Trey Craig beats NASCAR aces, Nashville regulars in Battle of Broadway

It may not set in until Friday morning but this was absolutely a signature victory for Trey Craig in the Battle of Broadway 150, a CRA JEGS Tour Pro Late Model race at Nashville Fairgrounds Speedway.

The victory was his second in a Pro Late Model and matches the number of CRA Late Model Sportsman victories earned over the past five years as well.

It was an event held on Thursday night prior to the NASCAR weekend at Nashville Superspeedway and featured Ross Chastain, Josh Berry and Tommy Joe Martins in the field. Each featured prominently in the finish.

“We’ve had a really good car here this year,” Craig told Racing America. “We ran the last four races here and haven’t finished outside of third. Those Cup guys are badass and good, but we’ve got a lot more laps around this place than they do.

“I really didn’t think we were that good after qualifying. When we were running behind Chase Johnson, I was like, man we’ve got something for him. Coming to that competition caution, I need to get the lead here to get the choose for the restart. Once I got the lead, we just set sail and I was like, hell yeah, we’re good from here.”

Dawson Sutton earned the pole but immediately relinquished it before the green flag with a radio communication error. The aforementioned Johnson led until Lap 61, at which point Craig took over, and he survived a pair of caution with three laps to go to score the win.

The first was a competition caution, one in which Chastain briefly took the lead on the restart with Berry in tow before a Martins spin reset the running order.

.@RossChastain and @joshberry make a big move to the inside on a restart with less than 25 to go. But a caution will reset the field! Trey Craig leads George Phillips at @RaceFairgrounds .

Subscribers can watch the finish LIVE right now: https://t.co/3wywk7Q2nt pic.twitter.com/X7Xd6CdpYp

— Racing America (@RacingAmerica) June 28, 2024

Craig didn’t let Chastain get the jump on him twice and drove away to the biggest win of his career.

“I think it’s going to take until tomorrow morning or tonight when I get home, you know, cuddle up with that guitar in bed, maybe. Right now, I’m still on cloud nine.”

Brett Robinson and Corey Deuser both got Chastain on the final restart, contact between Deuser and Chastain on the final lap, all finishing ahead of Berry.

“The second time with this race car at Nashville, the Brandon Oakley race car, it’s bad fast,” said Robinson. “The car was right. I thought we were going to have what it took to win. When we put the right-side tires on with 20 to go or whatever, we put the rights on with the normal air pressures. It was too low on the rights, and it caused the car to be so tight the last 20 laps.

“Hindsight is 20/20, but a little more experience too. We don’t run as much as these boys. If we had put it at 23, acting like it was a 20-lap run to the end, I think things would have been a little different.”

Chastain drove a Rackley WAR car and Berry raced for Dylan Fetcho Racing.

“We were okay,” said Chastain. “I thought we were a second-to-fourth-place car most of the night. We raced around some guys and tried to learn how they save tires and where I could give up time on track and do that. I thought I did an okay job. Looking back, I probably could have been third, not fourth.

“We got the lead on the restart after we put the tires on, and that was a big bummer. We put ourselves in a position in the win, but it didn’t work out.”

JEGS Tour Battle of Broadway 150
Nashville Fairgrounds Speedway
June 27 2024

1. Trey Craig
2. Brett Robinson
3. Corey Deuser
4. Ross Chastain
5. Josh Berry
6. Cole Williams
7. Dawson Sutton
8. Bennie Hamlett
9. Austin Wilson
10. George Phillips
11. Jim Wall
12. Chase Johnson
13. Tommy Joe Martins
14. Hunter Wright
15. Mark Day
16. Stacey Crain
17. Adam Elliott
18. Quinn Davis
19. Peyton Hamlett