Owosso, MI – When teams arrived at Owosso Speedway on Sunday morning for the Owosso Nationals 150 with the JEGS/CRA All-Stars Tour Presented by Chevrolet Performance, many were questioning whether the race would be run by the end of the day. With rain in the forecast for all of the morning and much of the afternoon, the outlook was bleak for most. Final practice, Qualifying, and the autograph session were all scrapped due to rain, which aligned the field by Owner Points Standings.
The green flag for Sunday’s Owosso Nationals 150 was waived within 10 minutes of the scheduled start time of 2:00 PM after Owosso Speedway crews worked tirelessly to dry the track and pit road. Billy VanMeter and Chris Shannon led the field to the green flag, with other heavy hitters buried in the back of the field.
JEGS Tour Championship Points Leader, VanMeter led the opening 40 laps before sixth-starting, Chase Pinsonneault challenged for the lead. The Belle River, ON, CAN native held steady beside VanMeter’s No.23, but couldn’t quite take the lead at the line. On a restart, Kyle Crump was able to put his No.131 to the front of the field on lap 41. While Crump has been historically lights out at Owosso, it was clear that his car wasn’t quite as dominant as it had been in the past. Pinsonneault kept the pressure up until a caution on lap 79.
After the pit cycle, Steve Dorer inherited the lead after a short battle with Hunter Jack. Despite the trip down pit road, Crump wasn’t far behind and retook the lead on lap 99. While Crump was leading, Pinsonneault was working on making his way back to the runner-up spot when, suddenly, disaster struck at the front of the field. Going into turn three, Crump, Dorer, VanMeter, and Pinsonneault all spun to the top of the track. Crump told Pit Road reporter, Rich Frantz, that the engine had blown going into three, putting oil down on the track.
On the restart, Pinsonneault got a huge run off of turn two and took the lead from Dorer who was trying to hold off VanMeter and Hunter Jack. The final 48 laps were mostly uneventful with Pinsonneault setting the pace the rest of the way. Evan Shotko looked good in his No.22, charging to the runner-up spot by the end of 150 laps, but admittedly had nothing for Pinsonneault, who went on to collect his second JEGS Tour win of the season. Shotko held on to second, Dorer third, Hunter Jack fourth, and Billy VanMeter finished fifth.
“Super proud of this team,” Pinsonneault said in victory lane. “This whole CHR group is an amazing group of people, they bring really fast race cars to the track.”
The next event for the JEGS/CRA All-Stars Tour Presented by Chevrolet Performance is Friday, October 10th at Winchester Speedway for the Championship Event as part of the Winchester 400 weekend.
