Faccinto Claims Silver Cup Finale
By Alex Nieten
CHICO, Calif. — With a gloomy weekend forecast for Silver Dollar Speedway, Mitchell Faccinto and the Tarlton Motorsports gang weren’t even sure if they’d attend this weekend’s Silver Cup, but the Fresno, Calif., team not only made the five-hour haul, they also took home the $5,700 prize after winning Saturday’s finale.
For Faccinto, the night marked his second career victory at the quarter-mile and first since 2016. The 29-year-old also chalked up his first triumph in the Tarlton No. 21 in just his second race aboard the new ride.
“It’s special,” Faccinto said. “It’s been really cool to be teamed up with Tom and Tommy (Tarlton). They give us all the best equipment to come out here and do what we need to do to win and be competitive, and I can’t thank those guys enough.”
After claiming the top two spots in the dash, Faccinto and Chase Majdic brought the field to green and Faccinto quickly jumped ahead.
Majdic threw a slider for the lead on the fifth circuit, but Faccinto turned under him, drove back by, and approached the tail of the field in the next corner. A caution for Ryan Robinson gave the leaders clean air again.
Two laps after the restart, the yellow lights glowed once more, this time for Friday night’s runner-up, Kaleb Montgomery, slowing on track.
Racing resumed on lap eight and welcomed the longest green-flag run of the night. Faccinto again darted ahead and quickly found himself in thick lapped traffic. The tactical driver knifed his way through the slower cars as behind him a donnybrook erupted for the runner-up spot.
Majdic faced challenges for position number two from a gaggle of cars including Justin Sanders, Shane Golobic, Kalib Henry and Tim Kaeding who had charged from 15th on the starting grid. The group traded spots while also slicing through lapped traffic.
A caution on the 25th circuit allowed the field to catch their breath before regrouping for a dash to the finish on the 35-lap feature.
Friday night’s winner, Justin Sanders, had clawed his way to second by the time the yellow flag was shown but slipped back a couple spots on a costly restart as Faccinto continued to execute flawlessly on getting the jump out of turn four.
As time waned on the main event, Sanders roared back to second but ran out of laps in his bid for four straight Silver Cup feature wins as Faccinto took the checkered flag just a little more than three-tenths ahead of Sanders.
“I wasn’t really sure where to be there at the end of the race,” Faccinto said. “I was kind of just sliding the middle and trying to get to the grip off the exit, but I knew Justin (Sanders), Shane (Golobic) and Chase (Majdic) were going to be moving around. I was just going to stick to my line… I don’t know if I got away, but it’s just really cool to come out here and get a win.”
Though the runner-up finish marked a second consecutive podium for Sanders, the Aromas, Calif., native thought he had the car to make it two straight wins if it weren’t for losing spots on the late restart.
“It took me about five laps to get going, but once I got going, I felt like I had a lot of speed,” Sanders said. “I felt like I was coming up on the 21 car really fast at the end. It would’ve been a whole different story being in second instead of having to come back from fourth.”
Majdic claimed the final podium slot while Golobic and Henry completed the top five.
The finish:
- 21t Mitchell Faccinto 2. 2x Justin Sanders 3. 35m Chase Majdic 4. 17w Shane Golobic 5. 01jr Kalib Henry 6. 42x Tim Kaeding 7. 83t Tanner Carrick 8. 20 Chase Johnson 9. 31c Justyn Cox 10. 14w Ryan Robinson 11. 17wx Ryan Bernal 12. 22x Sean Becker 13. 83v Joel Myers Jr. 14. 29 Willie Croft 15. 37 Steven Kent 16. 7 Tyler Thompson 17. 24 Justin Henry 18. 83sa Isaiah Vasquez 19. 92 Andy Forsberg 20. 68 Jayson Bright 21. 2xm Max Mittry 22. 4 Jodie Robinson 23. x1 Kaleb Montgomery 24. 21w Jake Wheeler
Keyword: Faccinto Hoists Chico’s Silver Cup