Antinucci holds off Matos in race 2
Antinucci, driving the No. 7 Lucas Oil/Sam Schmidt Motorsports car, charged from the fifth starting position to win the second of the Corning Duels by 0.7202 of a second over Matos. The top six finishers in Race 1 were inverted on the grid for Race 2.
Antinucci overtook teammate Ana Beatriz in Turn 1 of a Lap 9 restart for the point and maintained the advantage for the remaining 20 laps. Beatriz finished third, Logan Gomez was fourth and Pablo Donoso fifth.
Results
|
Pos |
SP | Car | Driver | Laps | Behind | Running/Reason Out |
| 1 | 5 | 7 | Antinucci, Richard | 29 | 0.0000 | Running |
| 2 | 6 | 27 | Matos, Raphael | 29 | 0.7202 | Running |
| 3 | 3 | 20 | Beatriz, Ana | 29 | 8.9378 | Running |
| 4 | 1 | 23 | Gomez, Logan | 29 | 11.4922 | Running |
| 5 | 2 | 22 | Donoso, Pablo | 29 | 12.0037 | Running |
| 6 | 4 | 2 | Simmons, Jeff | 29 | 12.2133 | Running |
| 7 | 7 | 26 | Luyendyk Jr, Arie | 29 | 12.8221 | Running |
| 8 | 16 | 54 | Lee, Matt | 29 | 15.2042 | Running |
| 9 | 19 | 25 | Hildebrand, JR | 29 | 15.7021 | Running |
| 10 | 13 | 4 | Guthrie, Sean | 29 | 19.7480 | Running |
| 11 | 21 | 11 | Davison, James | 29 | 22.3603 | Running |
| 12 | 12 | 33 | Cunningham, Mitch | 29 | 23.0631 | Running |
| 13 | 11 | 5 | Prendeville, Andrew | 29 | 23.4766 | Running |
| 14 | 14 | 16 | Sherman, Brent | 29 | 33.5614 | Running |
| 15 | 8 | 6 | Herrington, Daniel | 29 | 45.7657 | Running |
| 16 | 15 | 8 | Olson, Mark | 29 | 62.0276 | Running |
| 17 | 18 | 55 | Perera, Franck | 20 | 33.5583 | Running |
| 18 | 9 | 18 | Allemann, Cyndie | 18 | – | Contact |
| 19 | 20 | 17 | Wilson, Bobby | 7 | – | Contact |
| 20 | 17 | 15 | Battistini, Dillon | 6 | – | Contact |
| 21 | 10 | 9 | Reid, Jonny | 0 | – | Contact |
Unofficial Driver Points
Driver Points
Richard Antinucci 307
Raphael Matos 278
Dillon Battistini 265
J.R. Hildebrand 238
Arie Luyendyk Jr. 238
Ana Beatriz 234
Jeff Simmons 226
Logan Gomez 199
Brent Sherman 186
Pablo Donoso 184
CORNING DUELS RACE 2 POST-RACE QUOTES:
RICHARD ANTINUCCI (No. 7 Lucas Oil/Sam Schmidt Motorsports, first): “We were good on cold tires. During the first few laps of the morning race, I noticed we were quicker than (Raphael) Matos on cold tires. We had a really good car. We had new tires while Matos and (Jeff) Simmons had scuffed tires. That might have helped us with the hotter tempratures. In the long run it hurt us, but it was enough at the end to win."
RAPHAEL MATOS (No. 27 Automatic Fire Sprinklers, Inc., second): “I don't think we had a strong car on the restarts. I almost spun on the last restart in Turn 10, and Ana Beatriz got a run on me. It's just too bad because I think AFS/Andretti Green Racing gave me a strong car. I was catching Richard (Antinucci) at the end, but we just ran out of time."
ANA BEATRIZ (No. 20 Healthy Choice/Sam Schmidt Motorsports, third): “Unfortunately, I had oversteer in the race car and lost the first position. It was really very good to lead a race again. I have to thank the Healthy Choice crew and all the Healthy Choice guys that came here to watch me today. And, for sure, my managers that couldn’t be here this time. Another podium – I wish they were here with me celebrating."
LOGAN GOMEZ (No. 23 Menards Guthrie Racing, fourth): “I think it went pretty well. We started the day 10th in the first race and moved up to sixth, and they inverted our position and put us on pole and we were able to hold onto fourth, so it’s definitely the right direction that we want to go. We weren’t involved in any accidents, which seemed pretty easy to do. Other than that, the team was great. Darrell Soppe has been working on the setup and improved it throughout the weekend, so I’m really happy with that. It’s great to have IZOD on board, this is their big race. It’s good to get a top-five in front of them. Hopefully we’ll go into the next race, Nashville – I got second there last year, so maybe we can win a guitar, who knows."
PABLO DONOSO (No. 22 TMR-Cristal-Xtreme Coil Drilling, fifth): “I started second. I think I did the correct thing. I gave a space to Logan (Gomez), and he was more focused on me than on the inside so we got Ana (Beatriz) and Antinnuci on the inside. I gave a space to Antinnuci, but I don’t know why he put me on the curb. He made me lose three spots. Now I know how he runs. He doesn’t need to run with me like that because I gave a space to him. But anyway, a top-five is good for the team, and I was fighting hard with Jeff (Simmons). It was a good race, and it’s more points for the championship, so we’re going to see what happens."