User blog:Ajaxcupseries/Championship Deep Dive Heading Into Final Quarter of 2023

The Fallon Corner - November 2023

Its rather astonishing that we are already at the witching hour of the Ajax Cup campaign with just four races remaining this season, but here we are heading into West Virginia this Thanksgiving weekend with the championship still very much up for grabs come December 19th at Belltown.

While this year’s championship battle may not top the thrilling dogfight we had last year that wasn’t truly decided until just past halfway through the very last race, this title scrap is quite unlike anything we’ve ever seen in ASCA history.

This is two drivers putting the sport on notice, every week pushing themselves to the brink and more often than not being the ones to make the trip to victory lane and breaking records while doing so.

Two drivers capturing 8 of 12 races at this point in a season is something that has not happened since 2019. We have not seen only two drivers hog all the crown jewel trophies like we’ve seen in 2023. The level of excellence you have to maintain to keep the top spot in the standings on a weekly basis is truly remarkable.

That being said, the reason why this is a deep dive is because there’s a few other drivers that can get hot and potentially steal this championship from right under the top two’s noses. Thus, lets get right into breaking down who still has a shot and who does not to capture the 2023 Ajax Cup Championship trophy in just a few short weeks:

Championship Contenders

 * 1) 18 Randle Woods - Points Leader

2023 Season Stats: 3 wins, 5 top 5’s, 10 top 10’s, 1 pole, 357 laps led, 1 DNF

Entering this season, fans and pundits alike had started to float the question around - does Randle Woods still have it?

After all, he was coming off of his worst points finish of his career along with his first winless campaign since 2008. Add in the fact that he would now be 35 years of age this year, the second oldest full time driver in the sport, and many had thought for sure that the two time champion’s best years were behind him.

That was, until he ripped off three straight top 6 finishes to open the campaign and had already amassed a nine point lead on the competition following The Stoneyard that could’ve been much larger had his pit crew not thrown away the race with an uncontrolled tire penalty on the final stop.

Woods began to come back down to earth with his first DNF of the season the following week at Advocare before failing to finish in the top 5 for two more weeks while Cameron Atwood was single handedly rewriting the record books, but the ASCA’s all time wins leader responded in a big way with a dominant performance on his hometown streets to snag the points lead back heading into the All-Star race.

While the Windows 300 was certainly a race Woods would like to forget finishing multiple laps down and being a non factor all night long, back to back weeks leading the most laps with a HUGE victory at Disney have given Woods the top spot in the standings that he has yet to relinquish since.

The thing about Woods is while he may not be as flashy and dominant as his main championship rival has been, we KNOW the veteran has been in this position numerous times before. He’s the sport’s all time wins leader and multi time Cup champion for a reason, there’s no sort of pressure that phases this man like it used to early in his career.

Add in the fact that he’s won at each of the tracks remaining on the schedule, and as long as his pit crew doesn’t prove to be a liability like they have been in the past or the team’s experiments with the setup fail miserably (see: Denver), I don’t see how Woods loses this title in the final four weeks barring some unforeseen serious bad luck.


 * 1) 17 Cameron Atwood - 2nd in Points (-7)

2023 Season Stats: 5 wins, 6 top 5’s, 9 top 10’s, 2 poles, 576 laps led, 2 DNF’s

If you’re looking for the truest “rags to riches” success story the ASCA maybe has ever seen, Cameron Atwood is your guy.

Sure, his dad was a former big league auto racer himself. Yes, he did start his ASCA career in the coveted No. 88 at Ronnie Woods Motorsports. But that doesn’t mean that there wasn’t plenty of adversity for Atwood to overcome to become the superstar he is today.

Its been well documented the historic campaign that Atwood is putting together so far in 2023. Five wins is a modern era record, and he’s on pace to SHATTER Randle Woods’ astonishing 615 laps led modern era record he set just a couple years back.

I’m not trying to take anything away from what the 27 year old has done this year, but with four races left, do you REALLY trust Atwood to go up against two of the best drivers this sport has ever seen and beat them straight up?

I’ll give you that Atwood would probably be leading the points had he not been caught up in the accident while leading at Disney. But even if he was at the top of the standings, the stretch run on the schedule simply favors Woods and Diego Orkedi much more.

Atwood finished 10th at West Virginia and 24th at Ajax Superspeedway earlier in the year, and those are tracks we visit two of the next three weeks. In fact, he has DNF’ed in his last three plate racing starts while Woods and Orkedi have won the last two plate races.

However, I’m not saying that the Tennessee native is out of it by any means. If he can come out and finish ahead of Woods in West Virginia that will be a huge victory for this No. 17 camp considering how dominant he was at Computer about a month ago, and we know he and Greg Healey practically own Belltown.

Basically, Atwood and co. need to keep their same approach of trying to win every week and let the points work themselves out, but they’re going to need the two best drivers of the modern era to falter down the stretch if CJ Barrymore Racing wants to bring home their first title since 2012.


 * 1) 22 Diego Orkedi - 3rd in Points (-13)

2023 Season Stats: 6 top 5’s, 10 top 10’s, 135 laps led, 2 DNF’s

What an uncharacteristic season it’s been for Diego Orkedi.

No wins, no poles, and most surprisingly no weekly firings or temper tantrums over the radio, yet somehow the three time champion STILL remains within striking distance of the championship heading into the final quarter of the campaign!

Orkedi has been quietly very consistent as one of only three drivers with double digit top 10’s on the year and tied for the second most top 5’s of any driver, yet clearly neither this No. 22 camp nor Orkedi Bros Racing have the same dominant levels of speed we’re so used to seeing from them, especially this late into a season.

