PORT ROYAL, Pa. – The 54th annual Tuscarora 50 sanctioned by the All Star Circuit of Champions at Port Royal Speedway kicks off Thursday with preliminary action.
Thursday night’s feature spans 30 laps with $8,000-to-win. The Night Before the 50 on Friday, meanwhile, lasts 35 laps and $10,000 to the victor.
The first two nights will use the traditional All Star Circuit of Champions format while Saturday utilizes a special format, explained here.
Last year’s opening night provided little to no glimpse into Saturday’s course of events. Cory Eliason went on to win last year’s Thursday night feature on a blazing, wet race track. It played right into Eliason’s California roots of a daring pace along the wall.
Kerry Madsen and Tony Stewart joined Eliason on the podium, but were nonfactors in their respective ninth and 13th-place runs in the Saturday finale.
Here are storylines and drivers to keep tabs on Thursday night.
Favorites: Aaron Reutzel, Anthony Macri, Brent Marks, Danny Dietrich and Tyler Courtney
Contenders: Brian Brown, Cory Eliason, Gio Scelzi and Logan Wagner.
Dark horses: Daryn Pittman, Dylan Cisney, Devon Borden, Hunter Schurenberg, Ian Madsen, Jeff Halligan, Justin Peck, Kyle Reinhardt, Lucas Wolfe, Mike Wagner, Tim Shaffer and Zeb Wise.
Dewease or the field?
It tops all storylines: Tuscarora 50 hopefuls run through the legend of Lance Dewease and the Kreitz Racing No. 69K this weekend.
Fortunately for competitors, he is sitting out Thursday’s opening night event.
His 13 All Star Circuit of Champions wins at Port Royal and record seven Tuscarora 50 titles puts him in another dimension in comparison to this week’s expected entrants.
Brent Marks, the 2015 Tuscarora 50 champion and 10-time winner this year, and Aaron Reutzel, the 2019 event winner, only come close to Dewease’s track record in the event.
After last weekend’s decisive triumph from the 12th-starting spot, give the upperhand to Dewease, who knows the month of money better than anyone.
Stalwarts versus upstarts
This year’s Tuscarora 50 is stocked with pedigree. Pittman, Shaffer, Dewease, and the potential for Jac Haudenschild’s appearance top that list.
Dewease and Haudenschild aren’t in Thursday night’s field.
But overall, the veterans are complimented by a number of young, exciting drivers.
Macri, a 10-time winner this year and Port Royal ace, leads the Pennsylvania Posse of younger Pennsylvania Posse drivers.
This year’s 360 Knoxville Nationals champion and 410 Knoxville Nationals polesitter, 19-year-old Gio Scelzi, leads the handful of teenagers expected to compete.
Tyler Courtney, 27, can take a step toward an unprecedented second Crown Jewel during his rookie full-time winged sprint car campaign. Devon Borden, 18, stomped a weekly field by 10 seconds last month at Port Royal.
Those four drivers – Macri, Scelzi, Courtney and Borden – have grabbed headlines during the summer. Dewease, Haudenschild, Shaffer and Pittman, meanwhile, have nine combined wins on sprint car’s biggest stages, the Knoxville Nationals, the Kings Royal and the Williams Grove National open.
Pittman is expected to be the only former World of Outlaws NOS Energy Sprint Car Series champion in the Tuscarora 50 field this week.
Is there upset potential?
Dewease is aware of the potential for an upset.
“You have guys who haven’t been good all of a sudden be good when they show up,” the National Sprint Car Hall of Famer said last weekend at Williams Grove (Pa.) Speedway.
In other words, there’s upset potential somewhere in the vast field.
For starters, consider 56-year-old Mike Wagner, fresh off a runner-up to Dewease last week.
Ryan Smith doesn’t have a 410 win in Central Pennsylvania this year, but he’s turned in three straight top-sixes in night shows, including two podium runs.
Hometown favorite Dylan Cisney spends more time at the facility than anyone and won at the track in March.
Borden’s feast or famine approach can produce a win, especially if his favorite top groove is rolling.
Freddie Rahmer hasn’t won at Port Royal since 2018, but he won two track titles in Central Pennsylvania last year and, if he’s on, is more than capable.
Ian Madsen, Jared Esh, Jeff Halligan, Kyle Reinhardt, Lucas Wolfe, Rico Abreu, Steve Buckwalter and T.J. Stutts are all one-time winners this year but have what it takes to put a full night together.
You can follow @ByKyleMcFadden on Twitter for Tuscarora 50 updates.