ASPHALT MEDIA announced earlier in the day that there would be a 100-Lap Next Gen race at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. Instantly Marty Cmejla began his criticisms, thinking that that was too long and there should be 2 races instead of that large one. But nothing changed.

Las Vegas Motor Speedway historically has been bad for Marty Cmejla. In NR Night in America he has had some miserable luck there. But, in ASPHALT MEDIA, he had 1 win at the track coming in, which was controversial as he turned Dylan Roe for the win.

But tonight, there was some hope. Just recently on Friday January 19th there was a 40 lap Next Gen Vegas race. It was Cmejla's first time in a long time doing a Next Gen race there. Cmejla qualified a rough 17th, but worked his way up after a Lap 1 crash to get 5th.

"I learned a lot that race. With the new iRacing Oval Refresh, there is a lot still to learn on how much tire you can save. But I think I figured it out there late," Cmejla said.

So after the Winter Truck Series race for ASPHALT MEDIA, the session was up for Las Vegas Next Gens. There would be two MC Motorsports drivers for the race: Patrick Connell in the #46, and Marty Cmejla in the #88. Cmejla elected to race in the new 2024 Next Gen Camry for the first time in ASPHALT MEDIA.

Things started off great for Cmejla. He would start on the pole for the race in group qualifying. Connell would start 24th after basically missing the first 4 of 5 minutes of qualifying because he had to eat.

The 100 lap race began. Michael Mitcham would get turned by Skyler Comstock on Lap 2, which gave Cmejla a large lead. Cmejla began to save some tires. He is still getting used to the new iRacing Oval Refresh with this car-track-combo. Austin K. Mitchell was able to pass him for the lead.

Only 3 laps before the first round of green flag pit stops, Cmejla got stuck behind Mitchell's dirty air and on the exit of Turn 4, Cmejla drifted up into the outside wall, giving him significant wheel damage. Since there was 2 fast repairs available, Cmejla used this on his green flag pit stop. Mitchell would lock up through his pit box, which allowed Cmejla to take the lead exiting the pits.

Cmejla would pull away from everyone for about the next 50 laps, for 2 green-flag pit stop cycles. He fully figured out the ways of tire saving here, and nobody could catch him. It was until the final pit stop where Michael Mitcham and Nathan McLaughlin were able to out-pace him in the pits. Cmejla would exit the pits with the lead, but less than a second in front of McLaughlin and Mitcham.

McLaughlin would get by Cmejla, and Mitcham would be stuck behind. The caution then came out for the first time with around 15-20 to go. Cmejla was able to get by McLaughlin in the pit stop. Mitcham took 2 tires, so Cmejla came out 2nd in the pits. Patrick Connell meanwhile was outside the Top 20, 1 lap down. The caution allowed Connell to get back on the lead lap. 

The next thing is huge for Cmejla's chances. After leading 50 laps at this point, he would restart 3rd. But he came out of the pits 2nd, who was leading? Well that would be Ethan Eckert, who stayed out on 6-lap old tires. Eckert got a good restart, and was actually pulling away from Mitcham, Cmejla and the rest of the field who were battling for 2nd.

But then the caution came out for a crash in the back. Nobody would pit. Eckert would be 1st, Mitcham 2nd, and Cmejla 3rd. The green flag would wave. Eckert was quick to block Mitcham who had gotten to the bottom already. Mitcham then continued to try to make passes. Cmejla was getting passed for 3rd by Jacob Malone. It wasn't looking good.

But then a few laps into this run, with just under 10 to go, Eckert would get passed by Mitcham down the tri-oval. Eckert would proceed to turn Mitcham. This wrecked Malone, and a lot of other contenders. Cmejla was barely able to slip by with Josh Kenyon and Brad Gutierrez on the bottom. Now, it would be a 4 lap shootout. Eckert would start first, Cmejla 2nd.

"I couldn't have timed the restart any better. The MOMENT Eckert went, I went. Best restart of my career," is how Cmejla described his restart. He was dead even with Eckert into 1. In the back, Patrick Connell got into Elijah Parker right away, and collected Malone and Mitcham. This would be critical in the end.

Gutierrez would push Eckert clear of Cmejla down the backstretch, but Cmejla got back to Eckert's side on the frontstretch. Cmejla would go low to the inside of Eckert. Down the backstretch with 3 to go, Gutierrez pushed Eckert back clear of Cmejla to the outside. But Eckert's tires were old. Cmejla could keep pace on the bottom. Then, there were 3 lap cars in front - Mitcham, Malone, and Parker. These guys were looking to get back at Eckert for the recent crash.

Cmejla instantly knew what was happening. Coming to the white flag, Eckert went high to avoid Malone. Cmejla would cut the tri-oval on the apron and go low. Then, a slow Elijah Parker got bumped by Mitcham, right into Cmejla's right front. Cmejla got sent to the apron just with his two left-side tires. Cmejla now was just trying to save his car, as they were 5 wide. Eckert was still right there.

It was finally too much for Cmejla to handle. Cmejla overcorrected. But luckily, the car didn't go to the outside wall. So Cmejla undercorrected to prevent the outside wall hit, and he was dead sideways in the middle of 1 and 2. Somehow, he was able to save it.

"I for sure thought I just looped it around in front of the field," Cmejla said.
Josh Kenyon who was behind Cmejla followed Cmejla on to the apron, so Kenyon took a slide as well. This slide that Josh took allowed Cmejla to get in front of Josh. By this point Eckert and Gutierrez had cleared Cmejla. But there was still Mitcham in front of these guys. Josh Kenyon on the exit of Turn 2 was shoving the hell out of Cmejla. Cmejla had to complete another insane save.

At this point, all hope seemed lost for Cmejla. Gutierrez would send in a prayer in Turn 3 and would straight up turn Eckert. Cmejla escaped on the bottom, and got a helpful push from Jordan Herring behind. Cmejla would somehow cruise to this victory. In the end, Cmejla had only 2 incident points and led 51 out of the 100 laps, en route to his 11th ASPHALT MEDIA win, 12th for MC Motorsports in ASPHALT MEDIA, and MC Motorsports's 13th win combined with NR Night in America. This was also Cmejla's first ever win in a Toyota on the iRacing service. Patrick Connell avoided all the last lap chaos to get an 8th place finish.

"I was screaming after that. After domination it would have sucked to lose that one late. And to win in that fashion - incredible."

MC Motorsports © 2024 Press Release
Article Created at 10:23 PM 1/24/2024