Marty Cmejla has begged and begged for Jonathan Ramos (Idk Player) to race the [Legacy] NASCAR Truck Chevrolet Silverado - 2008 cars on iRacing, also known as the PickUp Cup Trucks, at any track. This would finally happen as when the NR Night in America schedule for November 17th, 2023 was released, the PickUp Cup Trucks with the 2018 Oval of Charlotte Motor Speedway was featured for Round 4.

Cmejla, a PickUp Cup Season Champion on iRacing, was extremely excited for this race. He knows Charlotte left and right. But there was an issue - he hadn't done a PickUp Cup race at Charlotte in months. He had forgotten the ways of racing here.

After a night of a 10th-place finish at Daytona, and a 10th-place finish at Kern County Raceway Park, Cmejla was looking to continue the momentum. Cmejla would get to qualifying right away. He qualified 3rd, only 0.04 off of the pole time. It is Cmejla's best qualifying effort on an Intermediate Race Track in NR Night in America.

"We obtained the one thing I wanted - good track position to start. Starting from the back with these things I have experience in, but it would be all about luck, and a struggle to get up front," Cmejla said.

The green flag waved for a 60 lap race. William Schmitt won the pole with Daniel Mosteller to his outside. Cmejla then had Braden Muhvic to his outside in the second row. Cmejla remembers tire saving being important. Unfortunately, he had dropped back to 8th after 6 laps. He was struggling with the truck balance.

"Since we couldn't remember our setup, our brake bias was too high so I was struggling to get the rotation in the corner early on. I was also missing my line," Cmejla said.

Cmejla was faced with high pressure from behind from Mac Steinmeyer and Dominic Barbagallo. Steinmeyer's #23 Chevrolet Truck looked to the inside numerous times but Cmejla didn't want to loose the spot.

"Looking back at it, I should have just let these guys by. There was no reason to hold them up," Cmejla look a closer look at his thought process.

But, it would be Lap 11/60 when Cmejla noticed a lap truck - the #12 Chevrolet of Carter Kingsley, a driver from Michigan who has only 1,519 iRating. Kingsley was in the way and about .8 seconds in front - getting passed on the outside by 2 cars on the inside. Cmejla was too focused on what would happen up here. He missed the blue apron line in the corner, taking him off of his line. Cmejla then drifted up into the outside wall exiting Turn 4.

Historically, with these trucks, damage like that is terminal to speed for the rest of the race. Following, Steinmeyer and Barbagallo all followed Cmejla into the wall. But, Cmejla hit it the hardest. After initial impact, Cmejla came down the track and got lifted off the front bumper of Steinmeyer, getting turned into the outside wall. Cmejla took a hard hit - taking all 4-tires off of the ground. 

"At this point I was hoping not to get hit after I hit the wall. I knew my race was over," Cmejla said. Luckily, he didn't.

Cmejla, with over 640 PickUp Cup races, knows how the damage model works with these trucks and was certain that he would have some serious deficit in speed. But, one thing in those 640+ races is that he has never taken optional repairs since iRacing gives you a fast repair in the series. Cmejla pulled his #39 MC Motorsports / storemcm.com Truck into the pits. Cmejla would have 1 minute and 6 seconds of optional repairs, significantly lower than he had imagined.

"This is the older damage model. You can't just go out there and, fix it, you know. Once you get that much damage, your night is cooked.  So for Marty Cmejla, that's going to be it," Jonathan Ramos said  on the broadcast after Cmejla crashed.  This is what Cmejla was thinking.

They fixed the truck to their greatest ability, and he was sent back onto the track. To Cmejla's surprise, the truck sustained no engine damage, and had not lost any RPMs. But, all the remaining damage was all cosmetic with the body of the truck. Cmejla restarted in 27th.

In Turns 3 and 4 after the restart, the #33 truck of Kyle Diaz spun in front of Cmejla. He got on the brakes and made a key avoidance. Cmejla's truck was still able to make decent speed. It was then on the exit of turn 4 when Jordan Higgins' #35 Truck spun around. Cmejla was able to clear the inside truck of Josh Kenyon and cut the Tri-Oval to avoid these wrecks, sustaining zero added damage. These wrecks would leave only 16 cars left on the lead lap.

Cmejla would stay out on these 1-lap old tires. He was good on fuel for the finish by 3 laps (so was everyone else). Cmejla restarted 13th. Down the frontstretch, a lap after the restart, Cmejla pulled down to the inside of Branden Dugan's #28 Truck. Dugan, to Cmejla's surprised, came down in a block attempt.

"I just turned him then and there. Saw him coming down and I was like, I am not lifting," Cmejla reflected.

Dugan tried to save it but spun into the tri-oval grass, collecting no other cars. Cmejla was thinking Dugan would try to retaliate, but he never did.

"Honestly I was shocked he didn't retaliate. I for sure would have," Cmejla said.

Cmejla would end up 12th after all of this. He would race Josh Kenyon for a little, but Kenyon had more speed due to Cmejla's damage. It would then be Cmejla battling with an equally-damaged truck, the #00 of Kooper Glick (returning from an NR Night in America ban). He would also battle the #11 of Adam Walker. Kooper Glick was able to get by Cmejla, but a lap after he did, he slammed the Turn 4 exit wall, making Cmejla's truck less-damaged than him. Glick put up a fight, but ultimately, Cmejla got by. Cmejla got back to 12th place.

Cmejla noticed he was gaining fast on the #27 Truck of Josh Kenyon, who had a little bit of damage, but had cooked his tires. Cmejla was able to blast right by him for 11th. 

Cmejla, looked like would finish 11th if it stayed green. He was gaining a little on Alexander Schumacher in front, but wouldn't be able to catch him. It was then when Jason Tamer lost his internet connection and disconnected. Tamer was running inside of the Top 10. This would move Cmejla up to 10th. He was pulling away seconds on the 11th car of Adam Walker, intensely battling with Kenyon and Glick.

"It was looking great. Somehow after that wreck we were going to end up with 3 10th place finishes on the night," Cmejla said.

It was then when William Schmitt slammed the Turn 4 exit wall. The hit was so hard it gave him "roof damage" - as he said. There was only 6 laps to go. Schmitt fell to 9th and was in Cmejla's sights. Cmejla was gaining a second a lap. He would catch up to him on the last lap. He was 1.2s behind entering Turn 1 on Lap 60/60. He brought this down to a 0.1s entering Turn 3. Cmejla was ripping the top. He went high, and Schmitt went to block. Cmejla used the brakes to rotate his truck to the bottom, pulling an insane crossover move on Schmitt's #79 Truck. Cmejla would end up 9th.

"Honestly, this race was one of the more fun ones in my career. To have a really cool wreck like that and to rebound to get a 9th, with these trucks, is truly something."

It would be the last race of the night. Cmejla would cap off the night with final results of 10th, 10th, and 9th.

MC Motorsports © 2023 Press Release
Article Created at 5:55 PM 11/19/2023