Wilken Leads Only the Last Lap, Wins B-Open Chase Race at Talladega in Series Debut

Trenton Wilken led one lap at Talladega Superspeedway on Thursday night in the MLSR B-Open Series presented by Ideal Family, LLC. It was the last one.

Wilken started sixth in his first MLSR B-Open Series start and was shuffled to the back of the field by an early scramble in the pack. When the leaders crashed in Turn 2 on the final lap, Wilken drove through on the outside and won by 1.902 seconds over Zack Domer. Anthony Lee Abernathy was third, 0.009 seconds behind Domer at the line. Gary May was fourth and Adam Ramsey fifth.

It was Wilken's first MLSR win in any series. His best result in six C-Open starts had been third.

"I'm very surprised with that ending," Wilken said. "I'll take it, obviously."

A three-car breakaway

Brandon Hunsinger started on the pole with Chris Cornett alongside, but the start went wrong for Cornett almost immediately. He spun the tires at the green flag, and a few laps later he was knocked onto the apron when a push went wrong in the outside line. He saved it both times. The second time cost him the draft, and he eventually fell a lap down.

The same scramble sent Wilken toward the rear. "With the accident that happened earlier, that just pushed us all the way to the back of the field," he said.

Up front, Chris Etchepare and Ramsey hooked up and stayed hooked up. Etchepare pushed Ramsey through most of the first half, Domer tucked in behind them, and the three cars pulled clear of the field. They stayed clear through the first round of green-flag stops, pitting together while the cars behind them split apart on pit road.

Abernathy was one of the casualties of that first cycle. He pitted earlier than his teammates, lost them, and spent the middle of the race well off the pace in a group with James Beard and Wilken.

"That whole race, man, I was just praying for caution," Abernathy said.

Michael L Patrick was out after 40 laps.

One caution changes everything

The second round of stops briefly mixed things up. Walt Clough and Michael Deitch came out of pit road in the middle of the lead group, and Domer got around both of them and back into the front pack. Etchepare and Ramsey regrouped, while Hunsinger and Jacob Durbin, who had pitted later, settled in at the back of the lead pack.

Inside the final 20 laps, the leaders came up on a group of lapped cars. Etchepare dropped below the yellow line to avoid the lapped car of Russell Marciniak, and as he came back up the track, he and Clough made contact. The No. 99 went up into the fence, and Clough's No. 00 was heavily damaged. Etchepare, who led a race-high 34 laps, was done. So was Clough.

The caution put everyone back in play. Marciniak and Cornett both got back on the lead lap. Abernathy took no tires and a little fuel and restarted near the front.

"We're going to take no tires here, a little bit of gas," Abernathy said of the call.

Hunsinger came off pit road with the lead for a 12-lap sprint to the finish, with Durbin and Ramsey close behind.

Twelve laps

The restart turned into a fight over which lane would work. Beard and Domer got the outside moving, and Ramsey pulled up to the front on the high side. When the field went three wide, Ramsey was shuffled out and fell back as far as ninth. Domer dove to the inside, and Deitch picked up four spots by staying on the bottom and letting everyone else sort it out.

Hunsinger, Durbin, Blake Hauschild and Abernathy worked their way to the front in the closing laps, with Wilken pushing Hauschild up the outside.

"We were very stable," Wilken said. "It's just getting in the track position, putting ourselves in the right position."

Hunsinger took the white flag in front. Wilken looked to the outside. Cornett went low, got into Hunsinger, and the two spun in Turn 2. The field piled in behind them.

"I didn't want to wreck Brandon when we got the white flag," Wilken said. "They all wrecked behind me. I was like, 'You know what? Here we go.'"

Domer and Abernathy got through the wreck together, but Wilken was gone. Abernathy, in his second B-Open start, drag raced Domer to the line and lost by 0.009 seconds.

"Congrats to Trenton on getting the win there," Abernathy said.

May lost the draft in the closing laps and was far enough back to miss the crash, which made him fourth. Ramsey recovered to fifth after leading 23 laps. Marciniak was sixth, Durbin seventh, Beard eighth, Deitch ninth and Hunsinger 10th. Cornett finished 11th and Hauschild 12th.

Hunsinger, who led 17 laps from the pole, is still looking for his first B-Open win.

The Chase moves to Martinsville Speedway on October 29.