Pole sitter Dezmond Busby blasted to the early lead on the initial start. Blake Matjoulis ran second, while Evan Seay and Logan Rumsey diced for third side-by-side in the opening circuits. On lap 9, Matjoulis threw a big slide job to rip the top spot away from Busby. Seay also motored by Busby to grab second, while Rumsey followed into third. The lead trio immediately broke away from the pack, trading massive slide jobs and the lead position repeatedly through the first half of the race. According to Rumsey, "We were really putting on a show up front."
At halfway on lap 50, Seay had powered to the front ahead of Rumsey, while Matjoulis followed in third just a half second back. Busby held fourth, but he was under fire from Tanner Tomasi, who had charged up to fifth from his 10th starting spot.
As the laps wound down, the front two of Seay and Rumsey clearly had the dominant cars, pulling away from third place Matjoulis by over a second. The lead duo ran nose-to-tail, precisely matching speeds lap after lap to slowly inch away from the field.
The top two dominated until a lap-96 caution bunched the field up. Rumsey timed the restart to perfection and finally got around Seay to lead lap 96. With 2 laps to go, Seay aggressively forced Rumsey high and made contact to retake the top spot. Rumsey then threw a slidejob on Seay before Seay again forced Rumsey high coming out of turn four.
This move resulted in contact that forced Rumsey into the outside wall and turned Seay's car around and allowed Matjoulis to take the lead coming to the white flag for the dramatic victory.
"I just got lucky being in the right spot," said a shocked Matjoulis in victory lane after leading only 12 laps early in the race, before leading the final lap.
Dylan Houser made a late charge from 9th to briefly lead on lap 99 by forcing Seay up the track in turn one, before Matjoulis slipped past to grab the win, beating Houser to the line by just 0.415 seconds.
"The top guys wrecked each other and I tried to take advantage," said Houser of the finish.
Tanner Tomasi emerged from the chaos in third, saying, "It was a war zone out there. With the restart at the end, it was just mayhem."
Evan Seay dominated much of the race from his second place starting position, but finished 21st after the contact while leading coming to the white flag lap. Rumsey led late but ended up fifth following the incident.
Mason Crawford gained 13 spots from 20th to finish 7th and earn Hard Charger honors, explaining "I just waited for an opening at the end when it got crazy."
The dramatic finish capped off an intense late-race battle between the dominant cars of Seay and Rumsey. It was heartbreak for Rumsey, who came so close to victory before the contact which resulted in one of the most edge-of-your-seat races in a long time.
Final Results (Starting Position):
1. Blake Matjoulis (3)
2. Dylan Houser (9)
3. Tanner Tomasi (10)
4. Dezmond Busby (1)
5. Logan Rumsey (4)
6. Chase Barbera (12)
7. Mason Crawford (20)
8. Dylan Wilson (11)
9. Hunter Rich (8)
10. Dylan Yeager (14)
11. Casey Brunson (17)
12. Jacob Fields (24)
13. Barrett Bishop (7)
14. Mike Augustine (6)
15. Nathan Waddell (19)
16. Alex Bergeron (16)
17. Trey Mills (23)
18. James Edens (5)
19. Ryan Hodge (18)
20. Talan Willis (25)
21. Evan Seay (2)
22. Hayden Tollison (26)
23. Justin Norwood (21)
24. Conner New (22)
25. Jamie Massey (15)
26. Keith Hackney (13)