Lots of Talent in the Early Entries for the 48th Annual Winchester 400
Advanced Entry Deadline Extended to October 4th
Salem, IN (October 1, 2019) – There are already several of the top racers from around the country entered for the upcoming 48th Annual Winchester 400 Presented by CB Fabricating, which takes place on the famous High Banks of Winchester Speedway in Winchester, Indiana on Sunday, October 13th. The ARCA/CRA Super Series Powered by JEGS sanctioned event is one of the top short track events in the country. Some of the past winners since CRA began sanctioning the event include names like Kyle Busch, Chase Elliott, Erik Jones, David Stremme, Ross Kenseth, Scott Hantz, Brian Ross, Travis Braden, Ryan Lawler, Boris Jurkovic, Bobby Parsley, Noah Gragson and last year’s winner Jeff Choquette.
To date, 2016 Winchester 400 winner Travis Braden is the only former event winner entered for the 400, but there are several great drivers looking to be able to stand in Winchester 400 victory lane holding the rifle. Two-time ARCA/CRA Super Series Champion Braden has been racing full-time with the ARCA Racing Series again in 2019, where he is fourth in points with two top five finishes. Braden does have five second place finishes in limited starts with the ARCA/CRA Super Series in 2019.
Florida native Stephen Nasse is entered with the Jett Motorsports Team. He comes into this years Winchester 400 as one of the favorites after dominating the 100 lap ARCA/CRA Super Series 400 tune up race on Labor Day Weekend and winning that weekends JEGS/CRA All-Stars Tour event as well. Nasse also won the series event at Bristol Motor Speedway in May. Nasse will have a team car at the 400, fellow Florida native Jett Noland is entered to make his first 400 start.
Georgia native Chandler Smith is entered looking to improve upon his second-place finish in last year’s 400. The Georgia native has been racing mostly with the ARCA Racing Series in 2019, were he has four wins so far this season. Smith will be behind the wheel of the Kyle Busch Motorsports car for this year’s 400.
Steve Wallace, son of NASCAR legend Rusty Wallace, is entered to make a return to the 400 in hopes of claiming the 400 rifle trophy just as his father did. The 2017 Redbud 400 winner finished in third place in last year’s 400.
Former Southern Super Series Champion Donnie Wilson is entered. The Oklahoma native always has a fast car at Winchester, he just needs some good luck to get him to victory lane. Wilson finished sixth in last years 400.
Three-time ARCA/CRA Super Series Champion Johnny VanDoorn is the series all-time winner at Winchester Speedway with five wins, he is entered for this year’s 400 seeking his first victory in that prestigious event. VanDoorn has two series wins in 2019, including the Redbud 400 and the series last event at Toledo Speedway.
2016 series Champion Cody Coughlin is also entered. The former NASCAR Gander Outdoors Truck Series racer’s best finish in the 400 was a second in 2015 to winner Erik Jones. Coughlin won the series Labor Day Weekend race at Winchester in 2016.
Canadian racer Brandon Watson is entered. The former ARCA/CRA Super Series competitor has raced mostly with the APC United Late Model Series in Canada the past three seasons where he has 12 wins and was the 2017 series Champion.
Georgia native Corey Heim is entered to compete in his second ever Winchester 400 after finishing 20th last year. Heim has raced mostly with the ARCA Menards Series in 2019 were he has seven top five finishes.
The four Chase for the Championship drivers who will compete for the 2019 ARCA/CRA Super Series Championship in the Winchester 400 are entered including 2018 series Champion Josh Brock, who won the North/South Super Late Model Shootout in May at Fairgrounds Speedway Nashville and won the series event at Baer Field Motorsports Park in July, 2019 Senneker Performance Rookie of the Year Jack Dossey III who won the series season opener at Anderson Speedway in April, Hunter Jack and Greg Van Alst.
Other top CRA drivers entered for the 400 include, 2019 series Kalamazoo Speedway winner Kyle Crump, 2017 Winchester Labor Day Weekend series winner and 2016 Redbud 400 winner Dalton Armstrong, 2016 400 runner-up Eddie Van Meter and son Billy Van Meter, 2014 JEGS/CRA All-Stars Tour Champion Dan Leeck, former Kil-Kare Raceway series winner and Winchester JEGS/CRA All-Stars Tour winner Brandon Oakley, 2018 series Rookie of the Year runner-up Jon Beach, Bob Varney and son Brandon Varney, and Zach Stacy, who will be making his ARCA/CRA Super Series debut in the 400.
CRA has extended the advanced entry deadline to Friday, October 4th for teams entering the Winchester 400. Teams entering after that date will have to pay an additional $50 for a late entry.
The Winchester 400 is 400 laps counting cautions and is a 12 tire race. The event will once again feature Controlled Cautions in an effort to save teams the cost of bringing in professional pit crews. When a yellow comes out teams will have two laps to service their race car without losing laps or positions on pit road. Those cars will then line up behind the cars that did not pit at that yellow. Teams not getting out of the pits in the two laps will have to fall to the tail of the field and will risk losing laps. As in the past, teams will only be allowed to change a max of two tires per yellow.
The event will pay $16,000 to win plus bonuses, which includes $6,000 in lap leader money, which is $15 per lap led. There will be bonuses of $1000, $600 and $400 to the top three finishing traveling non-regular CRA teams. There is a $1500 bonus to the highest finishing Crate Engine car and $500 to the second highest finishing Crate Engine car. A $1500 bonus to the highest finishing driver who has never raced in the Winchester 400 before and $500 to the second highest finishing driver who has never raced in the Winchester 400 before. $1000 bonus to the highest finishing driver with no top three finish in any prior Winchester 400 and a $1000 bonus to the highest finishing driver with less than three CRA Starts.
In addition, Hamke Race Cars/Rowdy Manufacturing will pay a $400 bonus to the events Fast Qualifier and Progressive Racing Engines will pay a $200 bonus to the driver who advances the most positions.
Pits open on Saturday, October 12th at 8:00am, rotating practice for all divisions will begin at 10:45am. The ARCA/CRA Super Series teams will have a one-hour practice session beginning at 11:05am and a one-hour final practice session at 1:30pm on Saturday. Hamke Race Cars/Rowdy Manufacturing Pole Qualifying for the Winchester 400 will begin at 4:00pm on Saturday.
On Sunday, October 13th the pits will open at 9am. There will be an on-track autograph session with all the Winchester 400 drivers starting at 12:30. Opening ceremonies will begin at 1:30 pm with the 48th Annual Winchester 400 taking the green flag at 2pm.
Additional track and event information can be found at www.winchesterspeedway.com.
The Winchester 400 entry form and more information on all the CRA Series is available at www.cra-racing.com.
