Salem, IN (May 30, 2016) – Louisville, Kentucky’s Chuck Barnes Jr. picked up his first CRA Street Stocks Triple Crown Series victory in Saturday night’s Kentucky 200 at Kentucky Motor Speedway in Whitesville, Kentucky. Owensboro, Kentucky native Brett Hudson gave Barnes Jr. a run for his money as the two raced each other hard over the last 150 laps of the event before Barnes Jr. was able to pull away on the events final restart at lap 195 to get the home state victory.
“That was a lot of fun,” remarked the 2004 ARCA/CRA Super Series Champion in Victory Lane. “I got to thank my car owner Scott Holbert for letting me drive his car, the crew all put in a lot of work over the past couple of weeks and the past two days and it all paid off tonight. It’s a lot of fun racing these cars, especially when you get to race against talented drivers like we had in this race tonight. Brett really made me work for it, but he also raced me clean, which makes it a lot fun!”
Blake Hillard was the Allstar Performance Fast Qualifier, he drew a 10 for the invert putting Indianapolis, Indiana’s Andrew Teepe on the pole. Teepe took full advantage of his starting position and led the first 41 laps before Barnes Jr., was able to get by to take the lead on lap 42. Barnes would lead as the field slowed for only the second caution in the first 100 laps which took the field to the lap 100 scheduled halfway break.
Barnes Jr. would continue to lead as the field started the second half of the race with Hudson close behind. Hudson would sneak by to grab the lead on a restart on lap 134 and lead for nine laps before Barnes Jr., retook the lead on another restart at lap 143, but Hudson battled back as the two raced side by side to lead lap 144 before Barnes would retake the lead at lap 145 and go on to get the win fighting off Hudson on two restarts in the last 12 laps.
Hudson would finish in second. Danny Smith finished in third in relief for Shawn Smith, who put Danny Smith in his car at the halfway break. Chris Harmon would finish in fourth, giving the state of Kentucky the top four finishers. CRA veteran racer Phil Jenkins finished in fifth place and will take over the series Season Championship points lead.
The Kentucky 200 was the second event of the CRA Street Stock Triple Crown Series, which includes three 200 lap, $3000 to win events. Anderson, Indiana’s Josh Poore got the win in the first event of the Triple Crown on April 23rd at Shadybowl Speedway. The third and final event in the Triple Crown will be at Anderson Speedway on Saturday, June 25th, the series next scheduled event.
Poore came into Sunday’s event as the Triple Crown point’s leader, but Poore fell out of the race on lap 143 with mechanical problems. Two time defending Triple Crown Series Champion Jason Atkinson was second in points heading into Sunday’s event, he too suffered mechanical issues and finished 15th. With his second place finish Hudson will take over the Triple Crown points lead heading into the Triple Crown Championship event on June 25th at Anderson Speedway.
For more information on Champion Racing Association and the CRA Street Stocks visit www.cra-racing.com.
Photo By: Rich Corbett
