ABBOTTSTOWN, Pa. – On Monday night at Lincoln Speedway, Justin Peck and the No. 13 Buch Motorsports team unloaded with a fast piece of machinery and cashed in by the end of the program.
Peck led all 30 laps from the outside of the front row to win round four of Pennsylvania Sprint Car Speedweek, the Drydene 30, to earn the $7,000 winner’s prize.
The 22-year-old’s path to victory started when he set quick time in his stacked time trial flight that featured the likes of Kyle Larson, Christopher Bell, Speedweek point leader Brent Marks, Buddy Kofoid, Danny Dietrich, and Freddie Rahmer.
“Tonight we had a balance right away,” Peck said. “We were pretty solid in hot laps, I felt like. Felt like we had a pretty good hot rod. We just kept fine-tuning on it. That’s the key to winning these deals, man. You have to be good from the get-go and make little adjustments.”
Peck cut his PA Speedweek point deficit to Marks from 205 points to 100 as the series shifts to round five at Grandview Speedway on Tuesday evening.
Once the All Star Circuit of Champions competitor retained his redraw status through his heat and drew second for the main event, where he started alongside Gerard McIntyre, the table had been set.
Peck wrestled the lead away from McIntyre on the opening lap and was challenged just once the rest of the way, when eventual runner-up finisher Robbie Kendall got to Peck’s inside in turns one and two on a restart with 13 laps to go.
“I honestly thought about dropping down to the bottom,” Peck said. “I just felt like if I stayed up top and carried more speed, just kind of keep floating and keep the momentum up, I was going to be alright.”
Peck did just that, and eventually separating himself from the pack to score a .797-second victory, his sixth of the year and third in Pennsylvania.
“Every night I feel like we’re getting better and better, but the problem is everyone back in the pit area keeps getting better and better as they get more races under their belt as well. We just have to keep fine-tuning it.
Meanwhile, Kendall and Larson put on a spirited battle for second place in the waning stages. Larson, who started ninth, settled for third.
Dietrich, on the other hand, turned in a fourth place effort while Bell, in his first sprint car race of the year, won his heat race and came home fifth.
Ryan Smith, Kofoid, Matt Campbell, Aaron Bollinger, and Cory Haas rounded out the top 10.
Marks, the PA Speedweek point leader, cut a right rear tire running seventh and slipped to 16th.
Freddie Rahmer, who entered the night second in the PA Speedweek points, 101 off the pace, had an engine expire in the middle stages of the feature. He was credited with 24th.
The finish:
Justin Peck, Robbie Kendall, Kyle Larson, Danny Dietrich, Christopher Bell, Ryan Smith, Buddy Kofoid, Matt Campbell, Aaron Bollinger, Cory Haas, T.J. Stutts, Paul McMahan, Rico Abreu, Tim Wagaman II, Devon Borden, Brent Marks, Skylar Gee, Sam Hafertepe Jr., Lucas Wolfe, Brandon Rahmer, Gerard McIntyre Jr., Chase Dietz, Anthony Macri, Freddie Rahmer.