BROWNSBURG, IN – While Sunday’s Championship Racing Association (CRA) date at Lucas Oil Raceway was staged as a Fall Brawl, for Michigan native Brian Campbell the 100-lap ARCA/CRA Super Series feature was more like a casual Sunday drive.
Campbell rose from the sixth starti hing spot to take the lead on lap 22 and surrendered the top spot for only a lone lap on a restart from that point to the finish en-route to a dominant victory in the Wish for Our Heroes 100 at the .686-mile LOR.
Largely considered the man to beat whenever the Midwest super late model series heads to LOR, Campbell gave the field a false sense of hope when he failed to qualify inside of the top five and participate in the pre-race invert. However, from the moment the green flag flew the veteran proved himself to be the class of the field.
Andy Jones led the 17-car field to the start of the event after benefiting from the invert. Aiming for his first-career victory at the Indiana oval, Jones led the opening 10 laps before being passed by championship hopeful Dalton Armstrong.
Looking to shrink his 26-point gap to championship leader Cody Coughlin in the series standings, Armstrong started on the second row before making his way to Jones. The Hoosier incited cheers from his family and friends and fueled hope for a potential race victory when he made short work of Jones for the lead.
However, for Armstrong and 15 other competitors on the facility, those hopes would be short-lived.
Campbell reeled the rookie in over the course of 10 laps after a lap-12 restart following a spin from Travis Braden. By lap 20, the veteran was on Armstrong’s tail. Campbell made a move for the lead going through turns 3 & 4 on lap 22, beating Armstrong to the start-finish line to lead his first lap, and then secured the position outright two corners later.
Armstrong would get one last look at the lead on a lap-34 restart following another spin from Braden, but Campbell quickly regained the top spot.
“I drove in a little light on the restart,” Campbell said. “Just didn’t want to do anything reckless or stupid. It was his (Armstrong) time to go, and I wasn’t ready to race that hard yet.”
From there, Campbell was gone, driving off over the ensuing 66-lap run to secure a dominant 4.114-second victory.
After the race, Campbell credited another facility for teaching him the tricks necessary to earn a win at the Brownsburg, Indiana track.
“People chuckle when I say this place is kind of like Berlin (Raceway), but on all of these momentum racetracks you don’t really use your brake and you’ve gotta keep your speed up,” Campbell said. “I learned that at Berlin and it’s adapted to this place. It’s very similar. I just really love racing here.”
Armstrong parlayed a strong effort to hold onto second, a run the rookie will happily take after struggling in his first Super Series race at the track in July.
“After our 11th-place finish here last time, I feel like second’s kind of like a win for us,” Armstrong said. “I was just really free throughout the whole run, but I feel like — besides Brian — we were pretty decent. I feel like everybody was kind of junk but it’s just how this track is. We’ll take it. ”
Behind the quiet runs of Campbell and Armstrong, a four-car melee broke out for third, resulting in three-wide racing and more than one instance of traded sheet metal.
In the end, it was Wes Griffith, Jr., who rode the bottom to pilot his No. 7 Skoal Bandit machine to third.
“I went down there because that’s the only way you’re going to pass someone, for one,” Griffith said. “Two, I figured the top was getting slick and there was more grip on the bottom. It just worked out.”
Making his second start of the year, Chris Hacker used a couple late passes to claim fourth.
“Throughout the day we were really loose, and I think the main reason was because we put too much stagger in the rear tires,” Hacker said. “But I enjoyed it. I was glad to be back in the car.”
Chris Hacker surveys his car’s damage. (Photo: Aaron Bearden)
Looking over his damage machine, Hacker also came out appreciative of the battle he was able to be a part of in the closing laps.
“You don’t think about it while it’s happening, but now that I have time to think about it, it was insane,” Hacker noted. “I had a blast. I’m speechless.”
Coughlin edged Jordan Pruitt at the line by just .011 seconds to take fifth. Coughlin was forced to come from the tail end of the field after missing Saturday’s qualifications to compete in a NASCAR Camping World Truck Series event.
Brett Robinson, Braden, Jones and Justin Oertel rounded out the top 10. Asked about his early spins, Braden told Short Track Scene that something was amiss on his machine, though his team was unsure of the exact cause after the race.
15 of the 17 cars that took the green flag on Sunday also made it to the checkered, with 10 teams finishing on the lead lap.
The ARCA/CRA Super Series will return for their final race of 2016 on Oct. 9, when the field heads to Winchester Speedway for the Winchester 400.
Results
- Brian Campbell
- Dalton Armstrong
- Wes Griffith, Jr.
- Chris Hacker
- Cody Coughlin
- Jordan Pruitt
- Brett Robinson
- Travis Braden
- Andy Jones
- Justin Oertel
- Lee Van Dyke
- Fred Hopkins
- Jason Neal
- Austin Coe
- Buddy Head
- Ryan Isaacs
- Jeff Cannon
