HAGERSTOWN, Md. — It has been an interesting week for Pennsylvania Speedweek.
The weather has won the last two nights, but finally, on Wednesday, teams were back in action at Hagerstown Speedway for what’s supposed to be the sixth race—but in reality, is just the third night of action.
As new faces unloaded and try to challenge the Pennsylvania Posse, it feels weird to say this is the midpoint of the 33rd annual Pennsylvania Speedweek. Drivers feeling like they’ve been doing everything but racing.
“We’ve been talking about that all week," said Kyle Reinhardt, driver #91 Capital Renegade. "We’ve been golfing and do this and doing that. Not the normal gruel of Pa. Speedweek"
Although the weather can always be a factor, a few drivers say you can’t look at the big picture.
“Just kind of have to stay what we’re doing and kind of grind it out," Justin Peck, driver #13 Buch Motorsports, said. "It’s really easy to get in your head that you have to make things happen and then stuff starts going worse for you."
“I feel like every night is just its own night, and if you’re behind that night, you can’t be worried about tomorrow," said Reinhardt. "We need to be focused on fixing that night."
“Every race we go to, we want to win, and ultimately if you win races, you’ll get to the top," said Danny Dietrich, driver #48 Gary Kauffman Racing. "There’s nothing more you can do other than try and go and win your heat, win the feature, set quick time and do the best you can all night long."
Dillsburg’s Anthony Macri is in a world of his own, setting the pace and winning the first two races. A win would be huge for any driver. Before Hagerstown, 82 points was the difference between second and sixth place.
“Probably rather be second on the track, that way I can choose what I’m going to do," said Peck. "Being second in points is tough because you have to beat that guy every night. You never want anyone to have any misfortune but hopes maybe blows a tire or something."
As long as the weather doesn’t play a larger role than it already has, it could feel more like Speedweek with six straight days of racing. As we hope the streak continues, every team in the pits was hoping to end Macri's streak, but it doesn’t help when he’s the fastest qualifier and starts on the pole.
The Concrete Kid who everyone is chasing for the Pa. Speedweek title led the field to green, but he didn’t just run away with it.
Brent Marks was right there and actually snuck his nose in by to lead lap number six, but it was short lived. Macri took the lead right back. He parked it right in front of the Myerstown Missile.
There were only two cautions during the feature, and they both were Jake Swanson—racing for Alex Bowman—who spun in turn both times.
It was a single file restart, two ticks past halfway. Marks didn’t give up. He was finding a line just a few inches off the top to gain speed. When the lap count clicked to under 10 to go, it was a slider fest. Marks and Macri swapped leads too many times to count.
On the final lap, Marks had more speed off turn two to steal the lead for the final time and pick up the Speedweek win at Hagerstown.
“That was one heck of a race," said Marks. "It was a lot of fun and me and Anthony were just so equal. It was so hard to get runs on him, and I felt like when I got a run on him, tried to make a pass. He would get back underneath me and try to pull away, and we would come back close to each other, again. It was a lot of back and forth, cat and mouse game. It was a really fun race and just had a blast racing here at Hagerstown."
The action picks back up at Lincoln Speedway later on today as a rain make up date from Monday's race.