Event to Feature Controlled Cautions and Increased Purse
Salem, IN (September 1, 2017) – ARCA/CRA Super Series Powered by JEGS officials have released the entry form for the 46th Annual Winchester 400, which takes place on the famous High Banks of Winchester Speedway on Sunday, October 8th. This event is one of the top short track events in the country. Some of the past winners since CRA began sanctioning the event include names like Kyle Busch, Chase Elliott, Erik Jones, David Stremme, Ross Kenseth, Scott Hantz, Brian Ross, Ryan Lawler, Boris Jurkovic, Bobby Parsley, and last year’s winner Travis Braden.
The Winchester 400 is the final leg in the JEGS/CRA $100,000 Super Late Model Triple Crown. By winning the Battle at Berlin 251 last weekend, Brian Campbell is the only driver with a chance to win a $10,000 bonus for winning two of the JEGS/CRA $100,000 Super Late Model Triple Crown events. Steve Wallace won the first Triple Crown event, the Redbud 400 at Anderson Speedway, but he is not eligible to win any of the Triple Crown top two bonuses because of his past racing experience with NASCAR. If no driver wins two of the Triple Crown events, the driver who accumulates the most points during those three events will receive a $5,000 bonus and the title of Champion of the JEGS/CRA $100,000 Super Late Model Triple Crown.
The Winchester 400 is 400 laps counting cautions and is a 12 tire race. For the first time ever the event will feature Controlled Cautions in an effort to save teams the cost of bringing in professional pit crews. When a yellow comes out teams will have two laps to service their race car without losing laps or positions on pit road. Those cars will then line up behind the cars that did not pit at that yellow. Teams not getting out of the pits in the two laps will have to fall to the tail of the field and will risk losing laps. As in the past, teams will only be allowed to change a max of two tires per yellow.
“We decided to go to the Controlled Cautions for several reasons,” remarked Charlie Shaw, Owner of Winchester Speedway. “Teams will no longer have to spend the extra money on having professional pit crew personnel for their pit stops. It will also make it safer on pit road for all the crew members during the stops and team members will not have to purchase the one day temporary ARCA licenses like in the past when we did live stops. We hope this will encourage more teams to come race in the 46th Annual Winchester 400.”
Shaw also has increased the purse throughout the entire field for the Winchester 400. The event will now pay $16,000 to win plus bonuses, which includes $10,000 in lap leader money, which is $25 per lap led. There will be bonuses of $1000, $600 and $400 to the top three finishing traveling non-regular CRA teams. There is a $1000 bonus to the highest finishing Crate Engine car and another $1000 to the highest finishing driver who has never raced in the Winchester 400 before. In addition EDCO Welding will pay a $400 bonus to the events Fast Qualifier and Hamner Racing Engines will pay a $200 bonus to the driver who advances the most positions.
Things begin for the Winchester 400 Weekend with an optional load in, hauler parking and pit pass purchases on Thursday, October 5th from 3 to 7pm. Pits open on Friday, October 6th at 9am with rotating practice for all divisions beginning at 1pm. The ARCA/CRA Super Series teams will have a one hour practice session at 2pm and a 45 minute practice session at 4:40pm on Friday. Pits open on Saturday, October 7th at 8:30am, rotating practice for all divisions will begin at 11am. The ARCA/CRA Super Series teams will have a 45 minute practice session beginning at 11am and a 45 minute final practice session at 1:15pm on Saturday. EDCO Welding Pole Qualifying for the Winchester 400 for the ARCA/CRA Super Series will begin at 4:15pm on Saturday.
On Sunday, October 8th the pits will open at 9am. There will be an on track autograph session with all the Winchester 400 drivers starting at 12:30. Opening ceremonies will begin at 1:30 pm with the 46th Annual Winchester 400 taking the green flag at 2pm.
Additional track and event information can be found at www.winchesterspeedway.com.
More information on the ARCA/CRA Super Series Powered by JEGS is available at www.cra-r
