The Champion Racing Association (CRA) Street Stocks and VORES Compact Touring Series Compacts took to Bristol Motor Speedway (TN) for their features at the Short Track U.S. Nationals Saturday night and they didn’t disappoint.
In the 50-lap CRA Street Stock feature, Chuck Barnes, Jr recorded the historic win after contact with early-race leader Brett Hudson. Barnes made contact with Hudson, resulting in Hudson’s No. 00 getting loose on the final lap and allowing Barnes to get by for the win.
Barnes, from Louisville, Kenturcky traveled 302 miles to Bristol in hopes of glory on the big stage and achieved his goal.
After starting 10th, Barnes made his way up through the field, climbing to second with only five laps to go and setting his focus on the leader.
“On the last lap, he started slowing getting into turns one and two and I was going full steam and I started to look outside and he came up. I just stayed in the gas and we just got lucky in the end,” Barnes told Speed51.com powered by JEGS
Barnes further discussed the contact with Hudson, who was visibly discouraged and upset with what happened on the final lap at the Last Great Colosseum.
“I didn’t wreck him; I just got into him a little bit, so I’m pretty happy with it and it’s going to be a tough season ahead because we race side-by-side often,” Barnes explained. “I know payback is going to come, so I guess I’ll take it when it comes, but it was an awesome win for sure.”
Brett Hudson declined to comment to Speed51.com about the incident.
In the Compacts, Bo Hoelscher scored the win in the cleanest feature of the night, which featured just two cautions in 50 laps. The current VCTS points leader took the lead from Chris Jennings on lap 27 and never looked back.
Hoelscher also won the VCTS season opener at Anderson Speedway (IN). The Ohio native traveled 365 miles to get to Bristol for this historic event, and at the end of the night it all paid off as he hoisted the trophy and lifted the sword in victory lane.
“They say living your dreams out is lucky, but this race track and what I just did is living the dream. I couldn’t ask for a better race track. It’s probably one of the smoothest race tracks of this size that I’ve raced on,” Hoelscher told Speed51.com powered by JEGS.
Hoelscher, however, didn’t have the easiest path to the win. After starting seventh, he advanced to second on lap 6 and began to catch Bradshaw, but saw the chance at a win potentially slip out of his grasp on lap 20 when his car got loose in turn two. He was able to save himself from trouble and recovered for a historic win.
“I was fast all weekend, but we kind of messed up qualifying and had to work my butt off. But, I ended up doing it. Up until this morning I was the man to beat, but each session everybody got faster and faster.”
Chris Jennings of Richmond, Indiana came home second after Tom Gossar was forced to drop out of the race in the waning laps.
The finish came as a surprise to Jennings, who was not aware of where he had finished, simply saying, “It’s unbelievable.”
For on-demand coverage of Saturday’s racing at Bristol, visit Speed51.com’s Trackside Now coverage.
A replay of the live broadcast on Speed51.com can also be purchased now by clicking here.
-Reese Nobles, Speed51.com Mid-Atlantic Correspondent – Twitter: @RNoblesSpeed51
-Photo credit: Speed51.com/MoJo Photos
CRA Street Stocks Unofficial Results
1 44 Chuck Barnes Jr.
2 00H Brett Hudson
3 44L Colby Lane
4 21L Jeff Lane
5 27 Josh Poore
6 86S Shawn Smith
7 54C Tony Conway
8 44H Ronnie Basham
9 57 Danny Adams
10 23S Thomas Skiles
11 22 James Kirby III
12 95 Brian Hopkins
13 68 JJ Schafer
14 29T Mike Todd
15 02 Mark Ross Jr.
16 5 Chuck Barnes Sr.
17 84 Andrew Teepe
18 52B Duke Bare
19 03E Kevin Eby
20 00B Bruce Burch
21 74BA Austin Baum
22 24W Jeremie Wiggins
23 29K Mason Keller
24 54G Nathan Greene
25 10B Dan Banker
26 74BR Josh Brading
27 25C Jesse Collinge
28 9 Jake Hinton
29 42PE Curtis Peeples
30 6H Blake Hillard
31 6S Bryce Schaefer
32 26H Jordan Hahn
33 89 Josh Sage
34 90 Joe Quinn
35 98 Matt WIlson
36 112 Mark Lushes
Compact Results
1 27 Bo Hoelscher
2 6 Chris Jennings
3 7C Ron Masters
4 61 Matthew Jackson
5 82 Harvey Yoder
6 37 Darek Morris
7 9T Nicholas Meade
8 51 Keith Watson
9 117 Ryan Hoffman
10 21W Ricky Weaver
11 4 Terry Eaton Jr
12 95 David Yoder
13 07 Steve Vore
14 56 Sean Frederick
15 53D Tim Dilg
16 19H John Handeland
17 0 Tom Gossar
18 13 Mark Jennings
19 97M Matthew Morris
20 54JT John Trimble
21 15 Andy Jennings
22 49B Derick Bradshaw
23 18 Gary Eaton Jr
24 33 Justin Brown
25 007 Don Rufener III
26 25NH Ben Belanger
27 63 Larry Hatfield
28 22 Kevin Broski
29 19 Joe Workman
30 119 Brandon De Lacy
31 88 Joshua Foltz
32 71 Trent Gossar
33 12N Charlie Nickel
34 1X Mark Mason
35 79 Todd Metz Jr
36 28 BJ Honious
