User blog:Ajaxcupseries/2023 10th Annual Ajax 200 Preview

The Fallon Corner - August 2023

It’s rather hard to believe Speedweeks at Ajax Superspeedway is just around the corner, and in exactly one week’s time the Ajax Cup stars and cars along with a couple of the best from other series’ will be back on the track for the milestone 10th edition of the Ajax 200.

Calamity, chaos, disarray, bedlam, mayhem, you name it, Ajax Superspeedway has provided just that in recent years. After all, just last season we saw Ryan Dixon take a backup car from last to first to capture his first 200 trophy and add another crown jewel triumph to his already impressive ASCA resumè.

This year’s Ajax 200 feels even more special though. The 2023 edition will mark the 10th running of this event, and with the already incredibly high acclaim this race brings there’s no doubt these drivers will be laying it all on the line this time around to capture that grand prize after 100 grueling laps of restrictor plate action.

Before we dive into the top storylines for this version of the 200, lets take a look at the past to view the previous victors of this event over the course of the past nine years:

2014 - #42 James Walton

2015 - #11 Dan Rodgers

2016 - #43 Grant Von Duvedel

2017 - #88 Jimmy Hood

2018 - #20 Michael White

2019 - #11 Dan Rodgers

2020 - #48 Brynn Rennerd

2021 - #22 Diego Orkedi

2022 - #6 Ryan Dixon

BOLD: Denotes active Ajax Cup driver

Lets take a look at some of the top stories I’ll be eagerly following along come next Saturday afternoon:

Big Names Missing an Ajax 200 Trophy
As you may notice looking at the previous winners list, NONE of the drivers that captured an Ajax 200 trophy last decade will be making the green flag for the 2023 edition of this event. This means that quite a few household names of today are lacking a victory in this event on their resumé.

Past champions such as Nick Orkedi, Randle Woods, and reigning champ Greg Healey all do not have a 200 trophy along with current big stars such as Todd Kidd and Chris Barrymore.

The question is, will that change next Saturday afternoon?

Out of all the drivers I just listed, NONE of them have won a modern era points paying event at Ajax Superspeedway. While Orkedi and Healey have Intel Shootout victories to their name, and Healey, Todd Kidd, and Randle Woods all have Arris Duel victories to their credit, they have been unsuccessful when it comes to closing the deal in either the Ajax 200 or Fastenal 200.

And with the nature of plate racing, especially with the current plate package in this day and age, its much more of a matter of survival and being in the right place at the right time than it is driver talent making the difference, it may be better to bet on an upset pick than a favorite to capture the first checkered flag of 2023.

Ajax 200 Party Crashers?
When the NDRL’s Ryan Taylor made his ASCA debut in the 2020 Windows 300, many people assumed this would be a one time deal and it’d be unlikely anyone would attempt this in the near future, especially with the inaugural ADRA All Star Race winner bringing home a subpar 13th place effort by his standards.

However, Taylor came back with a vengeance for the 2022 Windows 300, showing up in Taylor Motorsports equipment (the flagship organization in the NDRL) and bringing home a top 10 effort this time around. This sparked the 42 year old to add additional races to his ASCA calendar later that same year in the Northern 200 and Fastenal 200, and now its sparked a movement of past champions from other series’ trying their luck in the ASCA.

While Taylor will be back for 2023 participating in nearly half the events on the schedule, some other household names from other series will be joining him in reigning Panhead Cup Series Champion Marco Garidelli for the season opening Ajax 200 and two time Smithfield Cup Series Champion Brandon Books in the Windows 300 and Northern 200 later on in the calendar.

If you thought the crown jewel events in the sport already had prestige.....adding these big stars to the equation just helped that shoot up ten fold.

Survival of the Fittest - or Luckiest?
A theme we have seen specifically throughout the ASCA’s Modern Era of plate racing is the better the package, the less cars that will likely survive the duration of the event.

When you look back to 2019 where the sanctioning body developed what many considered to be the greatest plate package this sport has ever seen, only ten cars managed to complete all 100 laps of that season’s Ajax 200, while only seven cars crossed the stripe in pristine condition during the Fastenal 200 in a race that many refer to as the Von Duvedel DD.

Last year, the sport brought back a completely radical style of package inspired by the NDRL that produced some of the greatest racing we’ve seen at Ajax Superspeedway this decade, but the caveat to this was the high number of torn up race cars in the garage at night’s end in both races.

While fans may enjoy seeing the massive accidents and the close racing throughout the duration of an event, the team owners cringe at the prospect of having to spend millions of dollars every time a plate race pops up on the calendar, and one has to wonder whether the drivers enjoy it either considering it doesn’t matter how well your car drives - but rather if you can be at the right place at the right time.

Throw in a prize up for grabs as massive as the 10th edition of the season opening race, and don’t be surprised if we see an upset similar to Grant Von Duvedel shocking the world in 2016 if drivers are unable to keep their heads on straight, especially early in the going.

Final Prediction
Last year, I picked Nick Orkedi to capture his first Ajax 200 trophy, and surprise, surprise, he racked up yet another DNF in this event.

This time around, I’ll be going with the safest pick possible. And it may surprise you that its not Diego Orkedi even though he’s won two of the last four events at Ajax Superspeedway.

We saw in 2022 that the prestige of an event was no problem for Jared Ayers to rise to the occasion, as in the 100th Modern Era Ajax Cup race it was the Daytona Beach native that shoved his two time championship winning teammate out of the way with 10 laps remaining to score the monumental victory.

Its also important to remember that Ayers was the fastest man in Indiana during Speedweeks earlier that same year with a runner up finish in the Intel Shootout and victories in his Arris Duel and the Craftsman season opener along with leading a record tying 66 laps in the 200 before a late race accident with Chris Barrymore thwarted his chances at victory.

Fresh off signing a big contract extension to stick with Michael White Racing through the 2026 campaign, that added boost of confidence will be enough to propel the 24 year old to victory lane for the third time in his Cup career.

While its borderline impossible to predict anything right at Ajax Superspeedway, something you should expect throughout Speedweeks is…..the unexpected.

Chaos, calamity, and unpredictability has become the norm for plate racing in the ASCA no matter the package, which is why you’d be remiss if you didn’t tune into the 10th Annual Ajax 200 this Saturday at 3 PM EST LIVE on Instagram!