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Austin McCarl holds off Aaron Reutzel for first-ever All Star victory in thriller at Park Jefferson International Speedway

5/31/2020
Austin McCarl holds off Aaron Reutzel for first-ever All Star victory in thriller at Park Jefferson International Speedway

JEFFERSON, S.D. (May 30, 2020) - Unarguably one of the the most exciting main event outcomes in Ollie’s Bargain Outlet All Star Circuit of Champions presented by Mobil 1 and Bumper-to-Bumper IRA Series history, Altoona, Iowa’s Austin McCarl accomplished the near-impossible on Saturday night at Park Jefferson International Speedway in Jefferson, South Dakota, and held off two-time and defending All Star champion, Aaron Reutzel, for a first-ever Series victory and a $6,900 top prize. Originally slated to award $6,600, Kevin Rudeen of Rudeen Racing bumped the winner’s share an extra $300 to award $6,900.

Ending with a final margin of victory equalling a fraction of a second, McCarl and Reutzel’s battle for the lead was relentless, exchanging command lap after lap, and sometimes multiple times a lap, during a wild trek through traffic over the final eight circuits. Even the final lap was a barn burner with Reutzel leading the duo down the backstretch and into turn three. Although Reutzel did his best to protect the bottom and shut down any last-ditch effort by McCarl to regain control, the attempt failed, as McCarl was able to maneuver under Reutzel, giving him a slight “kiss” to the inside nerf bar before beating the current All Star championship points leader back to the flagstand.

“I was just trying to beat Aaron (Reutzel),” an elated Austin McCarl laughed, who kicked off the evening with a heat race and dash victory aboard his TMAC Motorsports No. 17A. “I was just trying to run my own race and do what was best for my car. The bottom was better for me, but he was better than me moving up around guys. The bottom was so good there that I was just trying to hit my marks and get guys going down the straightaway and into the corner when they got tight. I just can’t thank my family and supporters enough. To get my first All Star win with my sponsors here, and everyone watching at home, it’s a night i’ll never forget.”

Starting from the pole position, Columbus, Indiana’s Tony Stewart led the first six circuits before Rudeen Racing’s Cory Eliason slipped underneath the three-time NASCAR Cup Series champion to lead lap seven. By lap ten, Eliason and Stewart found themselves swallowed up in slower cars, eventually allowing Stewart to close in on Eliason and regain command on lap 13. Unfortunately for Eliason, a tangle with traffic on lap 14 ended his attempt to regain the top spot, eventually spinning to a stop between turns three and four.

McCarl, who was racing just behind the top-two at the time of the caution, utilized the ensuing restart to slip by Stewart to officially lead lap 14. Reutzel, who started eighth on the feature grid, followed McCarl by Stewart to take second on lap 15. An onslaught of slower traffic on lap 18 allowed Reutzel to close in on McCarl, ultimately igniting a fierce battle between the two frontrunners.

Buzzing the topside, Reutzel drove around McCarl to lead lap 20, only to be denied by McCarl the following circuit with a bold move in turns three and four to complete lap 21. Two circuits later, Reutzel was back on top, desperately trying to separate himself from McCarl with only two laps to navigate. Determined to beat the two-time champ, McCarl quickly persevered, slipping underneath Reutzel to lead lap 24, all before the aforementioned “kiss and run” in the final corner on lap 25.

“It was pretty wild there between Aaron and I in traffic,” McCarl continued. “I saw the white flag and he got around me in one. He did a really good job to open up on me coming out of two and chopping me in turns three and four. He just barely left the door open a little bit and I just kinda stuck my nose in there and gave him a little kiss. I was just trying to win the race and I don’t think it was anything Aaron Reutzel wouldn’t have done. I have a ton of respect for him and his team. They are doing a great job.”

Aaron Reutzel crossed under the flagstand second, followed by Danny Dietrich, Tony Stewart, and Paul McMahan.

What’s Next:
After four days of travel and rest, the Ollie’s Bargain Outlet All Star Circuit of Champions presented by Mobil 1 will continue their trek through the central time zone with a visit to Lawton Speedway in Lawton, Oklahoma, on Thursday, June 4, officially commencing the 2020 edition of Cometic Gasket Thunder Through The Plains presented by Hercules Tires. The Lawton visit will kick-off three straight days of action in the Sooner State with stops at Red Dirt Raceway and Outlaw Motor Speedway to follow, respectively.

