Salem, IN (July 22, 2017) – Two time ARCA/CRA Super Series Powered by JEGS Champion Travis Braden got his first series win of the 2017 season on a very hot Friday evening in the Circle City 100 at Lucas Oil Raceway. The defending Winchester 400 winner had no real challenges after taking the lead and getting his second ever series win at Lucas Oil Raceway.
“This is a good win for our team,” remarked Braden in victory lane. “This is a new car for us this year and we struggled the first couple of times we’ve raced it this season, but tonight it all came together and we were able to get out front, get a good lead and pretty much cruise to the win. It’s really hot today and was very warm in the car on the track. I have to thank my great team, these guys put a ton of work into getting these cars ready for me, I appreciate everything they do and my car owners do so I can race!”
The race was Braden’s third total race win at Lucas Oil Raceway. In 2015 Braden won the traditional events companion ARCA Racing Series Presented by Menards event in his first ever start with the series.
North Carolina native Jake Crum grabbed the early lead after EDCO Welding Fast Qualifier Dalton Armstrong drew a six for the events inverted start. Crum was able to pull away from three time series Champion Johnny VanDoorn on the start, with Braden quickly getting by VanDoorn to put himself into second.
Braden made the winning pass on lap six, getting by Crum on the bottom earning the AR Bodies Cool Move of the Race Award. Braden would then set sail with a sizeable lead throughout the event, until Oklahoma native Donnie Wilson started to close as the laps counted down. Wilson ran out of laps as the event went green to checker for only the second time in the series 21 year history, the first was in April of 2016 at Toledo Speedway.
Wilson had a fast car, but just didn’t get a chance to race with Armstrong for the win. The 2016 Southern Super Series Champion’s crew was awarded the PitBoxes.com Pit Crew of the Race Award after having to replace the entire rear end of the car after making just a few laps in the first practice session on Thursday and came right back and were fastest in Thursday second practice session.
VanDoorn would finish in third place and picked up the FLUIDYNE High Performance Cool Under Pressure Award. Crum would finish in fourth place after a late race battle with Tyler Ankrum and Kyle Crump for fourth, fifth and sixth. Crump would come from his eighth place starting position to finish in fifth place and earned a Hoosier Racing Tire Performance Award and his first Senneker Performance Rookie of the Race Award of the season.
Ankrum would finish in sixth place. Rookie Hunter Jack would finish in seventh, despite having a front left fender that folded back and made the car hard to drive. Jack earned the Sweet Manufacturing Sweet Move of the Race Award for his finish. Brett Robinson finished in eighth. Rookie Logan Runyon came from his 16th place starting position to finish in ninth and earned a Hoosier Racing Tire Performance Award and the Hamner Racing Engines Hardcharger Award. Series veteran Wes Griffith Jr. rounded out the top ten.
The next ARCA/CRA Super Series event will be the Hot Head 125 Presented by Rapid Fire Pizza on Sunday, July 30th at Kil-Kare Raceway. More information on all the CRA Series is available at www.cra-racing.com.
