SYRACUSE — Frank Cozze of Wind Gap, Pa., lost one Rite Aid 200 when his fuel cell ran dry in theclosing laps, but Sunday, he more than made up for it, running an amazing 129 laps around the New York State Fairgrounds mile on one tankful of fuel to claim the 37th edition of the October classic.

“I felt really horrible then, but you have to get over it,” said Cozze. “You can’t come here thinking the place owes you one. You have to put in the work and improve your mileage, and that’s what we did. We didn’t run that well in our heat, but we got great gas mileage and here, that’s unbeatable.”

Matt Sheppard finished second, gaining one spot when four-time winner Billy Decker blew an engine and two more when Rich Laubach and Gary Tomkins both ran dry, but Sheppard barely made it to the checkered flag himself.

“I was stumbling the last couple laps, and I don’t know how Frank went 12 laps farther on a tank. But he did, so we congratulate him,” Sheppard said. “My car was blubbering at the end of the straights, then in the turn, enough fuel would slosh over to run it a while, so I figured he’d be out, too.”

Another Pennsylvanian, Duane Howard, claimed third, with Can­adian Stewart Freisen and former winner Tim Fuller trailing. Leb­anon Valley stars J.R. Heffner and Eddie Marshall were sixth and seventh, respectively, followed by Billy Dunn, Lebanon Valley and

Albany-Sar­atoga regular Keith Flach and Justin Haers.

Sheppard got the drop on polesitter Fuller on the start, and led through lap 40, when he and

Cozze made their first pit visits after Shawn Reimart spun in turn four. Reimart then drove across the speedway right in front of the lead pack, drawing the third yellow of the day.

Decker and a number of other contenders had already pitted once, and it became apparent that a number of strategies were in play.

Brett Hearn took the lead at that point, but he pitted on the next yellow, at lap 61, putting David Herbert and Tomkins at the front of the field. With Decker already back to seventh, most of the huge crowd expected him to make one more quick stop, and again lead the contenders back to the front.

Cozze made what would be his final stop on lap 71, under yellow, with Tomkins pitting, as well.

Haers had taken the lead on lap 62 and hung on through lap 100, when he earned the $5,000 halfway bonus, then pitted two laps later, putting Vince Vitale in command. Decker, who had made his last stop on lap 81, was back to sixth behind Vitale, Cozze, Flach, Laubach and Ric Hill, but in the 130-lap range, word came over the radio that his engine was skipping.

Fans eventually began thinking that Cozze, who inherited the lead on lap 124 when Vitale pitted, might have a chance if enough cautions kept the pace slow. Five more yellows played right into his hand, with everyone watching every move he made, expecting him to slow, sooner or later.

“On the yellows, I’d shut it off and coast, then when we restarted, I’d run three-quarters throttle down the straights,” Cozze said. “You can’t be jerking the throttle around. With 30 to go, I thought I might be OK, then with 10 to go, Billy got to second and the crew started telling me to wait and not gas it too much. But I wasn’t going to let anyone by easy, that was for sure.”

The usual gas problems had begun to surface at lap 175, with Frankie Caprara running out, followed by Mitch Gibbs at lap 183 and Laubach with 11 to go. Then on lap 194, Donnie Corellis ran dry, with Hebert suffering the same fate two laps later. Decker’s engine finally expired on lap 197, with Tomkins running dry the next time around and Andy Bachetti a lap later.

Through all this, Cozze ran smoothly, with Sheppard and Howard in pursuit.

“I was stretching my gas, waiting for both of them to drop,” said Howard. “I was actually under Sheppard once, and my crew chief told me, ‘Don’t race anyone’, so I let him go. I could easily have had second.”

Fuller was also disappointed, having had the right rear shock separate from the axle early on and upsetting his handling.

Other former winners had a tough day, as well, with Hearn making a number of stops for a bad torsion bar before finishing 12th, while Ken Tremont Jr. (43rd) lost his power steering and Jack Johnson’s engine expired to put him 42nd.

Other Capital Region drivers in the field included Bachetti (15th), Jeff Brownell (16th), Corellis (19th), Ronnie Johnson (25th), Bobby Varin (28th) and Mike Perrotte (37th).

Sean Corr won a stirring battle with Eric Martin and Louie Jackson to claim the 25 lap pro-stock championship, with Pete Stefanski and Don Carlson fourth and fifth.

Local finishers included Jay and Jason Casey (12th and 14th), Mike Middleton (15th), Nick Stone (26th), Kenny Martin (27th), Kevin Arnold (28th) and Dean Charbonneau (36th).