This MNR Review is presented by Monday Night Racing.
On Monday, Dec. 5, the Interstate Batteries Monday Night Racing Pro Series ran the fifth race of season six with IndyCars in the Next Level Racing 125 at Indianapolis Motor Speedway. Presley Sorah, the defending champion from season five, clinched the race win and a playoff spot after driving from the back following a restart violation and then outdueling Justin Melillo in the closing laps.
Check out the race recap from Frontstretch’s Joy Tomlinson here. Also, you can view the full race broadcast, along with the Frontstretch post-race show featuring Brandon Hauff and Michael Massie, on the Frontstretch YouTube channel. Here are the five key takeaways from Monday’s raucous race:
@MonNightRacing WINNER! Don’t mess with the hometown kid! First win of Season 6 and new points leader! So stoked. Stay tuned to my twitter tomorrow, the Indy winner has to have his milk celebration… 👀. Thank you @justinmelillo for being such a class act and racing me clean. https://t.co/Xc7znHkAJU pic.twitter.com/bZEnadhEkV
— Presley Sorah (@PresleyRacing) December 6, 2022
1) Presley Sorah’s Odyssey from Pole to Victory Lane
When the green flag flew at the virtual Brickyard, it looked like Sorah was in the catbird seat, having won the Roasted Gems Coffee pole and gotten out to the lead when the yellow flag flew for an opening lap wreck. However, as the field went around under caution, MNR race control Josh Mendoza ruled that Sorah had a committed a penalty on the initial start and would be forced to restart at the back of the pack.
Sorah made little progress back up the grid during the first half of the race, running in the 20s and 30s in the field. It looked as though he might have been out of the hunt, but as Sorah revealed in his post-race interview, it may have all been part of the plan.
“I was just trying to save tires, save fuel and really just save my racecar,” Sorah said to Podium’s Blake McCandless and Jacob Hitz. “I was just slowly but surely picking guys off one by one.”
Then, as the cautions piled up, attrition began to kick in, and Sorah made his way back into the top 10. Then, he cracked the top five in time for the final restart with 27 laps to go, passed for second at 14 laps to go and closed the gap to duel with Melillo. Sorah took the lead for good when Melillo hit the wall off of turn 2 with only five laps left, completing his journey back to the top…
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