3/31/2025
BAPS Motor Speedway
Dietrich Wins Sprint Car race with last lap thriller.
YORK HAVEN, Pa.: When the 410 Sprints roll into BAPS Motor Speedway for a special event, Danny Dietrich is at the top of the favorite list. It’s a place that seems to suit his style.
Dietrich can be aggressive and tiptoe around a speedway. The latter was important Sunday afternoon under slick conditions, and the Gettysburg, Pa., driver was masterful on his way to the front.
But it wasn’t just feathering the throttle. Dietrich used patience throughout a thrilling 30-Lap main event and passed Chase Dietz on the 29th circuit to capture his sixth win in his last 11 non-sanctioned races at the York Haven, Pa., facility.
“It was just being patient … really patient,” Dietrich said after his 22nd victory at the speedway. “One and two was way up against the fence, and it was so slick getting to and slick on entry, and I just kept working it and working it.
“Early on, I was really good on the bottom, and it just got used up. I just started looking, and there was a little color change in the middle. I moved up a car-width and a half, and there was grip.”
Continued Dietrich, “It was just clean racing with Brock and Freddie … we’ve had issues in the past, but we ran so tight and all about crashed. We were fighting for third, and it was just great racing through the top five, and it’s even more fun because we are standing here.”
Kyle Moody took the lead over Dietz at the drop of the green flag on RV 4-Wheel Drive presented by Providence Motorsports and Partners Night and led the first five circuits before Austin Bishop spun in Turns 3 and 4. After a couple of cautions, Dietz shot to the lead, ducking under Moody coming off the second corner on Lap 7.
A series of cautions took place over the next five laps. Dietrich, who started fifth and fell back to sixth, charged into fourth by the time 10 laps were scored. One circuit later, he gridlocked in a battle with Brock Zearfoss and Freddie Rahmer for third.
Ryan Taylor brought out the caution at the halfway point, when he stopped on the frontstretch. Dietrich, Zearfoss, Rahmer, and Moody all diced for position for the next 10 laps, with Moody and Dietrich maintaining second and third.
Dietrich finally got by Moody for second on Lap 27. Meanwhile, Dietz was struggling behind the lapped car of Reese Nowotarski and saw his nice lead evaporate with two to go.
Dietz went to the top of one and two, and Dietrich drove through the middle to take the lead in the first and second corner. He led the final lap and a half and took the win at the stripe, with Zearfoss also getting by for second. Dietz completed the podium.
“I knew I couldn’t get racing with Kyle,” Dietrich said. “I knew I needed to clear them on the same lap. The top was getting slower at the end of the race, and if someone saw me running the middle, they were going to drop down.
“I didn’t feel like I showed too much of a nose. He only had to get through one and two, and he got off two the lap before. It’s not easy to drive through the middle. It took me 25 laps to do it.”
In the 358 Sprint Car main event, Cody Fletcher started on the pole but had to fight off a pair of competitors to hold on for the win.
Seth Schnoke was all over Fletcher for most of the event until he hooked the cushion with a lap to go. That left Dylan Norris as the next challenger, but Fletcher held on by .547 seconds at the finish.
Norris finished second, with Derek Locke, Wyatt Hinkle, and Adam Carberry completing the top five.
Submitted By: Kolten Gouse
