The eighth round of the season was a best case scenario for championship leader Logan McKinzie. Coming hot off a victory at Road Atlanta where all three of his closest championship rivals suffered various setbacks, this second victory at Watkins Glen helps McKinzie extend his already impressive lead in the championship.

Showing up to the grid in 9th and 10th, the Yellow Flag Motorsports cars of McKinzie and Slugnificent looked off the pace in qualifying. Their rivals Shink and Bajulaz starting 1st and 5th respectively put them at a disadvantage to start. For the first stint of the race, the two teammates worked their way through the field and eventually caught the lead pack just before pit-stops.

The field split into several distinct draft packs after the first few laps

For most of the first stint, the lead pack consisted of Shink, Zuñiga, and Rzepka. Shink was unable to fuel-save effectively during this time, losing him several seconds on his pit-stop. When the pits were done, McKinzie came out ahead of everyone, followed closely by Rzepka. Despite their biblical fuel-saving, they could not open enough of a gap to prevent Slugnificent and Zuñiga from catching them. The field quickly shuffled and the duo of Zuñiga and Slugnificent found themselves battling for the win. Coming to the white flag, the two collided at turn six in an intensely controversial incident, spinning Slug and giving both drivers a drive-through penalty. Rzepka and McKinzie avoided the incident and took the white flag. Rzepka tried to get by McKinzie going into the bus-stop, but McKinzie held position to win his second race in a row. Rzepka matched his career-best finish of 2nd at Mid-Ohio earlier this season.

Naked aggression or sublime finesse?

The incident didn’t just help McKinzie and Rzepka. It promoted Francois Shink onto the podium, with Bajulaz finishing 4th behind him. It also helped earn Daniel E Smith the first top 5 of his career, a great finish for the developing rookie talent. James D Carr finished 6th, continuing his quiet but impressive season only 9 points behind Shink and Bajulaz in the championship.

Smith and Carr got to know each other closely over the course of the race

For Slugnificent, it’s perhaps the lowest on his rollercoaster of season performances. The crash demoted a guaranteed top 2 finish to 15th and one of his two drop weeks on the calendar. He’s currently in the middle of perhaps the strangest season in ATC history. He still sits in 2nd in the championship, despite only finishing inside of the top 10 in 3/8 races so far. For comparison: Bajulaz has 5/8, Shink has 7/8, and Carr has 6/8. When Slug finishes inside the top 10, his results have been 3rd, 1st, and 1st. Consistently the fastest car on the grid, 46 points off his teammate for the championship lead, it’s do-or-die for Slug in every race left.

NamePointsWinsTop 10s
McKinzie28128
Slugnificent23523
Bajulaz23415
Shink23407
Carr22506
Statistics tell the story of Slugnificent’s season

This race also featured the long-awaited return of Jon Lauzon to the field, and he didn’t disappoint. He started 15th, but quickly worked all the way up to the lead pack and 5th place. However soon after, he hit the incident limit and had to serve a drive-through, taking him out contention for the win. Lauzon did recover and still finish 9th, showing the rust comes off easy for him.

The Beaver Buzz duo returned with impressive form

Despite losing the chance to win his first race of the season, Zuñiga’s fast pace and naked aggression would put him firmly in the group of championship favorites if he runs a full schedule next season. J.B. DeJeu secured his best finish of the season with a solid 13th, executing a clean drive with only 3x incidents. The struggles continued for Bauer and Hunley, who started 4th and 8th respectively but finished 18th and 16th after some unlucky entanglements.

Slug and Zuñiga were joined at the hip for the last half of the race

Next week, the Alpha Touring Challenge is going Brands Hatch for a Sprint Challenge!