ST. PETERSBURG, Fla. – When an early caution slowed the action on the streets of St. Petersburg, Michael Carter thought that his work to pull away from the Idemitsu Mazda MX-5 Cup presented by BFGoodrich Tires field was all for naught. We didn’t get that done this morning, but it was great to do that in Race Two. Carter’s two poles, two fast laps, runner-up finish in race one and win in race two have propelled him into the MX-5 Cup championship lead by 120 points over Wagner. “Congrats to Sam (Paley), he drove his tail off and to Gresham (Wagner) as well after he had that problem in race one,” Carter added. Third was a satisfying finish for Wagner after a drivetrain issue in race one forced him to retire. Rookie drivers had a strong showing on the streets of St. Petersburg; five of them finished in the top 10 in race two.

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