Salem, IN (July 29, 2018) – Brian Campbell made it a clean sweep of the Summit City 100 at Baer Field Motorsports Park Saturday night, getting his third win of the season with the ARCA/CRA Super Series Powered by JEGS. He was the EDCO Welding Fast Qualifier, and then charged from his eighth place starting position to get the win.
“It unloaded fast yesterday and qualified really well,” remarked Campbell in victory lane. “We got to the lead quick; quicker than I thought. The yellow fell right for us and we just had to fight Kyle (Crump) for the rest of the race. He was coming on strong, just one or two car lengths back. If I messed up he would get to my bumper, then if he messed up, I would pull away by one or two car lengths. We were definitely checked out on the field, so it was a fun race and I’m glad to race Kyle.”
2017 series Champion and Senneker Performance Rookie of the Year Logan Runyon took the early lead from his pole starting position at the drop of the green flag. Former series regular Jason Shively started on the outside pole, but took a little while to get up to speed on the start, allowing the outside row starters to advance early, including Kyle Crump and Campbell.
The events only caution fell on lap 17 with Jerry Andrews spinning in turns three and four with no contact. Runyon was able to hold off Crump on the restart. Campbell quickly started to pressure Crump for second, gaining that position quickly. Campbell then set his site on Runyon, making the pass for the lead on lap 22.
The win didn’t come easy as Crump started to reel in Campbell, looking for his first ever ARCA/CRA Super Series victory. The pair fought through lap traffic and approached the cars of Terry Fisher Jr. and Greg Van Alst, the last two cars on the lead lap battling for position. Campbell knew he couldn’t wait for those two to work out their positions, so he made a daring three wide move between the two coming down the backstretch to make the pass of both and put them both a lap down. The move held up Crump just enough for Campbell to gain some space and go ahead and get the win, his 27th all-time series win, he now trails all-time series winner Scott Hantz by just four wins.
Campbell added, “Kyle was strong, he could definitely roll the middle better than I could; I could drive off faster. That three-wide action there with a few laps to go probably saved us the race. If I would’ve picked the wrong lane he would’ve stuck his nose in there and passed me. I don’t like going three wide and being in the middle like that, but it had to be done and I believe that’s what won the race for us.”
Campbell picked up a $400 bonus for the Team Construction Clean Sweep Award. He also earned the Hamner Racing Engines Hard Charger Award, a Hoosier Racing Tire Performance Award and the AR Bodies Cool Move of the Race Award for his three wide pass. Perhaps the coolest thing for Campbell was getting to add his name to the Summit City winner’s trophy, joining his father Fred, who won the inaugural Summit City 100 in 1998.
Crump’s second place finish was his best ever with the series. Crump picked up the FLUIDYNE High Performance Cool Under Pressure Award and his team earned the PitBoxes.com Pit Crew of the Race for giving Crump a very fast racecar.
“It was a lot of fun, I knew Campbell was fast and he was going to be the one to beat,” Crump remarked. “He got away from me early and I didn’t know if I was going to catch him. We ran a lot of lap’s nose to tail. I was doing everything I could to get to bumper and try to make a move on him. It was just not enough; we were driving the heck out of those cars.”
Austin Kunert came back from a hard crash and a concussion in the series last event to get a third place finish and earn the Senneker Performance Rookie of the Race Award. Hunter Jack made a great late pass to get a fourth place finish. Series point’s leader Josh Brock held on to get a fifth place finish despite brake issues.
Eric Lee finished in sixth. Runyon held on to finish in seventh to end his streak of DNF’s. James Krueger finished in eighth. Greg Van Alst earned a Hoosier Racing Tire Performance Award coming from his 14th place starting position to finish in ninth. Rookie Jon Beach rounded out the top ten.
The Summit City 100 was the last regular season points event for the series, the series will begin its four race Chase for the Championship on August 8th at Kalamazoo Speedway. The drivers earning the right to compete over the next three point events to be in the final four drivers to compete for the series Championship in the Winchester 400 include Brock, Kunert, Jack, Beach, Runyon and Van Alst. Car owner Eddie Van Meter is also eligible for the Chase for the Owners Championship.
The ARCA/CRA Super Series next event will be the Kalamazoo Klash on Wednesday, August 8th at Kalamazoo Speedway. More information on the ARCA/CRA Super Series is available at www.cra-racing.com.
