Salem, IN (April 3, 2017) – 2004 ARCA/CRA Super Series Champion Chuck Barnes Jr. had to hold off Mark Mason during two lap 37 restarts to get a close win in the Lawrence Towing CRA Street Stocks Powered by JEGS 2017 season opener at Lucas Oil Raceway on Sunday, as part of the 8th Annual Cabin Fever Championships.
“Those late restarts made it tough,” remarked Barnes Jr. in victory Lane. “Mark was right there at the end and made it tough, I appreciate that he drove me clean on those restarts, we just had enough to squeak out the win. I want to thank my car owner Scotty Holbert and all the crew who put a lot of work into this car to get it to victory lane!”
2016 CRA Triple Crown Champion Brett Hudson started the day off by claiming the Allstar Performance Fast Qualifier Award over the 38 series cars that were on the grounds for the weekend’s events. Hudson would then draw a six for the events invert putting Mason Keller on the pole.
Two time 2016 series winner Colby Lane would get the early lead at the drop of the green flag from his outside front row starting position of the 35 car starting field with Keller in tow. Barnes Jr. would work his way to the front from his fifth place starting position to Lane’s back bumper. Barnes Jr. would make the pass for the lead on lap 19 while the top ten had heated battles for every position.
A lap 37 caution would set up the exciting couple of restarts, which saw not only a tough battle for first, but cars fighting for positions throughout the field. Barnes Jr. would finally take the lead on the last restart and hold off Mason to get the close win. It was Barnes Jr.’s third Lawrence Towing CRA Street Stocks career win including last year’s 200 lap Triple Crown event at Kentucky Motor Speedway and his second career series win at Lucas Oil Raceway.
With the win and second place finish, Barnes Jr. and Mason received the first Road to Bristol guaranteed starting positions for the series event with the upcoming Short Track U. S. Nationals at Bristol Motor Speedway. There is two more Road to Bristol events coming up, including the first event of the CRA Street Stocks Four Crown at Shadybowl Speedway on April 15th and the series race at Anderson Speedway on April 29th. To receive any of the Road to Bristol guaranteed starting positions, a driver must compete in all three Road to Bristol events.
Keller would survive a tough battle to get a third place finish. Jake Hinton came from his 15th place starting position to finish in fourth place. Austin Coe saw his streak of three straight series wins at Lucas Oil Raceway come to an end, but he did get a hard fought fifth place finish. Lane would hold on to get sixth. Jacob McElfresh was seventh, Josh Brading eighth, Bandon Zachary ninth, with Jason Thompson in 10th place.
The next series event will be Saturday, April 15th at Shadybowl Speedway. More information on all the CRA Series is available at www.cra-racing.com.
Street Stock – Race Results
Photo By: R&S Racing Photos
