17-Year-Old John Hunter Nemechek 3-For-3 In JEGS/CRA All-Stars Tour Competition; Scores CRA Fall Brawl Win
Lucas Oil Raceway hosts series with Championship battle going down to the final race at Winchester Speedway
Brownsburg, Indiana (September 28, 2014) – The JEGS/CRA All-Stars Tour
Presented by Chevrolet Performance was a part of the prestigious McGunegill
Engine Performance CRA Fall Brawl 2014 Presented by EDCO Welding on
Saturday-Sunday, September 27-28th. The 0.686 mile semi-banked paved oval of
Lucas Oil Raceway, located west of Indianapolis in Brownsburg, Indiana served as
hosts of all four CRA touring series over the last weekend of September as the
JEGS/CRA Teams took part in the Chevrolet Performance 100 Presented by
Advanced Racing Suspension.
The JEGS/CRA All-Stars Tour joined the ARCA/CRA Super Series Powered by
JEGS, Vore's Welding CRA Late Model Sportsman Series Powered by JEGS and
Stealth Trailers CRA Street Stock Series Powered by JEGS in the Circle City over
the weekend. In the JEGS/CRA 100-lap main held on a gorgeous sunny afternoon in
Central Indiana, two red flags totaling an hour and 45 minutes for safer barrier repair
and back stretch gate repair extended the race well into the afternoon. But when all
was said and done, 17-year-old John Hunter Nemechek would emerge victorious
after claiming his third victory in three career JEGS/CRA All-Stars Tour appearances
and sweeping the weekend in the process.
"This car was just awesome all weekend long. We could drive it anywhere we
wanted to. Especially here as wide as this place is, we took advantage of that on
the first lap when we took the lead," The Mooresville, North Carolina standout
explained after climbing from his winning #8 NEMCO Motorsports / El Faro
Guatemala / Chevrolet. "Once we got through that wreck, we had the lead and had
to hold off the #20 (Mike Bursley) car for what seemed like a really long time. He'd
be there, then he wasn't, then he was back again. Late in the race though, the car
never fell off." He added.
After Nemechek started the weekend sweep by winning his second Boyne Machine
Company Fast Qualifier Award of the season, he then drew a six for an inversion
which placed Mike Bursley and Kyle Jones on the front row of the 29-car field that
would take the green. Things got hectic in a hurry after Jones initially took the lead
on the first lap when contact between him and 16-year-old rookie, Tristan Van
Wieringen sent both hard into the turn one safer barrier. The safe barrier itself
shattered it to pieces and forced a 45-minute delay in the program for clean up and
barrier repair.
Just prior to the incident, after disposing of fellow third row starter, Chad Finley,
Nemechek dove underneath 16-year-old Corey Deuser and Bursley with a daring
three-wide maneuver for, at the time, third place and would assume the lead once
the green flag came back out after the Jones / Van Wieringen incident. He would
have Bursley trailing him once the field was back under race conditions and the two
drivers pulled away from the field thanks to a lengthy 63 lap green flag run. The second long delay of the afternoon came on lap 64 when Kevin Willis slammed the
back stretch gate that leads to the infield. This forced another delay totaling just over an hour as LOR track officials repaired the gate.
Once the field was restarted and realigned, it was back to Nemechek and Bursley pulling away when after another restart on lap 91, Bursley dove to the inside of Nemechek trying to take the lead when his car went into a lazy spin ending his chances at a victory. This gave an opportunity for Howie Lettow Memorial Rookie of the Year points leader, 15-year-old Grant Quinlan a shot at Nemechek. But the son of NASCAR veteran, Joe Nemechek was up to the challenge and scored his third JEGS/CRA victory of the year and first of the season in a points race.
Nemechek's two other wins came in non-points events at Watermelon Capital Speedway (GA) on January 26th during SpeedFest 2014 and at the famed Milwaukee Mile (WI) on June 8th on June 8th in the JEGS.com 100. In addition to the Five-Foot Trophy and the tradition Pair of Boxing Gloves for winning at the CRA Fall Brawl, Nemechek went back to North Carolina with a plethora of awards. Amongst the winnings included the AR Bodies Cool Move of the Race Award as well as the D.T.S. Drive Train Specialists Halfway Leader Award and the VDL Fuel Systems Hot Lap of the Race Award.
