A high percentage of the CARS Tour pit area went out of its way to congratulate Ryan Millington on Friday night at Florence Motor Speedway.
For one, there is a lot of respect for the Millingtons, how they do things as a family team and what they bring to the series. But, this was also a long time coming and everyone knew that too.
Millington won his first Tour race in 2020 at Ace Speedway and there have been countless ‘should-have-beens’ since then. The most notable came at Hickory last month when Millington and Connor Hall traded paint and it resulted in a disqualification.
But even then, there was empathy for Millington over the circumstances and how close they have been this season.
At last, the No. 15 broke back through and won a Cookout 125 that left Millington exuberant.
“We’ve worked really hard this week, and really all year,” Millington said. “To see it start to pay off, its awesome. I mean, we’ve worked so hard and I can’t say that enough. It’s just me and my dad, Brandon (Hinson) who spots and does our tires.”
That’s who this team is, a true family team, and they are back in CARS Tour Victory Lane.
“We executed tonight,” he added. We came into the race with a good plan, a good car and made it happen.”
In the first race since race since Hoosier and CARS Tour paused usage of the ST2 compound and reverted back to the F45, it was a traditional Florence chess match where everyone went into mass tire conservation mode for the first 97 laps and raced it out for the final 28 laps.
Millington first took the lead on Lap 81 and paced the field for the remainder of the saving portion and had enough to even pull away from Brenden Queen and Matt Cox over the final stint. He says the race didn’t totally go according to plan because …
“I didn’t and it’s because I didn’t think we had that good of a car,” Millington said. “Heck, I came over the radio at the first caution and said we were screwed and we were going to go backwards quick. I don’t know. The car never changed all race long. I was a tick free all night and it stayed there and I was able to move around when I needed to.
“Really good night, really good car and we got the job done.”
F45s meet the moment
After an entire season of qualms over ST2 tire quality and code variability, there were no such issues with the legacy tire compound over Thursday and Friday. The final 28 laps did spread cars out more than the super durable ST2 but passes didn’t need to be completed using the bumper either.
Hall said after the race that he appreciated a drama free race weekend but says the racing product might need a middle ground on high wear tracks.
“I think it was a good product tonight,” Hall said. “Do I agree that there should be something in between the two tires, yeah I do, just from the excitement level.”
Mini Tyrell, who finished sixth after leading the most laps, has been an advocate of the ST2s since Day One but gave the 45s high marks on Friday too.
“I’ve always said I liked the ST2s as long as we’re all on the same code and everyone on pit road is on the same playing field, I’m all for it,” Tyrrell said. “But if we’re not on the same code or have some similarity, this is the way to go just because it’s fair and hopefully they’re more consistent.
CARS Tour co-owner Dale Earnhardt Jr. competed in the race on Friday, finishing 10th after qualifying near the back of the field, and had a driver answer and then a series leader answer.
“I like the 45s because it gives me a shot to try to be smart about how I drive the car and protect the tires so that by the end of 80 laps, I might have more life to be able to move forward,” Earnhardt said. “But there are some tracks too, where you can run the 45s hard throughout the entire race so you don’t drive it the same as you would Tri-County or somewhere else.”
And then the series owner.
“I got my hands on it every day, dealing with the machinations of it with Kip (Childress, executive director) and that’s amazing and rewarding but it was nice to just be a driver tonight,” Earnhardt said. “It was nice having a race tonight and not worrying about the tire.
“We’ve had a lot of struggles with the tires and we’re working hard with Hoosier to find a solution but that’s going to take some time. Hoosier has been great and they’ve been understanding of our concerns. I think we have a path forward but we need to get everyone in the room, all the drivers and owners, and this series wins and loses on the backs of these teams and drivers.
“This series belongs to them and we just shepherd it up and down the road every weekend so they have a place to race. So, whatever the solution is, they’ll be the ones to choose it.”
Championship stays close
Hall led Queen by three points entering the week.
Queen gained two points on Hall through race results but Hall led a lap and won the pole, earning two points for each, so the race to the championship stays even at three with South Boston, Tri-County and North Wilkesboro left to settle the championship.
“It’s going to be a heck of a show,” Hall said. “I think both our groups are going to be going hard. It’s like the Virginia Triple Crown now, a three-race shootout. Sadly, I think those three races are more in his wheelhouse because they run really good at those high grip places, a little better than we have at SoBo and I’ve struggled a little bit at Tri-County and Wilkesboro so we’re going to have bunker down.”
Queen is optimistic but it’s not quite a gimme in his eyes.
“I feel good about Tri-County and Wilkesboro,” Queen said. “SoBo has been my struggle track for some reason. It’s Lee’s best track. We came close to winning a 200 and ran good in the 200 last year with a top-5. I thought we would be better in the 200 this year but maybe it was the ST2 issue or what but we were awful once we put our tires on.
“Back on the 45s, and I’m excited about that, and I can’t think of a better time to get our first win at SoBo than next week.”
Cook Out 125
Florence Motor Speedway
August 30 2024
- 15 Ryan Millington
- 03 Brenden Queen
- 51 Matt Cox
- 22 Connor Hall
- 45 Mason Diaz
- 81 Mini Tyrrell
- 28G Ryan Glenski
- 44 Conner Jones
- 95 Jacob Heafner
- 3 Dale Earnhardt Jr.
- 77 Treyten Lapcevich
- 6 Bobby McCarty
- 23 Kade Brown
- 62L Landen Lewis
- 04 Ronnie Bassett Jr.
- 51S Donovan Strauss
- 13 Cody Kelley
- 00 Chase Burrow
- 2W Ryan Wilson
- 71 Rajah Caruth
- 29 Brent Crews
- 21 Casey Kelley
- 54 Michael Fose
- 2 Brandon Pierce
- 1 Andrew Grady
- 11V Buddy Isles Jr.
- 16 Chad McCumbee – OUT
- 28 Landon S. Huffman – OUT
- 55 Isabella Robusto – OUT
