User blog:Ajaxcupseries/2023 Ajax Cup Series Season Preview

The Fallon Corner - August 2023

Just like that, another offseason has flown right by and as of today we are less than two weeks away from kicking off Speedweeks with the Intel Shootout at Ajax Superspeedway.

With an all time great no longer a part of the full time Ajax Cup grid, familiar faces in new places under hefty new contracts, and a reigning champion entering the campaign not named Orkedi or Woods for the first time since 2018, this upcoming season has plenty of intriguing storylines to follow throughout the 16 race calendar!

Here’s some of the top stories I’ll be following throughout the duration of 2023:

Changing of the Guard?
As mentioned earlier, last season marked the first time since 2017 that Diego Orkedi or Randle Woods did NOT capture the Ajax Cup title, with that distinction instead going to the second youngest champion of the top level of the sport in Greg Healey.

However, Healey capturing the championship is just the tip of the iceberg to show that the ASCA’s long hyped up youth movement is here to stay.

Back in 2019, all the talk was about the “Big Three”, the trio of veterans in Diego Orkedi, Dan Rodgers, and Randle Woods that combined to score 11 of the 14 race victories that season.

These drivers had a combined average age of 32.3 at the time with the youngest being Orkedi aged 29, and while the sport was pushing the new, flashy young talents as those that would take over the sport right away, the veterans were eager to prove their time wasn’t up just yet.

Fast forward four years to 2022, and things have now changes quite a bit. 10 of the 16 Ajax Cup events were captured by drivers 27 years old or younger, with Chris Barrymore, Greg Healey, and Todd Kidd (who had an average age of 25 between them) combining to score seven of those victories.

While this was going on, the veteran drivers outside of Norm Lester witnessed a notable decline in their performances.

Defending champion Randle Woods’ 13 year streak of capturing a victory came to an end as he put together his first winless campaign since his rookie year back in 2008 along with the lowest points finish of his Cup career.

In his swan song campaign, Jimmy Hood finished a career low 14th in the standings despite his dramatic victory to complete the ASCA’s crown jewel sweep in the Northern 200.

And even with his incredible comeback from 20th to runner up in the final points standings during the last 12 races of the calendar, Diego Orkedi still finished the campaign with the lowest amount of victories he’s had in a season since 2017, along with the most DNF’s he’s had throughout the Modern Era.

Folks, this isn’t Diego Orkedi and Randle Woods’ ASCA anymore.

The new kids have officially arrived on the block, and its safe to say they run the sport now and will continue to do so throughout this decade.

Rookie of the Year Battle - Best Class This Decade?
This season’s Ajax Cup rookie class top to bottom might just be the strongest one to enter the top level of the sport since the 2016 season.

While the drivers themselves haven’t exactly lit the Craftsman Series on fire (outside of Ross Jackson of course), there’s no doubt that all three of the 2023 Rookie of the Year candidates have been put in positions where they can most certainly succeed at right away.

All three will be driving for teams that had a car in the championship hunt just last year, and who many would consider to be the three best teams in the sport since the start of the decade.

Add in the fact that these three men all finished in the top five in the Craftsman driver’s standings last year, and there’s no doubt they each earned their long awaited big break in the Cup Series.

The odds on favorite for the honor to many would be reigning Craftsman champion Ross Jackson considering the driver holding that distinction has gone onto win the ROTY award the past four years straight, but this isn’t exactly the slam dunk easy pick that many are making it out to be.

While the No. 88 team has a storied history in the sport with Jimmy Hood behind the wheel, there’s a reason why Hood only won one race during the final four years of his career, and it wasn’t just because he was old. This camp has just lacked consistent race winning speed for the good portion of the past half decade, and expecting a 22 year old rookie to fix that overnight even with his lower series accomplishments is blasphemous.

Jackson may be in the most prestigious situation of the trio, but do NOT sell Carson Schmidt and Bryce Mann short as they could jump up and surprise a lot of people this fall.

