag Vol. 3 (Apr 1-7)

​HTRL
Race 4 of the High Tide Racing League MF Racing Designs Cup Series saw the conclusion of the double-header in the desert, with a swing to the older 2008 scan of Avondale, Arizona's Phoenix Raceway. The track proved tricky early on, with numerous drivers spinning the wheels and causing a major multi-car crash on the frontstretch when attempting to take the green flag.

Despite a "bumpy" start, much of the race would run caution-free, with the longest stretch seeing over half the race run under a green flag stretch after the first 25 laps. The older scan threw an extra wrench into the works with a particularly challenging dogleg, a little bump at the apex, and the bumpy nature of the stretch leading to it catching several cars out. A late race caution would push the race into two overtime attempts.

Michael Thorpe Jr. attempted to make a run at victory in the last 2 laps, although would lose it on that dogleg bump on the final lap, handing victory to Nick Nickerson.

BEER
The BEER League made it's swing to Japan, but this time to the Okayama International Circuit. While a wildly different venue from Fuji, the last Japanese circuit to host the BEER League, Okayama proved to be just as entertaining.

The constant elevation changes and wild variety of turns made it a genuine thrill to watch, with drivers able to go for monumental lunges. Alex Koffard of course made his signature drive through the field to secure a 2nd place. This was helped by a twist 3rd caution in the final 15 minutes, a result of a technical issue with the FCY program. This gave us an absolutely incredible 5 minute shootout to end the race.

Alexander Hammonds took an absolutely astounding 5th race win of the season. With Koffard getting a podium though, it's anyone's guess how the points will look entering the season finale next week.

​SPEED
Thursday saw a new record being set in the SPEED Tires Plus Cup Series, with a whopping 21 cautions in race down in Martinsville. The half mile proved to be a significant challenge for the field, as incidents both self-inflicted and with car-to-car contact were plentiful. Perhaps even more shocking was there were not one, but two flips in the race.

The first coming in the form of Andrew Levielle, rolling his car as he tried to turn around after spinning into the turn 4 wall. The second was courtesy of Josh Emerson, losing control and slamming the inside wall on a late-race restart, causing him to barrel roll twice down the frontstretch. There's much sentiment that it is not a race drivers are eager to dwell on.

TNGG
The lone road course race of the season would see Watkins Glen host the TNGG IEL Truck Series for a 50 lap dash. TNGG administration took several measures to try and mitigate what was an otherwise horribly loose truck with the setups provided, including raising the fuel restriction from 55%, to 65%, as well as enforcing a static weather condition throughout the race to prevent major track changes.

Despite their best efforts though, the race was marred with numerous incidents, though most of them thankfully didn't cause major issues. The highlight of the race was an almost race-long battle between Scott Rankin and Brennan Gregg, with both drivers never being separated by more than about a second on the track. The battle came to a dramatic close as Rankin was wiped out by Paul Witt while trying to lap him. Brennan Gregg did sustain damage late in the race, but would hang on for the closing laps to take his first win of the season.

CIS
The Classic Indycar Series would begin its western swing with a trip down to the Sonoma Raceway, one of the most technical tracks on the CIS calendar. 23 cars would start the race, although not all would even see the end of the first lap, as a major pileup in the opening corners knocked a couple out of the race.

It was a race primarily of pit strategy, and Ethan Agan proved he is going to be a championship contender all season long by leading every single lap of the race. A dramatic incident occurred in the last 20 laps, with Andrew Wood and Johnny Garrett engaged in a hard-fought battle, that would come to a close when Wood and Garrett collided in the rapid turn 10, resulting in Garrett slamming hard into the tire barriers.

ASRL
It seemed to be a week for difficult tracks, as the ASRL NextGen Cup Series would visit "The track too tough to tame." Darlington Speedway proved to be a significant challenge to overcome, with the field breaking up relatively early in the running. A mistimed caution just shy of halfway during a pit stop cycle trapped over half the field a lap down.

One of the big highlights was both Joshua and Corey Rutherford duking it out for their first podium finishes of the season, an honor that would go to Joshua, with Corey having to settle for 4th. Kyle Zittel entered the race sitting 15 points outside of the championship bubble, and was hoping for a good points day. Despite leading several laps, he would eventually fall back, seeing the points gap extend from 15, to 27.

Hunter Engrav would be caught out by the pit stop and be trapped a lap down, but would eventually manage to get a lucky dog later in the race. This allowed Engrav to mount a charge in the last 30 laps, to take his 3rd win of the season, extending his points gap.

GREENFLAGTV RACE OF THE WEEK
This week's Race Of The Week award was a close race between two leagues, but it would eventually be the OMSRL Truck Series that won out.

The final regular season race would see the Tuesday night championship swing back to Hampton, Georgia and the high-speed Atlanta Motor Speedway. The race was jam-packed with action, sporting a whopping 32 lead changes, with 4th place finisher Brandan Kluge leading the most laps of 33. 6 cautions would disrupt the 100 lap race, spread out throughout the races duration. It was an intense ride, that led for little chance to breathe.

It would come down in a shootout at the end of the race, where Austyn McColgin would make a last lap pass for the win, taking it by just 0.065. The victory lap would be McColgin's only lap led of the afternoon.

The biggest story though came with the chase drivers. Matt Cherry was anticipated to be one of the drivers locked in. However with him bowing out of competition the week prior, this allowed for the 10th spot to open, which put 3rd place runner Zachary Kreiser into the final chase spot. The other chase drivers are Shawn Kaiser, Brandan Kluge, Barrett Morton, Jacob Noyes, Robert Peterson, Noah Rainwater, Spenser Ray, Nathan Shiflett, and Gage Tefft.

WEEKLY WINNERS
​Nick Nickerson: HTRL MFRD Cup Series -- Race 4, Phoenix Raceway
Austyn McColgin: OMSRL Truck Series -- Race 11, Atlanta Motor Speedway
Alexander Hammonds: BEER League -- Race 11, Okayama International Circuit
Devin Pierog: SPEED Tires Plus Cup Series -- Race 8, Martinsville Speedway
Brennan Gregg: TNGG IEL Truck Series -- Race 5, Watkins Glen International
Ethan Agan: Classic Indycar Series -- Race 2, Sonoma Raceway
Hunter Engrav: ASRL NextGen Cup Series -- Race 9, Darlington Raceway

NEXT WEEK
HTRL MF Racing Designs Cup Series Race 5 -- Texas Motor Speedway
OMSRL Truck Series Race 12 -- North Wilkesboro Speedway
BEER League Season Finale -- Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course
SPEED Tires Plus Cup Series Race 9 -- Texas Motor Speedway
VSCA SportsCar Championship Race 4 -- WeatherTech Raceway
TNGG IEL Truck Series Race 6 -- New Hampshire Motor Speedway
​ASRL NextGen Cup Series Race 10 -- Phoenix Raceway