Erik Jones scored his third straight Winchester 400 victory Sunday, pocking over $100,000 in earning in the process. Photo courtesy CRA Media
Erik Jones took the lead for the final time on lap 322 of Sunday’s Winchester 400 at Indiana’s Winchester Speedway, and went on to hold off both teammate Christopher Bell and Cody Coughlin to score an unprecedented $100,000 payday in the ARCA/CRA Super Series Triple Crown event.
Jones scored maximum money by sweeping the three Triple Crown Series events, having won the Redbud 300 at Anderson Speedway and the Battle at Berlin 251 at Berlin Raceway earlier in the year.
It also marked Jones’ third straight victory in the prestigious Super Late Model race.
“Wow, this is amazing,” Jones said in victory lane. “Definitely pretty cool to be able to come out of here with a win. I didn’t know after qualifying what kind of shot we had starting 16th. It was the hardest we’ve had to work for one of these rifles.
“That was a lot of fun racing with Christopher (Bell). He was running really high and had gotten to the top of me when I thought I was running the top before. I figured at some point he’d probably get the wall. But at that point you’re giving it all you’ve got. He just gave it a little too much and slipped. That’s probably a little bit of inexperience on his part. He’s pretty new to the asphalt world, and to the late model world.”
In the midst of Jones’ accolades, 16-year-old Grant Quinlan became the youngest driver in ARCA/CRA Super Series history to win both the Series Championship and Rookie of the Year title in the same season. The Harrison, Michigan racer clinched both titles by taking the green flag for the 400.
“This is pretty awesome to win the ARCA/CRA Super Series title and rookie title too,” he said. “I can’t say enough about this entire Downey Racing Team for all of their hard work to put me in this position.”
By winning both titles, he joins Scott Hantz and Derrick Griffin as the only others to accomplish the feat.
Pole winner Terry Fisher, Jr. and Bell would lead the 38-car field to green, with Fisher, Jr. taking the early lead. On lap 30, Bell would take over to control of the race and pace the field up to lap 113 when a caution came out. Dawsonville, GA’s Chase Elliott, who was running second when the leaders came down pit road, briefly took the lead on pit road due to where each driver’s pit stall was located. But Bell would beat Elliott out of the pits to reclaim the lead once again.
After another caution on lap 210, Fisher, Jr. would reclaim the lead after pit stops on lap 213 only to lose that lead to Donnie Wilson on lap 226. Soon it would be Jones who would lead for the first time on lap 245, and he would lead the field onto pit road after another yellow flag.
It would be Bell though who would beat the field off of pit road to reclaim the lead once again on lap 296 only to watch Wilson take the top spot after another trip down pit road as a result of a caution on lap 314. Wilson would then take over on lap 316, but just six laps later, Jones would grab the lead back with Bell in tow.
The pivotal moment of the race occurred with 50 laps to go when Bell, who was building the momentum on the high side, briefly took the lead down the backstretch only to slap the wall between turns three and four, handing the lead back to Jones. A lap later, Bell would drop down to pit road with significant rear end damage ending his afternoon setting up Jones to claim the six figure bonus.
Coughlin would work his way into position to challenge for the lead late in the going. Several times, Coughlin ran the high side, similar to Bell’s path around the speedway. Coughlin’s machine bounced off the outside wall several times, but he kept going forward in an effort to take the lead.
In the closing laps, Coughlin’s consistent bouncing off of the wall caused him to fade, allowing Jones to pull away for the win.
Coughlin would finish in second, with Elliott in third, Quinlan, in fourth and Senoia, GA’s Bubba Pollard in fifth.
The 2015 CRA awards banquet will officially close the 2015 racing season on Friday, January 8, 2016 at the Crowne Plaza Indianapolis Downtown at Union Station in Indianapolis, Indiana.
For more information about the ARCA/CRA Super Series, visit CRA-Racing.com.
ARCA/CRA Super Series
Winchester Speedway – Winchester, IN
Winchester 400 (Unofficial) – Oct. 11, 2015
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2. 1 Cody Coughlin
3. 9 Chase Elliott
4. 28 Grant Quinlan
5. 26P Bubba Pollard
6. 128 Jack Smtih
7. 54 Jeff Fultz
8. 26 Rick Turner
9. 29B Anderson Bowen
10. 3 Wes Griffith, Jr.
11. 4 Dalton Armstrong
12. 04 Matt Hall
13. 1S Jon Beach
14. 51B Christopher Bell
15. 2W Donnie Wilson
16. 2 Bret Holmes
17. 81 Terry Fisher, Jr.
18. 12G Kody Evans
19. 7 Paul Shafer, Jr.
20. 23 Eddie Van Meter
21. 131 Nick Gullatta
22. 18 Mark Lambert
23. 5H Daniel Hemric
24. 88 Garrett Jones
25. 99 J.J. Haley
26. 01 Travis Braden
27. 2N Trevor Noles
28. 12 Harrison Burton
29. 51 Brandon Oakley
30. 22 Scott Whitehouse
31. 20R Cole Rouse
32. 51N Stephen Nasse
33. 40 Jordan Miler
34. 1B Trevor Berry
35. 98M Mason Mingus
36. 5 Dominique Van Wieringen
37. 20 Jack Dossey III
38. 13 Hunter Baize
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