Chris Wimmer Goes Perfect For World Crown 300 Win

Chris Wimmer did what many thought could not be done.

He swept all three segments of Sunday’s 28^th annual World Crown 300 at Gresham Motorsports Park in Jefferson, Georgia, perfectly, which allowed him to pocket a total of $20,000 and earn the honor of wearing the crown in victory lane as the latest “King of the Short Tracks.”

Wimmer, of Wausau, WI, made it look easy, running away from two second generation racers, Ross Kenseth and Chase Elliott, to score the win.

All that in his first visit to the famed Georgia speed plant.

“I couldn’t believe it,” Wimmer said in victory lane.  “The car was perfect from the first lap and it was just awesome.”

“I got a little tight on that second set of tires, but it seemed like on restarts it would come in,” he added.”

Early on, it looked like it could be anybody’s race.  Pole sitter Stephen Nasse took the early lead, with Senoia, Georgia’s Bubba Pollard moving to second and Casey Smith moving to third.

The first caution of the day came early, as Andrew Ponstein spun on the frontstretch.  He got away cleanly, and was able to continue.

The caution would fly again on the next restart, when a log jam on the frontstretch gathered up Jeff Fultz, Clay Alexander, Colt James and Russell Fleeman.  Fultz, Alexander and James were done for the day, while Fleeman would return to action several laps down.

The next restart saw yet another caution, as Hoschton, Georgia’s Jimmy Garmon made a solo spin on the backstretch.  Garmon was okay, and drove away.

When racing finally resumed, it was Nasse moving back to the lead, with Pollard to second while Smith and Donnie Wilson fought for third.

The yellow flag fever would return on lap 11, when Dwayne Buggay and Steven Legendre tangled in the first turn, sending both into the outside wall.  Both were done for the day.

The caution would come out again on lap 15, when Austin Theriault and Steven Dorer got together in the third turn.  Theriault ended up in the wall, while Dorer stayed off the wall.

On the restart, Nasse stumbled, opening the door for Pollard to lead for the first time on the day.  Wilson moved to third, with Mike Garvey in fourth and Wilson fifth.

Meanwhile, Wimmer was on the move.  On lap 37, he and Andy Loden moved past Mike Garvey for fifth and sixth.

Four laps later, Loden found himself in trouble, spinning down the frontstretch and making contact with the inside wall.  He was done for the day.

Pollard would jump back out front on the restart, with Smith moving to second and Wilson to third.  Daniel Hemric, driving for the car of the defending winning team, moved to fourth.

Wilson would slow suddenly off turn two.  Nasse was unable to avoid him, making contact and sending Nasse’s car sliding as the caution flew again.  Wilson was done for the day, but Nasse was able to make repairs and continue.

When the green came back out, Pollard resumed control and the field settled in for a long, clean run.  Wimmer restarted third, and as the race approached the 70 lap mark, he began closing the gap on the leader.

Pollard’s day went sour when he slowed suddenly with a cut tire as the worked lap traffic.  That handed the lead to Wimmer as the caution came out for debris.

On the restart, Wimmer held the point, with Smith in second and Jones third.

Meanwhile, Chase Elliott, who had started shotgun on the field after flying in from Phoenix, Arizona from a Saturday K&N West event, moved into the top ten as the race approached the 80 lap mark.  Pollard, with new tires, was also working his way up through the field.

As the field reached the end of the first segment at lap 100, Ponstein and Johnny Henderson tangled, sending Henderson hard into the inside wall.

Henderson’s car blocked the pit road entrance.  As the racers waited for the entrance to be cleared, both Wimmer and Hemric rolled to a stop, both out of gas.  Fortunately for them, with the segment being over, they were locked into their spots.  Both were pushed to the pits for refueling.

Wimmer picked up $4,000 for winning the first segment.

The second segment began with an invert of the top six finishers, which was decided by a fan vote.

That put Hemric at the front, with Cale Gale, Jones, Smith, Kenseth and Wimmer rounding out the top six.

Hemric would jump out to the lead on the drop of the green, with Gale moving to second and Smith third.  Wimmer was able to get a good jump himself, moving to fourth on the restart.

While Hemric moved out to a sizable lead, Elliott was on the charge, moving to sixth.  Pollard, still trying to recover from the cut tire, moved to 10^th.

