Erik Jones climbs from his car in victory lane after scoring the win in Sunday’s Winchester 400 at Winchester Speedway. Photo by Matt Weaver
WINCHESTER, IN – Erik Jones withstood a furious battle over the last 40 laps with defending ARCA/CRA Super Series champion and current points leader Travis Braden to score his second consecutive Winchester Rifle trophy for winning the 43rd running of the Winchester 400 at Winchester Speedway Sunday afternoon.
“We got the toe knocked out a little bit on the last restart,” Jones said after the win. “It just made the car way, way too tight, tighter than it had been all day. But we fought hard, raced hard with Travis (Braden) and it was good, clean, hard racing. I’d call it short track style. It was cool to battle hard and pick up our second 400. We come here for one reason and that’s to win these races and to do it means a lot to us.” He added.
“I honestly felt like we had a little bit better car this year, at least up until we got the toe knocked in. Luckily, being in the lead we were able to hold him off and kill off his momentum on the bottom. Like I said, I think we were a bit better this year but we also had to fight harder for it. That was definitely a lot of fun today battling with Travis (Braden). He’s really good everywhere, but especially here.”
While settling for a hard fought second place finish, Braden could make a claim for being just a happy as Jones after the race as the Wheeling, WV driver clinched his second consecutive ARCA/CRA Super Series Championship. In holding off Ross Kenseth for his second straight title, Braden scored his 11th consecutive top five finish to propel him to the crown. The 20-year-old joins three-time series champion, Johnny VanDoorn, as the only other driver in the series’ 18-year history to win titles in back to back seasons. VanDoorn’s consecutive titles came in 2009 and 2010. He would win his third in 2012.
“We made some unbelievable calls today,” Braden said. “We had older tires on all day banking on that we would have newer ones at the end and we did. I don’t know versus Erik (Jones), but versus those other guys I know we had fresher tires and it showed. It came down to that last 40-lap run. I wasn’t going too well on restarts, but finally started getting going the longer the green stayed and that made it a good race. It just came down to who could get the lead on that restart. The outside was the place to be. But Erik made it happen on the inside that one time and that’s how he got us.”
Jones started the weekend off by winning the pole. He would choose the outside lane on the initial start along side VanDoorn. Jones beat VanDoorn and the rest of the pack to the first turn to take the lead while the rest of the 33 starters scrambled into position in anticipation of a long green flag run,
Ross Kenseth would skate past Jones on lap 88 to take the lead for the first time. He led until lap 96 when most of the leaders came down pit road for the first time. Williston, VT veteran Brian Hoar, an eight-time American-Canadian Tour (ACT) Champion making his ARCA/CRA debut, stayed out to inherit the lead. Hoar would stay out in front until lap 123 when Kenseth came charging back to reclaim the lead for himself.
Kenseth stayed out in front until lap 177 when Braden grabbed the top spot for the first time of the afternoon. It would be short lived, however, as Kenseth moved back out front on lap 184. During this time, VanDoorn’s chance at a win was thwarted as rear end issues on his machine ended his afternoon. Kenseth’s entry would lead through the halfway point.
As the race wore on, Daniel Hemric, driving for Woodstock, GA’s Carswell Motorsports, began to make his presence known after starting deep in the field. Hemric steered his ride to the lead on lap 271. A competition yellow was thrown on lap 284, which proved to be pivotal in more ways than one. After pit stops were completed, Kenseth’s car suddenly slowed on the race track and he would have to be pushed back to pit road. As the crew worked frantically to discover the issue, his championship hopes would soon disappear as it would take 13 laps of green flag racing to find a fuel pick-up problem and send him back out.
Seventeen laps later, Jones returned to the top fold and would slip past Hemric to grab the lead once again. Braden emerged back into challenger mode by lap 325, as he would slip past Jones for the first time on a restart to reclaim the lead for himself. This set up the showdown between Jones and Braden. The field would be slowed on lap 351 with the hardest crash of the afternoon. Scott Neal, another one of the hometown favorites from near-by Middletown, IN, slammed the turn three wall and went careening into the infield grass due to the heavy contact. He was ok, but his car was destroyed.
Then with 27 laps to go, Hemric’s bid at the win came to an end when his machine lost oil pressure. With 13 laps to go, Kenseth was officially eliminated from title contention which sealed Braden’s second straight championship. With the title in his back pocket, he made a charge for Jones.
With the go signal given, Braden went after Jones and with 10 laps to go, he let the defending race winner know he was there as they drove into the corner. Braden gently shoved Jones up the banking to retake the lead only to see Jones return the favor in the very next set of corners. Braden regrouped and began reeling Jones back in. As the white flag came out, Braden got back to Jones’ back bumper and when the duo drove into turns three and four for the final time, Braden dive bombed the corner, but came up just inches away from Jones’ back bumper as Jones drove off of turn four to the checkered flag to claim the hard fought victory.
Jones now moves into an impressive six-way tie for third all-time in career Winchester 400 victories as he joins the likes of Mike Eddy, Mark Martin, Butch Miller, Gary St. Amant and Dave Sorg. In addition and in winning the race in consecutive seasons, he joins three other drivers who have won in back to back years. The list includes the legendary Bob Senneker who won five in a row (1974-1978) out of his seven career Winchester 400 triumphs. His other two wins occurred in 1984 and 1990. Mike Cope, the most recent back to back winner, scored three consecutive wins from 1993-1995. Finally, Martin, who won his only two 400s in back to back seasons (1985 and 1986).
Donnie Wilson finished in third, with Cody Coughlin in fourth and Brian Hoar in fifth.
Tommy St. John, J.J. Haley, Senoia, GA’s Bubba Pollard, Stephen Nasse and Brandon Oakley rounded out the top ten.
For more information about the Champion Racing Association, visit CRA-Racing.com.
ARCA/CRA Super Series
Winchester Speedway – Winchester, IN
Winchester 400 – Oct. 12, 2014
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1. 51J Erik Jones
2. 01 Travis Braden
3. 2 Donnie Wilson
4. 1 Cody Coughlin
5. 37 Brian Hoar
6. 29s Tommy St. John
7. 99 J.J. Haley
8. 26P Bubba Pollard
9. 51N Stephen Nasse
10. 51 Brandon Oakley
11. 81 Terry Fisher, Jr.
12. 77 Ross Kenseth
13. 98 Daniel Hemric
14. 29 Anderson Bowen
15. 4 Scott Neal
16. 5 Dalton Sargeant
17. 68 Austin Theriault
18. 112 Augie Grill
19. 7 Paul Shafer, Jr.
20. 47 Allen Karnes
21. 5G Will Gallaher
22. 71 Johnny VanDoorn
23. 98M Mason Mingus
24. 26 Rick Turner
25. 23 Eddie VanMeter
26. 54 Jeff Fultz
27. 33 Wes Griffith, Jr.
28. 9 Brandon Watson
29. 84 Jay Niewiek
30. 28 Jack Smith
31. 1S Jon Beach
32. 8 Tommy Cook
33. 7x Mike Stacy
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