Special from Speed51.com – The championship four was decided for the JEGS/CRA All-Stars Tour on Sunday afternoon at Lucas Oil Raceway. For the second consecutive season, the Champion Racing Association (CRA) will crown their champion using a “Chase” format similar to the one used by NASCAR’s national touring series.
Jack Dossey III, Mason Keller, Michael Clancy Jr. and Mandy Chick will compete for the championship in the season finale at Winchester Speedway (IN) during Winchester 400 Weekend. Just like in the ARCA/CRA Super Series, the highest-finishing driver between the four will be crowned champion.
The JEGS/CRA All-Stars Tour championship drivers only had two races to earn their spot in the championship four, one being at Winchester Speedway during the World Stock Car Festival and the other being Sunday at Lucas Oil Raceway.
Defending series champion Jack Dossey III, out of Indianapolis rode a wave of consistency for the second year in a row to earn his spot in the championship race. Dossey had the fastest car in the series’ first stop at Winchester before a late wreck ended his chances for his first career win. He was hoping to have a win going into the finale, but is excited for the opportunity to repeat as champion.
“We were hoping to go into Winchester with a win from here,” Dossey told Speed51.com. “But we have some good momentum with the fast time and a top ten finish. I just got to thank my sponsors for everything. Without them or my parents, I wouldn’t be where I’m at. We just have to keep the wheels on it and be consistent and smooth. That’s what we did last year and we won the championship.”
Also out of Indianapolis, rookie Mason Keller earned his first-career win in the JEGS/CRA All-Stars Tour last month at Winchester with an exciting last lap, last corner pass, locking himself into the championship race. Despite the victory, Keller admits his team has work to do if they want to win the championship.
“It helps for sure but we don’t really try and look at our wins as something that’s going to boost our morale,” Keller said. “We look at how consistent we were and how the car felt the whole race. Last time we were there Dossey was a lot faster than we were, so we’ll probably test there a couple times or so and gather our notes and see what we got to do to run a hundred of the fastest laps I’ve ever ran. That’ll dictate whether we win the championship.”
Ortonville, Michigan’s Michael Clancy Jr is back in the championship race after finishing runner-up in last year’s standings. He looks to finish this season one position better and take home the JEGS/CRA All-Stars Tour championship.
“We worked really hard to get here,” Clancy said. “We’ll work hard back with the team back in the shop and style the car and try to have a clean race. We know what we messed up on last year for the setup, so we’ll make any changes we need to and I’ll drive harder and we should be pretty good.”
DeSoto, Kansas’s Mandy Chick competed part-time in the series last year, but came out full time for this season, racing her way into the championship four at Winchester. She sees making the championship race as a win for her team, but is ready to go after the series championship.
“It’s so exciting for us,” Chick said. “My first year competing in the JEGS/CRA All-Stars Tour was last year, so this is like a win for us. We just got to play it smart. We tested at Winchester already and that went well. It pretty much comes down to the last man standing. We’ll just see what we can do, race clean but race hard, and see if we can win the championship.”
The final race of the season for the JEGS/CRA All-Stars Tour is on Friday, October 12, where Jack Dossey III, Mason Keller, Michael Clancy Jr, and Mandy Chick will compete for the championship.
-Story by Koty Geyer, Speed51.com State Editor (IN & MI) – Twitter: @kgeyer3
-Photo credit: Speed51.com