Back up front, in only took Wimmer 18 laps to move his way to second, clearing Smith for the position.  As he began to hunt down the leader, Pollard slowed and made his way to pit road.  His day was over, the victim of engine failure.

Wimmer caught Hemric on lap 132, retaking the lead and working to build an advantage.  Smith followed and ran nose to tail through traffic as the race approached lap 152.

The caution came out again on lap 160, when Hemric made contact with the lap car of Scotty Ellis, sending Ellis into the turn two wall.

Several cars would hit pit road, getting tires and setting them up for the rest of the race including Elliott, Gale, Nasse, Mike Garvey, Kenzie Ruston and Jones.

Its Sildenafil Citrate composition allows free blood flow to the main Physicalorgan. Link building using this method requires that you write a truly snazzy 3-4 page article that people would love. Information, that’s what people must collect before deciding about the surgery. Simply put, it is technically illegal to buy drugs online on Pharmacy Online Drug Store worldwide. Wimmer reclaimed the lead on the restart, and would hold it until lap 162, when a second spin by Garmon off turn four brought the yellow out again.

On the restart, one of Wimmer’s strongest competitors, Casey Smith, slowed suddenly.  He would pull to the garage area, his day over.

The caution would fly again moments later, when Ruston was sent for a wild ride into the inside wall after getting caught up in a skirmish between Hemric and Eddie Hoffman.  A visibly upset Ruston walked away.

Wimmer would again move out to the lead on the restart, while Elliott and Kenseth fought for second.  Elliott would fade to fourth, leaving Kenseth and Erik Jones to fight for the spot.

Two laps away from the end of segment two at lap 175, David Quakenbusch and Steven Dorer got together in turn three, sending both hard into the outside wall.  Both had been running on the lead lap, and would have transferred to the final segment, but instead spent the rest of the race in the garage area.

Wimmer would lead the final two laps of the segment to pick up another $6,000, giving him a $10,000 total to that point.

With the 12 cars remaining at the end of the second segment all being on the lead lap, all transferred to the final 25 lap shoot-out.

When the green flag flew on the final segment, there was no catching Wimmer.  He checked out and left Kenseth and Elliott fighting for the runner-up spot.

The two second generation racers had the GMP fans on their feet, and when the checkered flag flew, it was Kenseth topping Elliott for second.

But up ahead, Wimmer had scored an additional $10,000 for the win, giving him the maximum amount a driver could take home from the event, a cool $20,000.

Wimmer said he liked the World Crown’s new segmented format.

“I think it’s a neat deal,” he said.  “I was a little worried there with 25 to go and wanted to put tires on, but when you’re leading, it’s a little hard to do.”

Stephen Nasse would recover from his troubles to finish fourth, with Erik Jones in fifth.  Gale, Hoffman, Hemric, Garmon and Randy Gentry rounded out the top 10.

All results are unofficial until certified by track officials.

The win by Wimmer meant that the streak of Georgia drivers winning the World Crown was finally snapped.  The last non-Georgian driver to win prior to Sunday was Freddy Query in 1999.

But more importantly, it meant Wimmer joined legends such as Dick Trickle, Gary Balough and Darrell Waltrip as a winner of the World Crown 300.

World Crown 300
Gresham Motorsports Park – Jefferson, GA
Unofficial Results – Nov. 13, 2011

1. Chris Wimmer
2. Ross Kenseth
3. Chase Elliott
4. Stephen Nasse
5. Erik Jones
6. Cale Gale
7. Eddie Hoffman
8. Daniel Hoffman
9. Jimmy Garmon
10. Randy Gentry
11. Andrew Ponstein
12. Rodney Benefield
13. Steven Dorer
14. David Quakenbusch
15. Mike Garvey
16. Kenzie Ruston
17. Casey Smith
18. Scotty Ellis
19. Allen Karnes
20. Bubba Pollard
21. Russell Fleeman
22. Johnny Henderson
23. Dalton Grindle
24. Mark Day
25. Heath Hindman
26. Donnie Wilson
27. Andy Loden
28. Austin Theriault
29. Dwayne Buggay
30. Steven Legendre
31. Colt James
32. Clay Alexander
33. Jeff Fultz
34. Gus Dean