Benjamin Becomes Youngest Ever To Win At Winchester

14-year-old Kyle Benjamin became the oldest winner in the history of Winchester Speedway with his victory in the JEGS/CRA tour victory. Photo courtesy CRA

The original plan for 14-year-old Kyle Benjamin was to make his first ever appearance at the legendary high-banked ½ (0.500) mile high-banked paved oval of Winchester Speedway in Winchester, Indiana and simply gain experience for the 41st Winchester 400 in October. What the southeastern teenager left with was something much more special; the title of Youngest Driver Ever to visit victory lane at the famed oval.

The Winchester 100 Presented by JEGS.com saw a teenage takeover from the time practice started all the way to the end of the afternoon. In the end though, it would be Benjamin in his #71 Benjamin Motorsports Ford who would be taking in the accolades after winning in only his second career JEGS/CRA start and in turn dethroning Chase Elliott by a mere fourth months and 13 days as the youngest driver to win a race at the Winchester, Indiana speed plant.

“We only decided to make the trip up here late last week so we could get some seat time for the Winchester 400. I never expected to win at all, I was just out there turning laps and hoping for a good finish,” the surprised teenager relayed in victory lane. “This is right up there with one of my biggest wins ever,” he added.

Benjamin inherited the lead on lap 57 after defending JEGS/CRA champion, 15-year-old Erik Jones, who earlier in the afternoon won the Boyne Machine Fast Qualifier Award, broke an axle and spun. He then limped the car into the pits and after the Paragon Racing Team went over the car, they determined the cause and were out of the race.

“I was back there following Erik who’s really fast here. I was just learning the line around here which is pretty crazy. You have to run right up against the wall and the banks here are so big,” continued the Easley, South Carolina driver. “This is definitely one of my favorite tracks to race on. When you look at, it’s like looking at Darlington and you’re going so fast.  This has got to be one of my favorite wins. It’s just a cool track to race.”

16-year-old Cody Coughlin, the 2011 Rookie of the Year and current Howie Lettow Memorial Rookie of the Year Presented by Howe Racing Enterprises points leader, 14-year-old Anderson Bowen brought the 28-car field down to Chief Starter, Brian Duncan’s green flag and it would be Coughlin leading the way for the first two laps until Jones, who drew the minimum of a three (3) for an inversion, slipped by Bowen and then drove around the sophomore driver to take the lead on lap three.

Benjamin, who qualified ninth fastest and started on the inside of the fifth row, patiently worked his way through the field and avoided catastrophe on lap 36 when the second place car of Trent Snyder and the lapped car of 16-year-old Taylor Ferns touched setting off a chain reaction behind them. Amongst the drivers collected included Coughlin, Bowen, and Daniel Hemric, the JEGS/CRA winner two weeks previous at Plymouth Speedway in Plymouth, Indiana. Snyder, Hemric, and Bowen all came back out restarted at the rear of the field.

Benjamin avoided the mess and found himself in third place behind Jones and the new second place car of Brent Downey. After getting around Downey on lap 46, he set his sights on Jones and followed the reigning series champions’ tire tracks all over the ½ mile when Jones’ axle broke as the field was working on lap 57 ending Jones’ day.

This handed the lead to Benjamin, who had Downey on his back bumper when the most serious incident of the day occurred on lap 65, when Brandon Hermiller slammed the turns one and two wall and collecting several others. In all seven cars were done for the day as Hermiller, 13-year-old Spencer Davis, Wes Griffith Jr. Tanner Bohlen, Winston Wood, Jordan Miller, and Chad Finley, who had spun to avoid the mess in front of him and was then tagged in the front end. All were all out of the race.

Benjamin led Downey and a hard-charging Hemric once the race restarted and soon they were joined by another hard-charger in Snyder. With 13 laps to go, Snyder maneuvered around Hemric for third and then six laps later, Downey bounced off the turn two wall allowing both Snyder and Hemric to slip by for second and third and both began to chase down Benjamin.

However Benjamin was tough up front as well as determined, and would fight off the late charges by Snyder and Hemric as well as a late challenge of the top three by Bowen who had worked his way back up towards the front and in the end, Benjamin would take the checkered flag to the roar and approval of the crowd on hand after winning in only his second career JEGS/CRA start. His first appearance was at Speedfest 2012 at Watermelon Capital Speedway in Cordele, Georgia in a non-points event on January 29th where he finished 11th.

“This is just amazing. I never expected to win in my first race here, especially at this place,” the excited 14-year-old said. “This JEGS/CRA series is really strong from top to bottom. I wish there was a tour like this down south. I would run the entire series if there was. We’re going to try and run a few more shows this year with the tour.”

Trent Snyder finished second in his #88 Liz Girl Logistics/Medwest Associates Chevrolet and it was a hard earned second for the driver originally from Ironton, Minnesota but now calls Glen Ellyn, Illinois home. On lap 36, he collided with the lapped car of Taylor Ferns and had to pit for repairs and throughout the rest of the race, worked through the field and came home with an impressive second place finish.

“I was coming up on a lapped car and apparently she didn’t get the message to go low at the drivers meeting for lapped cars to go low. She was running right in the center of both grooves and then the car just came down and I couldn’t avoid her,” explained the 28-year-olld. “It really didn’t hurt the car all that bad, just some cosmetic damage mainly, but it sure made for a long day. I’m proud of all of my guys on the team, they kept working hard and we’re only running a part-time schedule this season. This was our first one and we’ll take a second place.”

After winning the Eric Saunders I Can I Will 100 Presented by JEGS.com on April 22 at Plymouth Speedway in Plymouth, Indiana, Daniel Hemric proved that was no fluke by backing up that finish with a third place showing despite pitting for repairs after the lap 36 incident that also involved Snyder and several others.

“”We had some battles to fight to get back up to third that’s for sure. You have to give a lot of credit to Kyle Benjamin. He ran a great race today.” said the driver of the #54 McGunegill Engine Performance / Scott Neal Racing Chevrolet. “We’ll take it though and head up to another track I’ve never seen before up at Illiana in a couple of weeks. Looking forward to it.”

The 14-year-old Bowen earned the Howie Lettow Memorial Rookie of the Race Presented by Howe Racing Enterprises award as he was also involved in the lap 36 skirmish and had to pit. The Suwanee, Georgia teenager fought back to a fourth place finish and built up his lead in the chase for the 2012 Rookie title while also claiming the overall points lead early on in the chase for the 2012 JEGS/CRA title.

Brent Downey would complete the top five as Jerrod Foley finished sixth while Eddie Hoffman, Josh Nelms, 16-year-old Rookie, Cole Williams, and Chris Koslek would complete the top 10. Earlier in the afternoon, Jones won the Boyne Machine Fast Qualifier Award with a lap measured at 15.985 which equals out to an impressive 112.606mph.

The third race for the JEGS/CRA All-Stars Tour Presented by GM Performance Parts is slated for Saturday, May 19th at another ½ mile, this time the semi-banked speed plant of Illiana Motor Speedway, located southeast of Chicago, Illinois in Schererville, Indiana as the Chicagoland track will host the Lisa Thomas Salon 100 Presented by JEGS.com. For more information, go to craracing.net and illianaspeedway.com.

JEGS/CRA Series
Winchester Speedway – Winchester, IN
Winchester 100 – May 6, 2012