Online Coverage:
Each and every event on the 2020 Ollie’s Bargain Outlet All Star Circuit of Champions presented by Mobil 1 schedule will be broadcast live exclusively at www.floracing.com. To access live and on-demand racing action from the All Star Circuit of Champions, visit www.floracing.com and become an annual PRO subscriber. The subscription unlocks access to premium content across the entire FloSports network. Watch the events across all screens by downloading the FloSports app on iOS, Android, Apple TV, Roku, Amazon Fire and Chromecast.

Contingency Awards/Results: Park Jefferson International Speedway - May 30, 2020:
Event: All Stars and IRA Invade Park Jefferson
Entries: 42
C&R Racing All Star Warm-Ups: Aaron Reutzel - 13.379
Lincoln Electric Fast Qualifier: Aaron Reutzel - 12.989
Ford Performance Heat #1 Winner: Justin Peck
All Pro Aluminum Cylinder Heads Heat #2 Winner: Hunter Schuerenberg
Hunt Brothers Pizza Heat #3 Winner: Austin McCarl
Mobil 1 Heat #4 Winner: Tony Stewart
Kistler Racing Products Heat #5 Winner: Chad Boespflug
JE Pistons Dash #1 Winner: Tony Stewart
Kear's Speed Shop Dash #2 Winner: Austin McCarl
Classic Ink USA Screenprinting & Embroidery B-Main Winner: Skylar Gee
Rayce Rudeen Foundation First Non-Transfer: Josh Baughman
Ollie’s Bargain Outlet A-Main Winner: Austin McCarl
Hercules Tire A-Main Hard Charger: Jake Blackhurst (+10)
(Lincoln Electric, Hercules Tire, Rayce Rudeen Foundation: Need decal to qualify for contingency award)

Qualifying

Group (A)

  1. 3Z-Brock Zearfoss, 13.179; 2. 26-Cory Eliason, 13.255; 3. 70-Justin Peck, 13.293; 4. O9-Matt Juhl, 13.338; 5. 5J-Jeremy Schultz, 13.583; 6. 22-Cole Duncan, 13.671; 7. 14m-Jack Rouston, 13.912; 8. 35L-Cody Ledger, 14.283; 9. 14K-Victoria Knutson, 16.644

Group (B)

  1. 7-Justin Henderson, 13.258; 2. 17B-Bill Balog, 13.383; 3. 55-Hunter Schuerenberg, 13.433; 4. 23-Russel Borland, 13.652; 5. 44-Trey Starks, 13.682; 6. 2W-Scotty Neitzel, 13.817; 7. Os-Brandon Stevenson, 14.192; 8. 2K-Kevin Ingle, 14.424; 9. O-Johnny Fahl, 14.495

Group (C)

  1. 13-Paul McMahan, 13.279; 2. 17A-Austin McCarl, 13.298; 3. 4-Terry McCarl, 13.371; 4. 17-Josh Baughman, 13.394; 5. 3-Tim Kaeding, 13.403; 6. 73-Jake Blackhurst, 13.506; 7. 99-Skylar Gee, 13.849; 8. 33-James Broty, 14.111

Group (D)

  1. 14-Tony Stewart, 13.172; 2. 48-Danny Dietrich, 13.179; 3. 21-Brinton Marvel, 13.573; 4. 88-Kyle Offill, 13.578; 5. 3p-Sawyer Phillips, 13.672; 6. 44M-Chris Martin, 13.934; 7. 29-Hunter Custer, 14.288; 8. 55m-McKenna Haase, 99.991

Group (E)

  1. 87-Aaron Reutzel, 12.989; 2. 11-Zeb Wise, 13.114; 3. 35-Skylar Prochaska, 13.324; 4. 2ks-Chad Boespflug, 13.357; 5. W20-Greg Wilson, 13.455; 6. O5-Colin Smith, 13.662; 7. 8H-Jade Hastings, 13.731; 8. 97-Alan Gilbertson, 13.855

Heat #1 - Group (A) (8 Laps) - Top 4 Transfer

  1. 70-Justin Peck [2]; 2. O9-Matt Juhl [1]; 3. 3Z-Brock Zearfoss [4]; 4. 26-Cory Eliason [3]; 5. 22-Cole Duncan [6]; 6. 5J-Jeremy Schultz [5]; 7. 14M-Jack Rouston [7]; 8. 35L-Cody Ledger [8]; 9. 14K-Victoria Knutson [9]

