CONCORD, North Carolina -- Changyoun Kim picked up his fourth win of the season and his seventh overall career eDimensional Cup win Saturday by winning the Coca-Cola 350 at Lowe's Motor Speedway. Kim edged Fischer Racing's David Topie who won last week's eDimensional All-Star Race II by less than a second, to capture the win.
 |
| © 2008 TASCOR Media |
| Jeroen Anema was involved on a hard crash in the closing laps, after contact with James Krahula |
Kim led a race high 113 laps en route to the biggest win in his career as he won at Lowe's Motor Speedway for the second time in a row after winning last year's fall race at the 1.5-mile track.
David Topie was reeling into Kim's lead in the final laps after the race went green again on a late restart with only three laps to go. But Topie ran out of time and spun coming out of turn four on the final lap, squeezing the last bit of speed out of his No. 5 Wrangler Chevrolet.
So it was Changyoun Kim and Bang Racing's No. 64 LG Electronics Ford Fusion team that celebrated in victory lane again. Kim increased his points lead up to 95 points from previously only 55 points.
 |
| © 2008 TASCOR Media |
| Richard Cragg in Fischer Racing's No. 25 Lowe's Chevrolet turned into John Stanley's No. 85 Parts for Trucks Ford on Lap 68, setting up a spectacular crash. |
James Krahula who started from the eDimensional Pole - his first of the year and therefore qualifying him for the 2009 eDimensional Shootout at Daytona - finished third. He had a very fast race car all day long, led 82 laps before succumbing to the faster cars of Topie and Kim, that had pitted with around 30 laps to go while Krahula and then second place runner Ben Fischer stayed out.
Fischer wound up fourth as he got his first top-five finish since Phoenix mid-March. Paulo Rocha in the single car team Little Rock Motorsports entered No. 74 Fuel Pizza Cafe Toyota Camry finished an impressive fifth place, benefiting from a late race crash involving Jeroen Anema in the No. 57 Cheetos Chevrolet.
Anema was running in third position when he and Krahula made contact coming to turn one, putting up Anema for a seventh place finish in the end. "I don't think it matters too much. We're racing for wins right now. And the fact is that the 64 (Changyoun Kim) already got four wins and we got none. We need those chase bonus points and that's what we're racing for right now. If we finish seventh or third, makes no difference for us right now, really," Anema said after the race.
 |
| © 2008 TASCOR Media |
| James Krahula had a fast car all day long and led 82 laps en route to a third place finish, after starting from his first Pole of the year |
Tom Splain was sixth, losing ground again on points leader Changyoun Kim but is still within striking distance at only 95 points behind. He's still holding the runner-up spot in the standings and goes to Dover with eight top-tens in 12 starts.
Miguel Gomes, Normunds Sarma and Jean Costa rounded out the top-ten finishers as the 350-mile race, the longest of the season, concluded. Overall only eleven cars were running at the finish as the biggest part of the field was either involved in crashes or mechanical failures in a very rough, caution plagued race that saw 16 caution flags.
John Higman Jr. had a disappointing day as the No. 17 Hooters Toyota Camry driver was running among the cars at the point when the engine of his Toyota blew up on lap 92, costing him valuable ground in the fight for a spot in the "Chase for the Championship", the top-eight in points.
John Stanley, who made another part-time appearance in NEPA Motorsports' No. 85 Parts for Trucks Ford Fusion saw his race come to an abrupt end on lap 164 when he was rammed by the car of Richard Cragg coming to turn three. The cars banged off each other and Cragg's No. 25 Lowe's Chevrolet got airborne and flipped over multiple times before getting hit again by the No. 41 Milwaukee Tools Ford of Ricardo Pino.
Cragg later was released from the infield medical care center but complained about a sore neck. The 16th place DNF marked a new low in recent weeks for the series rookie driver, who is rumored to be under pressure at Fischer Racing after gathering only one top-ten finish in eleven starts this year and having five DNF's.
Ricardo Pino had a nightmare of a race and was involved in multiple incidents before falling for a 12th place DNF finish, his first DNF in five races. Other drivers failing to finish included Danny Sanchez, Darlington winner Mark Agee and also VERTIS Rookie Of The Year contender Ricky Hardin.
The race was slowed by a lot of cautions for an average speed of only 121.446 mph, down more than 18 mph compared to last year's Coca-Cola 350 when Ben Fischer won the race.
Following the Coca-Cola 350, which was the 12th race of the season, Changyoun Kim continues to lead the point standings by 95 over Tom Splain, Jeroen Anema (-104), Miguel Gomes (-217) and Ben Fischer (-227). The next race will be the SimRacing-Links.COM 200 at Dover International Speedway next weekend.
