MONTGOMERY, Ala. – In 28 laps, Chase Elliott turned a disastrous afternoon into a party on the frontstretch at Montgomery Motor Speedway.
After a gear box issue and a flat tire sent the reigning NASCAR XFINITY Series champion down pit road under caution at lap 153, Elliott used a furious rally from 10th to charge back to the front in the 51st annual Alabama 200, leading lap 176 over Kyle Grissom before a late-race caution set up a restart with 23 laps to go in the historic event.
Despite spinning the tires when the green flag returned, Elliott ultimately passed Grissom for good on lap 181, leading the final 20 circuits unchallenged to pick up his second career Alabama 200 victory, both coming in the past three years.
“It started when [crew chief] Ricky [Turner] made the adjustments I needed at the halfway break,” Elliott said of picking up his third career Southern Super Series win. “I feel like our car was pretty decent, but that flat tire really set us back. Luckily we were able to get a tire put on the thing and I was fortunate on a couple of those final restarts to be in the right lane and get back to the front.”
“The end of the race was good, but I didn’t have a very good restart on that last green flag and made it twice as hard on myself,” Elliott added of the final run at lap 178. “I appreciate Kyle [Grissom] racing me clean – I thought he did a really good job today. This is a great day for us, though, and I’m glad we were good enough when it mattered.”
The race was largely clean from the outset, with only two cautions slowing the pace prior to lap 95. Anderson Bowen led the opening lap from the outside of the front row before 15-year-old Garrett Jones, who drew the ‘one’ pill in the top eight re-draw, charged back on the inside to lead the next 19 circuits.
After that, Grissom came calling in his No. 31 Chevrolet, pacing the next 74 laps and leading when a yellow for a spinning Johnny Brazier marked the halfway break at lap 94.
With crews having five minutes to adjust on their cars, several teams came and went from the top five in the second half of the race – due to adjustments and attrition shuffling the running order.
Cautions at laps 96 and 98 eliminated contenders Bubba Pollard and Harrison Burton from the event, with Pollard losing his brakes in turn two while leading and Burton tagging the wall after racing for fifth with Ross Kenseth in the middle of the pack.
As big names fell, Oklahoma’s Donnie Wilson rose, taking the top spot at lap 97 and pulling away until he lost a tire at lap 152 – one lap before Elliott’s misfortunes cropped up – handing the point back to Grissom.
Both drivers would rally back to the top six in the final 47 laps, however, with the aid of two additional cautions at laps 154 and 176 that bunched the field back up and made for a wild finish.
The most impactful of those was the lap 154 yellow, which saw Jones pound the outside wall in turn four after contact with Logan Boyett sent him around. The damage was extensive enough to end his day, with Jones declining to comment on the incident.
That began Elliott’s final surge, with the No. 9 Rocky Ridge Custom Trucks Chevrolet moving to second on lap 160 before dogging Grissom for the next 15 laps.
While Grissom used the race’s final restart to briefly retake the lead from Elliott for three laps, he admitted after the race that there was nothing else he could have done to keep the Dawsonville, Ga. native behind him.
“Our car was definitely good today, but we just faded a bit there before the end,” Grissom, who led 101 laps overall on the day, said of the final laps. “Chase having a flat tire helped him – it’s kind of hard to compete with being able to put a right front [tire] on 50 laps into a run.”
“He had a good car though. My car was good, but he was able to beat me, so it shows that he just had a little bit better. All in all though, I’m happy with the way things turned out.”
Ross Kenseth rounded out the podium in the Carswell Motorsports No. 98, with four-time Alabama 200 winner Augie Grill and defending race winner Anderson Bowen the balance of the top five.
Wilson rallied to post a sixth-place effort after hauling his equipment to the track in a U-Haul storage unit, his trailer having broken down in Tennessee on Friday night.
Positions seven through 10 were filled by SSS points leader Casey Smith, Boyett, Dennis Schoenfeld and Russell Fleeman.
All told, the race saw nine caution flags slow the pace, with nine lead changes between six different drivers.
In the companion 75-lap Modifieds of Mayhem Tour event, Donald Crocker dominated the field, leading 66 laps en route to the win.
Billy Melvin started on the pole after the top eight redraw and led the first nine circuits before Crocker took over on lap 10 and took off from the field.
Despite three cautions – a competition yellow at lap 20 for refueling and two spins by Ryan Paul on laps 29 and 34 – no one had anything for the driver of the No. 5, who easily took home the trophy.
“The car was good enough today that I could just watch them in my rear-view mirror get close but not be able to get around me,” Crocker said with a smile in victory lane. “I was actually so confident today that I finally told my spotter, ‘Let’s save some radio battery. I’m watching them and I’ve got this.'”
“From changing everything on the car yesterday to a win today, it feels pretty good. I could just drive away and smile in this one.”
Bret Holmes (Pro Late Model), Joe Hudson (Late Model Sportsman), Joe Bethea Jr. (Street Stocks) and Rusty Alverson (Mini Mod) were honored as track champions in Montgomery Motor Speedway’s local divisions.
RESULTS: 51st Alabama 200 Weekend; Montgomery Motor Speedway; September 12, 2015
Southern Super Series 51st Alabama 200 (200 laps): 1. #9 – Chase Elliott; 2. #31 – Kyle Grissom; 3. #98 – Ross Kenseth; 4. #112 – Augie Grill; 5. #29 – Anderson Bowen; 6. #2W – Donnie Wilson; 7. #99 – Casey Smith; 8. #11 – Logan Boyett; 9. #43 – Dennis Schoenfeld; 10. #198 – Russell Fleeman; 11. #58C – John Coffman; 12. #47 – Allen Karnes; 13. #1 – Garrett Jones; 14. #79 – Kyle Bryant; 15. #58B – Todd Brown; 16. #12 – Harrison Burton; 17. #26 – Bubba Pollard; 18. #71 – Johnny Brazier; 19. #24 – Christopher Tullis; 20. #58 – Bobby Deistler.
Lap Leaders: Anderson Bowen 1; Garrett Jones 2-20 (19); Kyle Grissom 21-94, 152-175, 178-180 (101); Bubba Pollard 95-96 (2); Donnie Wilson 97-151 (55); Chase Elliott 176-177, 181-200 (22).
Modifieds of Mayhem Tour (75 laps): 1. #5 – Donald Crocker; 2. #66 – Corey Ruble; 3. #131 – Jeff Letson; 4. #8 – Donnie Hamrac; 5. #50 – Ty Roberts; 6. #64 – Adam Crawford; 7. #145 – Billy Melvin; 8. #67 – Frankie Martin; 9. #14 – Mike Maddox; 10. #02 – Butch Wade; 11. #88 – Larry Hughes; 12. #41 – Rocky Rogers; 13. #07 – Ryan Paul
Lap Leaders: Billy Melvin 1-9; Donald Crocker 10-75.
—
Jacob Seelman
Speed77 Motorsports Radio, Founder/Producer
RaceChaserOnline.com, Managing Editor
Performance Motorsports Network, Radio Co-Host
National Speed Sport News, Staff Writer
United Sprint Car Series, Series Announcer