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Erik Jones Pulls off KBM Repeat in Howie Lettow Memorial 150 at the Milwaukee Mile

Full Race Results / ARCA Midwest Tour LIVE Weekend Recap

3rd Annual Event is Officially in the Books

by Kari Shear-Carlson
June 8, 2014 – “This race has been a race I’ve been eyeing for the past three years. It’s pretty high up and it’s got so much history. To add my name to the list is pretty awesome,” said a very happy Erik Jones.

Jeremy Miller and Mark Kraus led the 36-car field to the green flag in the ARCA Midwest Tour presented by Scag Power Equipment 3rd Annual The Swiss Colony Howie Lettow Memorial 150 presented by RaceTeamGear.com. Behind Miller, Chad Finley and Chris Weinkauf engaged in battle for second as Johnny Sauter slid into the top five. As the top four prepared to sort out their positions, the caution flew on lap 18 as Will Gallaher tagged the outside retaining wall in turn one.

The ensuing restart saw Jeremy Miller and Chad Finley in the front row, with Chris Weinkauf and Johnny Sauter in the second row and Griffin McGrath and a hard charging Erik Jones in the third row.

On the restart, Chris Weinkauf made a daring pass to the inside to steal the lead from Miller and Finley. The gamble paid off and Weinkauf took the lead on lap 24.

For the next two laps Weinkauf built up his lead over Finley. Erik Jones moved to third. Fast qualifier, Anderson Bowen was fourth and Miller fell back to fifth.

Weinkauf was contested once on lap 36 by Jones but held on until the competition yellow on lap 37. Several drivers took advantage of the competition caution sacrificing top ten spots, including Johnny Sauter, Jeremy Miller and John Hunter Nemechek. They would end up restarting outside of the top 15.

For the restart on lap 38, Weinkauf once again got away in the lead of the pack leaving Jones and Bowen to dispute the second spot. Although they had given up track position, Johnny Sauter and John Hunter Nemechek closed in on the top 10 by lap 40.

The field settled in for the next 20 laps behind Weinkauf, Bowen, and Jones. Caution fell on lap 62 for a spin by Nathan Matz closing up the field. Allowing Chad Finley, Griffin McGrath, and Ross Kenseth to close the gap on the top three.

On the restart Weinkauf once again got away from Jones as Bowen and Finely scrapped for the third spot. The field would make it to lap 72 before the yellow came out due to the stalled machine of Pauly Schafer, Jr. in turn four.

Because this was within 10 laps of the scheduled half way point, it was deemed the competition caution and all lead lap cars came to the pits for the attention of their crews.

The green flag came out again on lap 73 and Weinkauf was able to jump away from Jones once again. It would be short-lived however as Joel Theisen hit the wall in turn one bringing out the caution. Once again Weinkauf got away on the restart, however this time he was followed by Finley who trailed him on the outside line passed Anderson Bowen.

Weinkauf continued to show the way as Jones slide into the second spot and began to close the gap on the leader. As he closed in, Johnny Sauter moved into third and started to put pressure on Jones. Just as he reached the back bumper, Jones dived to the inside and stole the lead from Weinkauf on lap 92.

Weinkauf slid back outside of the top five as it was clear that there were issues with his machine allowing Sauter to move in and try to track down Jones.

Just after lap 100, Sauter closed the gap and looked as though he was ready to challenge Jones, until lap 106 when Sauter fell off the pace and was forced to come onto pit road.

This allowed Jones to have a six second lead over the battle for second which dwindled down to four seconds before the break at 112. On lap 112, only John Hunter Nemechek and Anderson Bowen sacrificed top ten spots to make some final adjustments for the final 38 laps.

A series of called back restarts and yellow flags slowed the battle between Jones and Griffin in the front row. One of those cautions was an unfortunate end of the day for Nathan Haseleu who hit the outside retaining wall gathering up Jonny VanDoorn.

On the lap 127 restart, McGrath held even with Jones through turns one and two but eventually Jones proved to be too strong on the outside and got away from McGrath to extend his lead.

The final caution came out on lap 138 when Eilen slowed because he ran out of fuel setting up a final showdown between Jones and McGrath. Again McGrath provided a challenge for the restart, but once again Jones proved to be too strong as he sailed away to victory in the Howie Lettow Memorial.

McGrath was second while Finley held off a late charge from Nemechek. Tim Sauter rounded out the top five.

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To learn more about the Automobile Racing Club of America Midwest Tour, log on to arcamidwesttour.com. For questions call the ARCA Midwest Tour office at (262) 729-4111 or Tim Olson at (612) 327-5831 or Steve Einhaus (630) 212-6022 at or e-mail Tim Olson at tim@arcamidwesttour.comor Steve Einhaus at steve@arcamidwesttour.com.

The Automobile Racing Club of America (ARCA) is among the leading auto racing sanctioning bodies in the country. Founded in 1953 by John and Mildred Marcum, the organization administers more than 100 events each year in multiple racing series, including the ARCA Racing Series presented by Menards, the ARCA/CRA Super Series, the ARCA Truck Series and the ARCA Midwest Tour, plus weekly racing at Toledo and Flat Rock Speedways.