Special from Speed51.com – The final laps of the ARCA/CRA Super Series portion of the Glass City 200 were nothing short of wild. It started out with two pseudo-teammates battling it out for the win and it ended with a surprise winner.
REPLAY: Glass City 200 at Toledo
Carson Hocevar and VanDoorn Racing stablemate Kyle Crump engaged in an all-out duel for the race win following a restart with 20 laps to go. Crump stole the lead away on the restart and the two battled side-by-side for the lead for 15 laps before the two switched lanes and resumed their race for the win. That ended after contact between the two caused Hocevar to slide to a stop in turn two with three laps to go.
Then came Blake Rowe.
Dalton Armstrong spun the tires on the ensuing restart, allowing Rowe to move from the second row to second place. He then ran Crump down and passed him on the final lap to win his first-career Super Late Model race in his standalone ARCA/CRA Super Series debut.
And who else came down to victory lane to celebrate with Rowe than his good friend Kyle Crump?
We were kind of riding around, we started sixth and were running in the top-five most of the night but our long run car wasn’t as good as Kyle (Crump)’s or Carson (Hocevar)’s car for sure,” Rowe told Speed51. “I really felt like if we could have a good restart or something in a spot like that maybe we’d have something for them.
“He (Crump)’s been one of my best friends for a long time, I get to travel with him and do a lot of racing with him. To get to race him for this win was pretty special.”
Rowe has been an established star in the Modified ranks for several years now, having won the last two Hot Shoe 100’s in the state of Michigan. He has run select Super Late Model races at Berlin Raceway in the last two season, but Saturday night was his first SLM race away from the West Michigan facility.
He had one previous start under the CRA banner going into Saturday’s race at Toledo, that coming in the Money in the Bank 150 running as a Berlin Raceway regular. He finished fifth in that race.
“This is my first time back in a closed-body car since like 2014, we’ve been doing a lot of Modified racing since then. To get it done in really our first start with the series is really special, and to do it at Toledo is super cool.”
Crump came up just half a car length short from his third-straight ARCA/CRA Super Series wins following marquee victories at the Redbud 400 and Battle at Berlin. He left the track with a smile and tons of momentum going into the championship race at Winchester, mentioning his friendship with Hocevar as a reason why they were able to race hard with each other the final 20 laps.
“That was a lot of fun. Carson really schooled me on that restart there and I was able to hang with him on the second restart and an absolute battle ensued,” said Crump. “It was unfortunate with how it ended, I don’t know if my left rear tire hit his but it just knocked him sideways in the middle of the corner. It ruined his day, it ruined my day. It was a really awesome race, Carson and I are good friends and it shows with having good faith in each other we can race that hard to the very end.”
While Crump was in a generally good mood after the race, the same could not be said about Hocevar. The NASCAR Truck Series playoff contender was a driver of few words after the checkered flag flew.
He was able to get back up to third with the help of Armstrong spinning his tires on the final restart.
“It was fun, happy to be here. Just good, hard racing,” Hocevar stated. “I enjoy Super Late Model racing, just happy to be here.”
Jack Smith finished fourth in his first ARCA/CRA Super Series start in several years, while Armstrong fell back to fifth after the final restart.
-Story by: Koty Geyer, Speed51 National Correspondent – Twitter: @kgeyer3
-Photo Credit: Speed51 Photo
ARCA/CRA Super Series Results:
- Blake Rowe
- Kyle Crump
- Carson Hocevar
- Jack Smith
- Dalton Armstrong
- Rick Turner
- Cody Coughlin
- Scott Tomasik
- Albert Francis
- Bill Burba
- Brian Campbell
- Hunter Jack
- Brandon Varney
- Evan Varney
- Tanner Jack
