NEWTON, Iowa (July 9, 2016) - Rookie Chase Briscoe padded his point lead with his second consecutive ARCA Racing Series presented by Menards victory, winning the ABC Supply 150 presented by Casey's General Store Saturday night at Iowa Speedway.
Briscoe, in the No. 77 Big Tine-Cunningham Motorsports Ford, drove away from Kyle Benjamin over the final 20 laps to secure the victory in his first Iowa attempt. Briscoe credited his win to changing his line on the track.
"We had a fourth- or fifth-place car early in the race...then I saw the guys running the top so I tried it and that's when my car came to life," Briscoe said.
"There was so much grip up there. Anytime I came off the top, I got really loose. The pit crew did their job and I finally figured out mine. It was awesome to get Cunningham and Big Tine two wins in a row and stretch our point lead."
The outcome could have been much different however had Kyle Weatherman not scraped the wall to bring out the first of only two cautions on lap 87 of the 150-lap race. Weatherman, in the No. 10 St. Charles Glass Ford, was leading when he cut down a right-front tire and made contact with the turn two wall.
"It's disappointing," Weatherman said. "I felt like we had the car to beat tonight. Nothing I could do when the right-front went down. My guys on pit road did an excellent job getting us back out so we didn't lose a lap, but the car wouldn't handle after that."
Weatherman nursed his wounded car home in ninth, one lap down.
Benjamin, in the No. 28 FEVR Chevrolet for Ranier Racing with MDM, finished second, about two-and-a-half seconds behind the winner.
"We just got too loose," Benjamin said. "Didn't know the track was going to swing that loose. The 77 was impressive tonight...he's got it going on. The top really came in tonight but it's hard to pass. You had to slide-job to pass, and I have to work on that."
Fifteen-year-old Harrison Burton, in his career-first ARCA Racing Series start, finished third in the No. 8 DEX Imaging-Morton Buildings Chevrolet.
"I learned a lot tonight, which is what we set out to do," Burton said. "I've never been on a track this fast before. I learned that you really have to keep your momentum up around here."
Burton is the son of NASCAR Sprint Cup Series driver Jeff Burton.
"We ran pretty well, but you're never really satisfied until you're holding up that trophy in victory lane. I guess you could say this is the best third-place finish I've got. This place is awesome. This has been such a cool opportunity. Running this race has really prepared me mentally for my next big race."
Benjamin led the first 41 laps from the Menards Pole before Weatherman tracked him down and made the pass for the lead on lap 42. Weatherman held the lead for 46 laps with Briscoe challenging most of the way before his encounter with the wall. With Weatherman gone as an immediate threat, Briscoe took control from there, leading 63 laps overall en route to the Casey's General Store victory lane.
Dalton Sargeant, in the No. 55 Toyota Racing Development-Windows 10 Toyota, finished fourth with Myatt Snider trailing in fifth in the No. 22 Original Louisiana Hot Sauce Ford.
Matt Kurzejewski flirted with the lead late in the race but sustained rear-end damage on the final restart when the cars around him stacked up. Kurzejewski held on to finish sixth in the No. 52 Ansell-Menards Toyota.
Cole Custer, subbing for John Wes Townley, finished seventh in the No. 05 Jive Communications Chevrolet. Hometown favorite Mason Mitchell, in the No. 78 Karl Chevrolet, changed a battery during the race and battled back from a lap down to finish eighth, the last car on the lead lap. Josh Williams finished 10th in the No. 6 Circle Track Warehouse Chevrolet.
Just two cautions slowed the race for 16 laps, resulting in a new race record at 1:14:42/105.403 mph.
The next race for the ARCA Racing Series will be the Sioux Chief PowerPEX® 200 presented by Jive at Lucas Oil Raceway July 22.
Don Radebaugh dradebaugh@arcaracing.com
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