Salem, IN (October 10, 2020) – Louisville, Kentucky native Brandon Roberts had his best race of the season Saturday night in the Van Hoy Oil CRA Street Stocks Powered by JEGS Season Championship event at Winchester Speedway, as part of the Winchester 400 Presented by JEGS. Roberts got by two time series Champion Jason Atkinson on lap 39 to get his first ever series win and claimed the series 2020 Championship as the highest finishing 2020 Chase for the Championship driver.
“I just can’t believe it,” remarked a jubilant Roberts in victory lane. “To come to Winchester and get the win and the series Championship is just unbelievable! I have to thank everyone who helps me on this car, my family, my crew, and all these people that came to support us tonight. We worked hard to get better all year, we were not very good in the early races, but be we continued to gain each race and we did it with a lot of hard work. This is a great bunch of drivers to race against, they race you hard, but they race clean. Its an honor to be the series 2020 Champion!”
Atkinson grabbed the early lead after Van Hoy Oil/Allstar Performance Fast Qualifier Jeff Lane drew a five for the events inverted start. Atkinson came in as one of the four Chase drivers with a chance to win the series Championship along with Roberts, Andrew Teepe and Josh Poore.
Atkinson pulled away in the early laps and looked like he would cruise to the win while the top six battled for position, when Roberts start his march to the front. Roberts would get by Teepe for second and set his sights on Atkinson, finally tracking him down as the race started to wind down.
Atkinson caught the tail of the lead lap cars with Roberts on his back bumper when Roberts made a great move to the inside pinning Atkinson behind the last lead lap car, completing the pass for the lead coming out of tun four on lap 39. From there Roberts would pull away to get the win by just over a second as the race went green to checkers.
For his pass of Atkinson for the lead, Roberts was awarded the KRJ Race Products Sweet Move of the Race Award. Roberts had already earned the series 2020 Rookie of the Year Award before Saturday night’s event and became the series’ first ever Rookie of the Year to also win the series Championship in the series 16 years of racing.
Atkinson would finish in second and second in the series Chase for the Championship. Atkinson was awarded the Van Hoy Oil Halfway Leader Award Bonus.
Teepe finished third in the race and third in the series Chase for the Championship. Calvin Parham finished in fourth place and picked up the AR Bodies Cool Move of the Race for some great passes for position in the late laps of the race to get his top five finish. Josh Poore finished in fifth place and would finish in fourth in the series Chase for the Championship.
Chad Pendleton finished in sixth. Josh Sage finished in seventh. J. J. Schafer finished in eighth. Don Gregory finished in ninth. Buck Purtee came from his 18th place starting position to finish in 10th earning the Van Hoy Oil Hardcharger Award.
More information on the CRA series is available at www.cra-racing.com.