Heat #2 - Group (B) (8 Laps) - Top 4 Transfer

  1. 55-Hunter Schuerenberg [2]; 2. 7-Justin Henderson [4]; 3. 2W-Scotty Neitzel [6]; 4. 17B-Bill Balog [3]; 5. 23-Russel Borland [1]; 6. 44-Trey Starks [5]; 7. OS-Brandon Stevenson [7]; 8. O-Johnny Fahl [9]; 9. 2K-Kevin Ingle [8]

Heat #3 - Group (C) (8 Laps) - Top 4 Transfer

  1. 17A-Austin McCarl [3]; 2. 4-Terry McCarl [2]; 3. 3-Tim Kaeding [5]; 4. 13-Paul McMahan [4]; 5. 99-Skylar Gee [7]; 6. 17-Josh Baughman [1]; 7. 73-Jake Blackhurst [6]; 8. 33-James Broty [8]

Heat #4 - Group (D) (8 Laps) - Top 4 Transfer

  1. 14-Tony Stewart [4]; 2. 48-Danny Dietrich [3]; 3. 88-Kyle Offill [1]; 4. 44M-Chris Martin [6]; 5. 3P-Sawyer Phillips [5]; 6. 55M-McKenna Haase [8]; 7. 29-Hunter Custer [7]; 8. 21-Brinton Marvel [2]

Heat #5 - Group (E) (8 Laps) - Top 4 Transfer

  1. 2KS-Chad Boespflug [1]; 2. 87-Aaron Reutzel [4]; 3. W20-Greg Wilson [5]; 4. 11-Zeb Wise [3]; 5. 35-Skylar Prochaska [2]; 6. O5-Colin Smith [6]; 7. 8H-Jade Hastings [7]; 8. 97-Alan Gilbertson [8]

Dash #1 (4 Laps)

  1. 14-Tony Stewart [2]; 2. 48-Danny Dietrich [1]; 3. 3Z-Brock Zearfoss [6]; 4. 2KS-Chad Boespflug [4]; 5. 13-Paul McMahan [3]; 6. 11-Zeb Wise [5]

Dash #2 (4 Laps)

  1. 17A-Austin McCarl [4]; 2. 26-Cory Eliason [3]; 3. 70-Justin Peck [1]; 4. 87-Aaron Reutzel [5]; 5. 55-Hunter Schuerenberg [2]; 6. 7-Justin Henderson [6]

B-Main (12 Laps) - Top 4 Transfer

  1. 99-Skylar Gee [6]; 2. 22-Cole Duncan [4]; 3. 35-Skylar Prochaska [1]; 4. 44-Trey Starks [9]; 5. 17-Josh Baughman [2]; 6. 5J-Jeremy Schultz [7]; 7. 73-Jake Blackhurst [11]; 8. 55M-McKenna Haase [10]; 9. 35L-Cody Ledger [18]; 10. 23-Russel Borland [3]; 11. O5-Colin Smith [8]; 12. 21-Brinton Marvel [16]; 13. 29-Hunter Custer [15]; 14. 2K-Kevin Ingle [20]; 15. 33-James Broty [17]; 16. OS-Brandon Stevenson [14]; 17. 14M-Jack Rouston [13]; 18. 3P-Sawyer Phillips [5]; 19. O-Johnny Fahl [19]; 20. 14K-Victoria Knutson [21]; 21. 8H-Jade Hastings [12]; 22. 97-Alan Gilbertson [22]

A-Main (25 Laps)

  1. 17A-Austin McCarl [2]; 2. 87-Aaron Reutzel [8]; 3. 48-Danny Dietrich [3]; 4. 14-Tony Stewart [1]; 5. 13-Paul McMahan [9]; 6. 3Z-Brock Zearfoss [5]; 7. O9-Matt Juhl [13]; 8. 70-Justin Peck [6]; 9. 3-Tim Kaeding [15]; 10. 11-Zeb Wise [11]; 11. 2KS-Chad Boespflug [7]; 12. 7-Justin Henderson [12]; 13. W20-Greg Wilson [16]; 14. 4-Terry McCarl [14]; 15. 55-Hunter Schuerenberg [10]; 16. 22-Cole Duncan [22]; 17. 73-Jake Blackhurst [27]; 18. 88-Kyle Offill [17]; 19. 44-Trey Starks [24]; 20. 17B-Bill Balog [19]; 21. 2W-Scotty Neitzel [18]; 22. 99-Skylar Gee [21]; 23. 44M-Chris Martin [20]; 24. 35-Skylar Prochaska [23]; 25. 5J-Jeremy Schultz [26]; 26. 17-Josh Baughman [25]; 27. 26-Cory Eliason [4] Lap Leaders: Tony Stewart (1-6), Cory Eliason (7-12), Tony Stewart (13), Austin McCarl (14-19), Aaron Reutzel (20), Austin McCarl (21, 22), Aaron Reutzel (23), Austin McCarl (24, 25)