This 2023 version of Diego is NOT the same man that can go out to his worst track and spank the field by 20 seconds to manhandle his way back into the title fight, but this is also a driver that’s far from washed up either.

To be honest, I have no clue what to expect out of the sport’s highest paid driver the final quarter of the season.

The 32 year old has at least won at three of the four tracks remaining on the schedule, but its been well over a year since his last Cup win at a non plate track. We know speed wise that this team cannot compete with the 17 and 18, but if you put all three of these guys in equal equipment I’m still taking Orkedi every day of the week.

Basically, all I’m saying is don’t count this man out just yet. Especially if they can win a race or two down the stretch, Orkedi might just steal this thing.

In The Hunt

 * 1) 9 Todd Kidd - 4th in Points (-27)

2023 Season Stats: 1 win, 7 top 5’s, 9 top 10’s, 60 laps led, 3 DNF’s

He may be 27 points back with only one win on the trot this year, but do NOT count Todd Kidd out of this thing just yet.

Believe it or not, Kidd has the most top 5’s of any driver this season even after his relatively slow start to the campaign, and he’s won at three of the four tracks remaining on the schedule with his two most recent victories coming at West Virginia and Computer Motor Speedway.

While I’m sure the No. 9 camp certainly has to be disappointed they aren’t a bigger factor in this championship fight, there’s not much they could’ve done about their early season DNF’s in the Ajax 200 or Belltown that essentially dug them too big of a hole to climb out of.

However, if for some reason Woods/Atwood/Orkedi all encounter massive problems down the stretch and Kidd can rip off a couple wins to close out the year, there’s a chance he might be able to steal the championship he was arguably robbed out of last year.

Needs a Miracle

 * 1) 48 Brynn Rennerd - 5th in Points (-27)

2023 Season Stats: 1 win, 4 top 5’s, 10 top 10’s, 9 laps led, 2 DNF’s

As we’ve seen throughout the course of numerous late race situations and especially over the course of the past couple years when his ride with Ronnie Woods Motorsports has been in serious doubt, when his back is against the wall that’s when you get the best performances out of Brynn Rennerd.

Heading into the campaign after a disappointing 2022 season and Colin Ward absolutely tearing up the Craftsman Series in the team’s development program, that didn’t stop Rennerd from ripping off five straight top 10 finishes to open the year and even lead the points for a couple weeks during Cameron Atwood’s three race winning streak.

While the Arizona native has certainly cooled off quite a bit since then, the fact that Rennerd has more top 10’s (10) than laps led (9) this season really goes to show he’s getting every last bit of speed that he can extract from that No. 48, which was certainly shown by the incredible pass he made on Randle Woods to steal the victory at Colgate.

However, that same lack of race winning speed outside of that one race is why I can’t really take Rennerd seriously as a title contender. Sure, he’s won at all the tracks remaining on the schedule, but do you really think he’ll be able to snag another win without some SERIOUS help to do so?

Its not over until the fat lady sings yes, but I’m gonna need to see a lot more out of Rennerd these next couple weeks to give him any realistic chance of capturing his first championship this year.


 * 1) 3 Greg Healey - 6th in Points (-42)

2023 Season Stats: 1 win, 4 top 5’s, 8 top 10’s, 2 poles, 105 laps led, 3 DNF’s

Its hard to call a season where you sit 6th in the standings with a win, multiple poles, and 100+ laps led a failure, but when you’re the defending champion and your team is literally investing 95% of their resources into you, it certainly feels that way for Snoots Enterprises and Greg Healey.

The 26 year old has racked up his most DNF’s in a season since 2019, and you could argue all of them were his fault which is certainly uncharacteristic of a driver that’s been nearly mistake free since the start of the decade.

Costly driver errors at Colgate and just last week in the Northern 200 have left Healey well on the outside looking into this championship fight, essentially needing all hell to break loose if he wants any shot of going back to back.

While I won’t count Healey out considering he has won at three of the last four circuits on the schedule, if he doesn’t win this weekend at West Virginia I think its safe to stick a fork in his championship bid.


 * 1) 24 Shane Park - 7th in Points (-42)

2023 Season Stats: 1 win, 3 top 5’s, 7 top 10’s, 2 poles, 159 laps led, 3 DNF’s

I’ll cut to the chase with Shane Park - do I think he’s a legit threat to win this championship? Absolutely not.

Not to take anything away from what this No. 24 team has done, because this looks like a completely different group than the one that struggled to even finish top 15 in points last year with Doug Bowden, but I think with Park’s age coupled with the team’s lack of championship experience, this is a team that I think is a year away from being a real threat.

Now that Park has that first win out of the way, the goal for him these final four weeks is just to build up as much momentum as possible to make a serious push for the 2024 title.

At least the organization found out that Ronnie Woods’ $30 million dollar gamble on a 22 year old seems to have been a stroke of genius to say the least.

Final Verdict
So, who do I think takes home the 2023 Ajax Cup Championship come December 19th at Belltown?

Personally, this looks like a two horse race to me. Sorry Diego Orkedi, but this new version of you without the wins and consistent race winning pace just isn’t going to cut it.

When it comes down to the experienced multi time champion vs. the up and coming star having a dream season, I’m taking the safe choice here pretty much every day of the week. Give me Randle Woods to take home his third championship in just a few weeks time.

Woods and this No. 18 crew have been there, done that twice before. In another odd numbered season, why wouldn’t I pick one of the sport’s all time greats to get the job done yet again?