USAR: Christian Visits Victory Lane
Posted By Terry CallahanMotorsports Editor, The Auto Channel
July 10, 2001
Montgomery, AL – After collecting his first career win in the USAR Hooters ProCup Series last November, Steven Christian said he hoped he wouldn’t have to wait long for his next win. Christian waited just nine races before outlasting Jay Fogleman to win the Miller Lite 200 presented by Food World Saturday night at Montgomery Motor Speedway.
“We had a great car all night long,” said an ecstatic Christian in victory lane. “Haskell and the guys gave me a great pit stop and that helped us tremendously with track position. The Lucas Oil Ford turned well all night and moved up in the points.”
Christian qualified 10th and remained out front for most of the race, taking the lead from Stacy Puryear under caution on lap 117.
Fogleman, who finished in the top-five after a three-race absence, felt his team made some good calls to get the strong finish.
“We had some damage on the car and the guys did a great job getting the car fixed and keeping me on the lead lap,” Fogleman said. “We also went and tested and found some things on the car we needed to work on and it paid off for us tonight.”
A pair of drivers followed Fogleman to score their best-ever career finishes in the Series.
Jabe Jones, in his 73rd career-start in the Series, finished third for his first-ever top-five finish. Robertson, who won a Lance Snacks Pole Award at Coastal Plains Raceway earlier this year, also collected his first-ever top-five following Jones for fourth. John Kinder finished fifth for his first top-five finish of the season.
“I just want to thank everyone who has stood by me,” said an emotional Jones after the race. “We have struggled a little this year and no one gave up on us and it paid off tonight. Hopefully we can take this momentum and build on a strong finish in the regular season and onto the championship series.”
Mario Gosselin started from the Lance Snacks Pole and led the first 98 laps before pitting under caution, surrendering the lead to Puryear. Puryear remained out front until he pitted for tires under caution. Puryear led at lap 100 to win the Lucas Oil Products Halfway Leader Award.
Gosselin finished sixth and Jason Sarvis followed in seventh. Puryear rebounded from a late-race spin with Bobby Gill to finish eighth. Shane Huffman and Mart Nesbitt rounded out the top-10.
The race was slowed 11 times by caution for 67 laps with a pair of accidents creating a tight points race among the top-five in the standings.
Hal Goodson was collected in an accident when Lee Tissot and Daniel Johnson got together in turn three. Johnson spun to the inside and the car moved up the track in front of Goodson, who had committed to go high to try and avoid the spin.
“We had a good car tonight,” said Goodson. “I hate what happened (on the track) because the guys work so hard to give me a good car but that is a part of racing. Sometimes things happen that you can’t control.”
Goodson finished 28th allowing Bobby Gill, who finished 11th, to move to within nine points of the lead (1,301-1,292). As a result of his win, Christian now sits in third-place with Huffman and Fogleman completing the top-five. The top five drivers are now separated by just 34 points with four regular season races remaining on the Southern Division schedule.
Text provided by Tim Southers
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