Aaron Reutzel and Rico Abreu have been in a dog fight at the top of the High Limit Racing points standings for much of this year and last night the two found themselves duking it out for second place in the opening night of the Skagit Nationals at Skagit Speedway.

Reutzel was able to hold Abreu off and bring it home in second while Abreu finished third.

In his second place podium interview, Reutzel was asked what it is like fighting Abreu for position as the two are simultaneously battling for the Championship.

He answered, “It’s an absolute pleasure to race with Rico hard. You always know it’s going to be really hard. He keeps you on your toes, but it’s always clean, and there’s always an option. I always enjoy racing Rico. And, like I said, we can race each other so hard and never even touch. So it’s always a lot of fun to race with him.”

“Usually, I feel like he’s been getting the better of me on scenarios like that so I was glad to stay in front of him tonight,” he continued. “But that was a great night. These formats they can go either way and I’m happy with our second place run tonight.”

From there, Reutzel analyzed his race, “I felt good there early and kind of got to Tanner a couple times and then the red came out and they told him what I was doing different and that definitely got him to make it more speed. And then I felt like I was kind of still right there and there was a lap car that switched to my line and held me up for, you know, just way too long. Once I got by him, I couldn’t even see Tanner and then by the end I was kinda back. So all-in-all it was a great night just Tanner did a better job in traffic at the end of the day. And congrats to him and his guys.”

“Like I said, with these formats you can have really bad nights so I’m really happy to go home with second tonight.”

Abreu also discussed their battle telling FloRacing’s Tony LaPorta, “I think first and foremost the level of respect we have racing each other especially for a Championship right now. The intensity is quite high on the race track.”

After discussing some of the setup changes he made for the race, Abreu added, “I’m really happy with that and just to continue our top 5 consistency and chase this 87 car. I think that is what is most important for us right now. Is, yes, winning races, but there’s a war going on behind-the-scenes that we got to continue to fight for.”

With the second place finish, Reutzel whittled away at Abreu’s points lead. He shaved off four points bringing the gap between the two to 32 points. He extended his gap over third place Giovanni Scelzi as well. It is now an 80 point advantage. 

The Skagit Nationals continue tonight at Skagit Speedway in Alger, Washington. The format for tonight’s race will be the same as Thursday night. It will see all cars qualify in one group after a pill draw for qualifying position. Qualifying points will be awarded with the driver with the fast time receiving 100 points, second receives 99, third gets 98, and so on.

Heat races will then take place with the top six cars in each of the four heat races being inverted. The top five in each heat race will lock themselves into the A-Main while the rest will go to a B-Main. Points will also be awarded for heat races. The winner will get 100 and then it will decline by two points per position. So second place will 98, and third will get 96, and so on.

The B-Main lineup will see cars lined up based on their heat race finishes. The top 4 from the B-Main will transfer to the A-Main and start in rows 11-12 of the A-Main. Points will also be awarded for B-Main finishes. Fifth place will receive 120 and it will decline by three for each position.

The A-Main feature lineup will be ordered based on the total of number points from qualifying and heat races with the top 8 getting inverted. The winner of the A-Main will receive 200 points. It will also decline by three for each position. So second place gets 197, third place gets 194, and so on.

For Saturday night, the top four in overall points from both Thursday and Friday night will lock themselves into the A-Main feature. The rest of the field will compete in four qualifying heat races and be lined up based on their overall points from Thursday and Friday night. The top four finishes from each heat will transfer into the A-Main. 

The lineup order for the top four positions will be determined by the Redraw Wheel. It will also determine the starting positions for the qualifying heat winners. Positions 9-20 will be determined by their finishing positions in the heat race qualifiers.

A B-Main will be run for those finishing 5th-9th in their heat race qualifiers. It will also include the two drivers with the highest points totals that did not transfer in through the heat race qualifiers. In fact, they will start on the front of the B-Main. The top 4 from the B-Main will advance to the A-Main feature and start in rows 11-12.

NEXT: Tanner Thorson Dominates Opening Night Of Skagit Nationals With High Limit Racing