Danny Dietrich (48) leads the PA Sprint Speedweek standings heading into Sunday’s finale at Selinsgrove Speedway. (Dan Demarco Photo)
SELINSGROVE, Pa. – Nine nights of twists and turns with two rainouts in between have boiled down to one last Pennsylvania Sprint Car Speedweek showdown on Sunday at Selinsgrove Speedway.
Danny Dietrich hasn’t led a lap the entire series, yet he clings to a 50-point lead over Brent Marks, the last driver to score a 410 win at the clay half mile subject to blazing speeds.
“I feel good,” Dietrich said. “We’re just trying to get that win.”
The best summarization @dannydietrich could offer Friday at @WilliamsGrove was through a good laugh the consumption of a beer.
That’s all DD can do at this point. Speed is there. The rest just needs to align for the guy atop the @PASpeedWeek points.https://t.co/v5WPFp7PjN
— Kyle McFadden (@ByKyleMcFadden) July 3, 2021
Fan favorite Rico Abreu doesn’t find himself out of the PA Speedweek picture either. The St. Helena, Calif., driver is 82 points behind, a large deficit, but one that is feasible to overcome in one sitting.
All Star Circuit of Champions regular Justin Peck would need a slew of things to go right if he were to cash in as PA Speedweek champion, sitting 117 points off Dietrich’s pace.
Those are the only four drivers still mathematically in the PA Speedweek title bout, with the focus keyed on two of the Pennsylvania Posse’s finest racers, Dietrich and Marks.
Dietrich owns four career wins at Selinsgrove, the last coming in the yearly PA Speedweek stop last June. Marks, meanwhile, has three victories at the historic speedway, including the track’s first 410 race of the year on April 25.
“I feel pretty good,” Marks said. “We have a good car everytime we hit the race track. I like getting around Selinsgrove. I’ve always felt pretty comfortable there. I feel like we have a shot of winning the race tonight. Obviously Danny is really good there, too. We’re just going to need to have some luck on our side to try to get this thing tonight. It’s come down to one race.”
Marks started this week on a tear, stomping the field for the second night in a row at BAPS Motor Speedway to take a 101-point lead into round four.
.@bmracing19 won his sixth race of the year Sunday at @bapsrace. Before this year his most wins in a season was six in ‘14.
Now he’s not only equaled that in two months, since his return to his family car, but he’s on the threshold of his prime. More ?https://t.co/TO7ZuRUdPT
— Kyle McFadden (@ByKyleMcFadden) June 28, 2021
Since, sour luck has forced Marks and his crew to swim upstream.
On Wednesday at Port Royal Speedway, a faulty spark plug ended Marks’ night on lap two. He finished 24th, while Dietrich placed third and sprung to a 15-point lead.
At Williams Grove Speedway on Friday, two in-race incidents put Marks in a pickle, but the Myerstown, Pa., driver and crew were able to rally to a 10th-place finish.
The second rainout of the week on Saturday at Port Royal Speedway stole one of the two remaining opportunities for Marks to gain valuable ground on Dietrich.
“We’ll see how it shakes out,” Marks said on how he’s going to track PA Speedweek points tonight. “What we need to do is try to qualify the best we can. Hopefully we can get another quick time, try to win our heat race, and win the feature. We have to do our job in all three of those things, and see where he ends up.”
Racing is scheduled to start at 7:30 p.m., with gates opening at 4 p.m. The event will be streamed on SPEED SPORT TV affiliate Dirt Track Digest TV. You can follow @ByKyleMcFadden on Twitter for timely updates.