2020 All Star Circuit of Champions Driver Standings: (As of May 30, 2020)

  1. Aaron Reutzel - 296
  2. Austin McCarl - 288
  3. Brock Zearfoss - 280
  4. Justin Henderson - 270
  5. Danny Dietrich - 270
  6. Paul McMahan - 268
  7. Tim Kaeding - 266
  8. Tony Stewart - 262
  9. Zeb Wise - 260
  10. Terry McCarl - 254

2020 All Star Circuit of Champions Winners:
Volusia Speedway Park, Fla. (2/5/2020): Brad Sweet
Volusia Speedway Park, Fla. (2/6/2020): Aaron Reutzel
East Bay Raceway Park, Fla. (2/10/2020): Aaron Reutzel (2)
East Bay Raceway Park, Fla. (2/11/2020): Kyle Larson
Park Jefferson International Speedway, S.D. (5/29/2020): Aaron Reutzel (3)
Park Jefferson International Speedway, S.D. (5/30/2020): Austin McCarl

About the All Star Circuit of Champions:
All Star Enterprises, LLC, wholly owned by Tony Stewart, d/b/a the All Star Circuit of Champions, is a winged sprint car series. The All Star Circuit of Champions Sprint Car Series is one of the oldest traveling 410 sprint car organizations and is a staple of grassroots, open-wheel racing. Formed in 1970 by Bud Miller, the series has largely been considered the first 'outlaw' Sprint Car organization of the modern era. Motorsports entrepreneur Tony Stewart agreed to terms with Guy Webb to become the sole owner of the original winged sprint car tour in January of 2015.

About Ollie’s Bargain Outlet:
Ollie’s Bargain Outlet, Inc., founded in 1982, is one of America’s largest retailers of closeouts and excess inventory, offering real brands at real bargain prices. Famous for its signature catch-phrase Good Stuff Cheap, Ollie’s has a huge variety of famous brand-name merchandise in every department – food, books, housewares, toys, electronics, domestics, clothing, furniture, health and beauty, flooring, seasonal items and so much more – at up to 70 percent off the fancy stores’ prices. You never know what you’ll find at one of Ollie’s 363 “semi-lovely” stores in 25 states. For more information, visit www.ollies.us. Like us on Facebook or find us on Twitter at @OlliesOutlet. Ollie’s is a publicly-traded company on NASDAQ under the ticker symbol OLLI.

About Mobil 1:
The world's leading synthetic motor oil brand, Mobil 1™ features anti-wear technology that provides performance beyond our conventional motor oils. This technology allows Mobil 1 to meet or exceed the toughest standards of car builders and to provide exceptional protection against engine wear, under normal or even some of the most extreme conditions. Mobil 1 flows quickly in extreme temperatures to protect critical engine parts and is designed to maximize engine performance and help extend engine life.

For more information, visit mobiloil.com, on Twitter @Mobil1 and, on Facebook, www.facebook.com/mobil1.

Mobil, Mobil 1 and Mobil 1 Racing are registered trademarks of Exxon Mobil Corporation or one of its subsidiaries.

About FloSports:
Founded in 2006, FloSports is a venture-backed subscription video streaming service dedicated to sports, offering live and on-demand access to hundreds of thousands of competition events across 25+ vertical sport categories in the US and abroad. FloSports’ mission is to give underserved sports the love they deserve. With a growing library of more than 300,000 hours of premium content including news, expert commentary, films, documentaries and more, FloSports has established itself as an innovator and leader in sports streaming. Finally, your sport has a home. For more information, please visit: flosports.tv.

Photo Credit: Tyler Rinken
Contact: Tyler Altmeyer
Ollie’s Bargain Outlet All Star Circuit of Champions presented by Mobil 1
(724) 954-4915, pr@tonystewart.com

Article Credit: Tyler Altmeyer

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