Season 9 (2023) Breakout Star - Shane Park
Last season, I picked Shane Park to be the guy that burst onto the scene and take the ASCA by storm, and to a certain extent, he did.

There was no sophomore slump for the 2021 Rookie of the Year recipient, as he moved up to a career best 11th in the final point standings and led a career high 59 laps at the Michigan Road Course before a late lockup thwarted his chances at his first career win.

However, the reason I still have the 22 year old as my breakout candidate for this season is the blockbuster deal he signed late last year with Ronnie Woods Motorsports to drive the No. 24 for the team through the 2025 campaign.

At Snoots Enterprises, there was always going to be a cap on Park’s potential simply because he was the number two driver there behind Greg Healey with how much the organization had invested in Healey.

Now at Ronnie Woods Motorsports though, while Todd Kidd and the No. 9 team have been the clear cut number one group over there since the start of the decade, Park is now making just as much money as the seven time Ajax Cup winner per year so if you think Woods isn’t going to invest heavily into ensuring Park succeeds, think again.

Remember, this is the same team that was competing for championships with Randle Woods just a half decade ago. While Doug Bowden dragged them down the order in recent years, bringing in a fresh face with a positive attitude could make all the difference in the world in turning Park into a title contender in 2023.

And the winner of the 13th Annual Windows 300 is…..
With all the things he managed to accomplish last season, many forget that Greg Healey’s first victory of 2022 was him capturing his first Windows 300 and becoming the youngest winner of the sport’s biggest event since Caleb Henderson Jr. in 2018.

Healey’s victory last year shows that these young kids CAN handle the pressure of these major crown jewel events, which makes picking this season’s Windows 300 winner that much more difficult considering last year’s was the most competitive in the events’s history.

Over the course of the past half decade, there’s become a select few drivers you’d expect to see at the front when the 300 trophy is up for grabs in the closing laps.

Guys such as Chris Barrymore, Todd Kidd, Diego Orkedi, and Randle Woods.

However, I’m going to go with a bit of an off the wall pick here and go with Cameron Atwood to capture his first 300 trophy.

Many people forget that Atwood captured pole position for this race last season, led the opening 43 laps, and ran in the top five for the majority of the evening before bringing home a 4th place result.

That No. 17 camp was a surprise to many as a championship contender throughout the full campaign, but now as a favorite heading into the 2023 season I expect Atwood will be able to step up to the plate to deliver CJ Barrymore Racing their first Windows 300 since 2018.

And the 2023 Ajax Cup Series Champion is…..
How ironic that my 2021 pick to capture the Cup championship ended up getting the job done the following year…..does that mean my title prediction from last year, Norm Lester, gets the job done in 2023?

My answer is a negative on that one. Instead I’ll be going with another 25 year old to capture their first title that may come as a shock to some, but put my money on Chris Barrymore to finally once and for all shut the doubters up and prove that he is truly one of the most talented drivers in the sport these days.

Similar to what I saw out of Lester in 2021, it was bad luck rather than a lack of speed as to what made the difference between the $44 million dollar man being in the title hunt at Belltown and ultimately finishing 6th in the final standings.

Looking back at all five of Barrymore’s DNF’s in 2022, there’s a case to be made that NONE of them were directly his fault, including multiple instances where he was taken out battling for the lead.

Barrymore also proved early last season that his “choking” days are well behind him, scoring two victories in the opening five races that show that if given race winning equipment every week, there’s a good chance he’ll find a way to put it in victory lane.

Sure, Orkedi Bros Racing and Snoots Enterprises made strides in the second half of the campaign to catch up with the advantage CJ Barrymore Racing had over the competition to start the year with the new Mustang, but Barrymore’s sheer talent level should be enough to keep him in title contention regardless of where CBR stands equipment wise.

That’s all she wrote for my 2023 Ajax Cup preview and predictions. Speedweeks at Ajax Superspeedway will be here before you know it starting August 25th with the Intel Shootout, and you will NOT want to miss a second of the action coming up this season!