Grant Quinlan put himself in prime position to clinch the 2014 Howie Lettow Memorial Rookie of the Year title with a second place finish in his #28 Quinlan Incorporated / Chevrolet. The Harrison, Michigan teenager merely needs to start in the 2014 season finale at Winchester Speedway (IN) on October 10th and he will join Cody Coughlin-2011, Anderson Bowen-2012 and Corey Deuser-2013 as the top freshman in the series history books. Quinlan would also collect his seventh Howe Racing Enterprises Rookie of the Race Award as well as the FLUIDYNE High Performance Cool Under Pressure Award for his efforts and also has a chance at the 2014 Overall Championship going into the final race.
Kouts, Indiana veteran, Jeff Cannon who was coming off of winning the 2014 Illiana Motor Speedway (IN) Super Late Model Track Championship, scored a career high third place finish in JEGS/CRA All-Stars Tour competition in his #33 Govert Auto Body / Chevrolet. The 35-year-old has made limited appearances in CRA over the past three seasons and had started the year off with his first Boyne Machine Company Fast Qualifier Award during SpeedFest 2014 back on January 25th at Watermelon Capital Speedway (GA).
17-year-old Trey Craig earned the Five Star Racecar Bodies Hard-Charger Award as well as the first Great Lakes Tire / Hoosier Racing Tire Performance Award with his impressive 28th to fourth place run. The Louisville, Kentucky teenager and CRA Late Model Sportsman Series competitor in his #15 DCI General Contractors / Chevrolet finished third in the CRA LMS race which was held before the JEGS/CRA event. 16-year-old Hunter Baize had another strong run in his #13 Mountaineer Firewood / Ford as he started 21st and came away with his fourth top five in the last five races with a fifth place finish. The finish also guarantees at least a fifth place finish for the Bremen, Kentucky driver in the final standings.
Veteran Jack Smith overcame the carnage of the lap one incident and after several pit stops for repairs, left with the Hedman Hedders Husler Award after finishing sixth minus a right front fender. Recently crowned 2014 NASCAR Whelen All-American Series Ohio State Champion, Chad Pendleton picked up a career high, in JEGS/CRA racing, seventh place finish as 16-year-old Kody Evans grabbed the second Great Lakes Tire / Hoosier Racing Tire Performance Award with a 20th to eighth place run. Rookie Dalton Armstrong was ninth as Josh Nelms completed the top 10.
Points Leader going into the weekend, Dan Leeck finished 20th and with Quinlan's second place effort and Nelms' 10th place showing, those three drivers will settle the 2014 JEGS/CRA All-Stars Tour Championship in the final race at Winchester Speedway (IN). Going into Winchester 400 weekend, Leeck needs a fourth place feature finish or better and the Birch Run, Michigan driver will lock up the championship, regardless of qualifying points that anyone would earn.
The day before in Boyne Machine Company Qualifying, Nemechek out-qualified the 29-car field with a 21.878 which equals out to 112.881mph. The JEGS/CRA All-Stars Tour Track Record at Lucas Oil Raceway remains a 21.756 which was set by 2011 Tour Champion, Erik Jones back on October 1st, 2011.
The 2014 JEGS/CRA All-Stars Tour Presented by Chevrolet Performance Champion and the Howie Lettow Memorial Rookie of the Year will both be crowned on Friday, October 11th with the final race of the year. The Winchester 100 Presented by JEGS.com will kick off the 43rd running of the Winchester 400 Weekend as the famed 1/2 (0.500) mile high-banked paved oval of Winchester Speedway serves as hosts of the 2014 season finale for the premier template bodied / crate motor series in the country. The weekend continues on Saturday & Sunday, October 11-12th after the JEGS/CRA portion of the race weekend has been completed.
The famed facility, located west of the Indiana / Ohio state line and east of Muncie in Winchester, Indiana has hosted the JEGS/CRA All-Stars Tour more times than any other track in the Tours' four-year history. In seven previous appearances, Trent Snyder, who won the last JEGS/CRA race in Eastern Indiana back on August 31st, and Chase Elliott each have two victories apiece. Defending Race Winner during 400 Weekend, Corey Deuser as well as Kyle Benjamin and Travis Braden each have one win each.
For more information about all four touring series’ within Champion Racing Association Powered by JEGS, please go to the series website at: www.cra-racing.comYou can also follow along with all of CRA's touring series' all season long on Facebook at: www.facebook.com/ChampionRacingAssociation and on Twitter at www.twitter.com/CRAracing Finally for more information about Winchester Speedway, the host facility for the 15th and final race of the 2014 racing season for the JEGS/CRA All-Stars Tour Presented by Chevrolet Performance, go to the track website at: www.winchesterspeedway.com
