Cornett Takes B-Open Chase Opener at Phoenix on Late Two-Tire Call

Ethan A Thompson led 129 of the 148 laps at Phoenix Raceway on Thursday night. Chris Cornett led the ones that counted.

Cornett started 16th in the 17-car field, raced his way to second and took the lead with a two-tire stop under a late caution. He held it through three restarts, including an overtime finish, and won the opening race of the Chase in the MLSR B-Open Series presented by Ideal Family, LLC by 0.455 seconds over Blake Hauschild. Walt Clough finished third, Brandon Hunsinger fourth and Zack Domer fifth.

It was Cornett's third B-Open win of the season and his first since back-to-back wins at Richmond Raceway and Chicagoland Speedway in August. Two nights earlier, he led 52 laps of the C-Open race at the same track and finished eighth.

"Nervous," Cornett said. "I'm just glad it's over and it came out like I wanted it to."

Thompson sets the pace

Thompson started on the pole and swapped the lead with James Beard in the opening laps before the No. 98 settled onto the high line and drove away. Chris Etchepare hit the wall on the opening lap and fought a damaged car the rest of the night.

Adam Ramsey was the early mover. He started sixth, worked past Jacob Durbin, Hauschild and Domer, and took second from Beard after the first round of green-flag stops. Clough, who started last, pitted early in that cycle and came out fifth.

Cornett was coming the whole time. He climbed into the top 10 during the first run, then passed Clough, Beard and Domer. He caught Ramsey for second and had the better exits for several laps, but Ramsey held the outside. Cornett finally dropped into the dogleg, pulled alongside and took the spot when Ramsey brushed the wall.

The race changes on pit road

Beard was the first to pit in the second cycle of stops. On cold tires he got loose, and he and Alex Wilkie made heavy contact, bringing out the first caution of the night.

The leaders all pitted under yellow, and Thompson narrowly beat Cornett off pit road. Thompson cleared him on the restart, and when Cornett went to the inside in Turn 3, Thompson held him off on the outside. From there, Thompson set the tempo again with Cornett, Ramsey and Domer stacked up behind him. Domer eventually got by Ramsey for third.

Robert T Burke was out after 55 laps and Dustin Coggin after 104.

Two tires

Another caution came out in the closing laps after a crash in Turn 4 involving Beard and Michael Deitch. This time Cornett, Domer, Hunsinger and Durbin took two tires. Thompson took four and lined up fourth, on the outside. Cornett led the field to green with seven laps to go.

"I was expecting the car with the two-tire call to be a little bit looser," Cornett said. "It was actually the opposite for me. It was tight."

Cornett got a clean jump, but the green didn't last. Ramsey got loose on his own and hit the inside wall. On the next restart, Thompson dove under Hunsinger for second but couldn't clear him, and Beard spun in Turn 3 after contact with Michael L Patrick. That caution sent the race to overtime.

One lap short

Thompson restarted third, on the inside, and got the jump he needed. He slotted in behind Cornett as Hunsinger fell to third. On the final lap, Thompson drove in deep to get to Cornett's bumper, got sideways off the corner and hit the inside wall.

Cornett got loose off Turn 4 himself, but he had enough in hand to beat Hauschild to the line. Clough edged Hunsinger by 0.096 seconds for third.

"Congrats to Chris on the win," Hauschild said. "I wish he would have spun out maybe a lap sooner for me."

Second was Hauschild's best finish since he won at Indianapolis Motor Speedway in July. The regular-season champion, who led the points through all 12 regular-season races, started fourth.

Clough came from the last spot on the grid and has finished in the top five in all three of his B-Open starts.

"Definitely had some chaos there. Got a top three somehow, some way," Clough said.

Fourth place was Hunsinger's ninth top-five of the season. He is still looking for his first win. Domer, last week's winner at Charlotte Motor Speedway, finished fifth. Durbin was sixth, Richard Wilson Jr seventh, Etchepare eighth, Patrick ninth and Wilkie 10th.

Thompson finished 12th, Beard 13th, two laps down, and Ramsey 15th.

The Chase continues at Talladega Superspeedway on October 22, and Cornett already has a plan.

"Survive," Cornett said. "Survive is the biggest one."

"I'm an aggressive driver, yes, but Talladega is not the place to do it, especially early in a race," he added.