MALTA – Just one week after taking himself out of contention for a victory, Jessey Mueller found himself in the same position Friday night at Albany-Saratoga Speedway, and this time, he didn’t screw it up.
Coming out of the fifth starting position, Mueller took the lead away from Robert Bublak Jr. with a slide job on lap 13 and went on to record his second win of the season in the 35-lap NAPA Modifieds feature at the historic Malta track.
The win marked the first time in his career that Mueller has two modified wins in the same season at Malta. The only other time he went to victory lane twice in one year was 2018, when he notched his first career modified win on June 22, and also won the season-ending small block race on Sept 7.
But Friday night’s win was also special because Mueller had his wife and all three of his children, including his two-month-old newborn, in the victory lane shot.
“I had a good stating position, and the track was awesome,” said Mueller in victory lane. “Hats off to Lyle (promoter Lyle DeVore, who also does the track prep). You could do some slicing and dicing out there tonight.”
Two weeks ago, Mueller and Matt DeLorenzo were battling for the lead when Mueller jumped the cushion in the third turn, leading to a 17th place finish.
The tone of Friday night was set early, with pole-sitter Bublak Jr. jumping out into the lead, and Kolby Schroeder taking second on the second lap and Mueller moving into third after just three circuits.
Mueller, who loves to run the top at Malta as much as anyone, quickly moved to the outside and on lap eight, went around Schroder in turn two to move into the runner-up spot.
With Bublak and Mueller running the top and Schroder preferring the bottom, the top three cars were never more than two or three car lengths apart. But on lap 13, Mueller decided it was time for a big move.
Mueller pulled to the inside of Bublak in the third turn, slid up in front coming through the fourth turn and had the lead to complete the lap.
Schroder used slower traffic to get around Bublak for second on lap 15, but as the race progressed, the leaders became strung out and even with a couple of late cautions, Mueller had almost a three-second advantage over Schroder at the finish.
“I really didn’t want to slide Robert like that,” said Mueller. “He’s a good friend of mine. But I saw Schroeder putting his nose under me a couple of times and I thought if I didn’t do something, he was going to get by me.”
Schroder, running fulltime at Malta for the first time in his career, finished second for the second time this year while DiLorenzo, again behind the wheel of teammate Brian Gleason’s car, got up for third. They were followed by Demetrios Drellos and points leader Peter Britten, who started 16th.
Ronnie Johnson finally found some consolation in what has been a miserable year by winning the 25-lap 358 Modified feature which was the fourth leg of the DiCarlo Auto Body 358 Shootout Series. Johnson, who had engine problems in his big block and never even made it out for hot laps, started on the outside of the front row in the 358 race and led all 25 laps, holding off persistent pressure from Walter Hammond Jr. The rest of the top five consisted of Marc Johnson, DeLorenzo and Mike Mahaney. Those three drivers also combined to win the first three races of the series.
Tim Hartman Jr. continued to build on one of the best seasons of his career, winning the 25-lap sportsman feature, which paid $1,500 to win through sponsorship from Greenacres Landscaping.
Hartman Jr. started 10th in the starting grid, but a number of early cautions allowed him to move up to third by lap 10.
That’s where Hartman Jr. was sitting when leaders Drew Cormie and Dan Grignon came together coming out of the second turn on lap 16, with Cormie going off the backstretch. Hartman Jr. was in position to take the lead away from Grignon heading into the third turn when Zach Buff brought out the caution for suspension problems.,
Hartman Jr. got a big launch going down the backstretch on the restart and had the lead for good on lap 17. He had to survive a late restart, when Pat Jones pulled up alongside him, but Hartman jr. was up to the challenge and came away with his fourth win of the season at Malta.
“I didn’t know how I was going to get by those guys,” Hartman admitted after the race. “But everything worked out.”
Brandon Emigh chalked up his fifth win of the season in the 25-lap pro stock feature and walked off with a top prize of $1,000 through sponsorship by JCO Plumbing & Heating.
Emigh started sixth, and only needed seven laps to get into the lead. The big story of the 25-lap feature was Pete Stefanski, who has been making the haul from Tonawanda in Western New York to race at Malta on Friday nights. Stefanski suffered a flat tire, bringing out the yellow before the first lap was even completed, and then made a steady charge to the front. He took the No. 2 position away from Slater Baker on lap 19, but that was where he finished, less then a half-a-second behind Emigh.
Nick Brundige picked up his third win of the year in the 20-lap limited sportsman and picked up a $300 bonus from Dan Odell in the process. But Brundige, who started 23rd, also played the role of spoiler, snatching the victory away from Jordan Hill, who was looking for her first career limited sportsman victory. Hill looked like she had the win wrapped up until Brundige pulled a crossover move coming out of turn two on the final lap.
Hill settled for second, with Chase Zimmer third.
Jimmy Duncan was also the victim of a last-lap pass, as PJ Cram Jr. won the 20-lap street stock after a restart with one lap to go.
When Duncan and Cram came up on slower traffic while battling for the lead, Cram got into the rear of Derek Van Veghten’s car and Van Veghten spun around in the fourth turn, which brought the yellow. Cram then got a good jump coming out of the second turn on the restart, and posted his third win of the 2024 campaign. He had posted back-to-back wins on April 19 and April 26, but hadn’t been back to victory lane since.
NAPA MODIFIEDS: JESSEY MUELLER, Kolby Schroder, Matt DeLorenzo, Demetrios Drellos, Peter Britten, David Schilling, Robert Bublak Jr., Jack Lehner, Justin Stone, Mike Mahaney, Don Ronca, CG Morey, Brendan Darrah, Scott Huber, Rich Ronca, Jack Speshock, Brian Calabrese, Neil Stratton, Derek Bornt, Rich Scagliotta, Josh Masterson, Chris Bisson, Tom D’Angelo, Ryan McCartney, Eric Mack, Marc Johnson, Brandon Daley, Matt Depew.
DICARLO AUTO BODY 358 SHOOTOUT RACE #4: RONNIE JOHNSON, Walter Hammond Jr., Marc Johnson, Matt DeLorenzo, Mike Mahaney, Walter J. Hammond, Chris Curtis, David Schilling, Garrett Poland, Andrew Buff, CG Morey, James Fadden, Matt Woodruff, Robert Bublak Jr., Tanner Siemons, Bill August, Tony Farone, Alan Hammond, Dale Gray, Brett Graham, Jim Introne, Mark Pullen, Brian Peterson, Joe Pravia.
DOUG WHOLEY’S IDEAL EXCAVATING SPORTSMAN: TIM HARTMAN JR., Pat Jones, Mike Benson, Craig Wholey, Dan Grignon, Mike Coffey Jr., Kevin Chaffee, Drew Cormie, Tyler Rapp, Scott Bennett, Connor Crane, Travis Green, Chris Jakubiak, Jon Miller, Joey Scarborough, Chris Crane Jr., Taylor LaPlante, Brendon Gibbons, Mike Engwer, Mike Ballestero, Dylan Grogan, Travis Witbeck, Scott Duell, Zach Buff, Michael Wagner Fitzgerald, Cody Ochs, Jeff Washburn, Dylan Madsen, Scott Towslee.
SARATOGA MASONRY SUPPLY PRO STOCKS: BRANDON EMIGH, Pete Stefanski, Beau Ballard, Luke Horning, Slater Baker, Kim Duell, Jason Casey, Mike Baker, Chucky Dumblewski, Shane Henderson, Rich Crane, Pete Vila, Jodan Modiano, Rob Yetman, Caden Dumblewski (running for points for Kyle Hoard), Jaxson Ryan.
HAUN WELDING LIMITED SPORTSMAN: NICK BRUNDOGE, Jordan Hill, Chase Zimmer, Chad Gregory, Nick Auspelmyer, James Galarneau, Dakota Green, Mike Block, Dan Seguin, Lucas Duncan, Steve Burch, Colby Kokosa, Cordell Younger, Matthew Gebo, Mike Baker, Dan Odell, John Santolin, Damon Anderson, Colton Emigh, Maclain Campbell, Tanner Coon, Alex Smith, Kevin Groff, Zachary Graham, Sara Arnold, Gus Kamburelis, Matt Jordan, Zach Mecca, Nick Arnold, Steve Lehner, Owen Lewis.
CORNELL’S AUTO PARTS STREET STOCKS: PJ CRAM JR., Jimmy Duncan, Chris Stalker, Al Relyea, Matt Mosher, Mark Burch, Mark Lester, Dan Madigan, Ray Pierre Jr., Josh Hemming, Dana Van Veghten, Dan Buell, Chase Thompson, Derek Van Veghten, Jason Barrett.
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