Chris Windom took the lead on lap three and never looked back, leading the final 23 laps to win his second consecutive USAC NOS Energy Drink National Midget Series 4-Crown Nationals feature in front of a packed house at Eldora Speedway, Saturday.
Windom, the 2020 USAC National champion, was making just his third start of the season. It marks his fifth 4-Crown Nationals title. The victory also gave CB Industries a sweep of the weekend’s festivities at Eldora after teammate Mitchel Moles won Friday night’s feature.
Starting from the outside of row one, Chance Crum would take the early lead, with Windom moving from fourth to second on the opening lap. Windom stayed right with Crum and mastered the outside to go around him for the point position on lap three, with Buddy Kofoid moving up to third. The top three would remain tight throughout the first half of the 25-lap feature.
Series point leader Kofoid would run the fence coming out of four to take over second by a car length on lap 15 as the top three pulled away from the rest of the field, but his race would come to an end just one lap later when he appeared to blow his right rear tire going into turn one, getting into the wall and flipping. Crum had no place to go and was collected in the crash, also flipping. Both were able to climb from their cars uninjured.
With his two main rivals done for the night, Windom would lead Alex Bright, Justin Grant, and Bryant Wiedeman back to the green flag on lap 17. Within three laps, Windom pulled out to a 1.842-second lead while continuing to pull away from the field. Behind him, Wiedeman would pass Grant for third on lap 21 and then move past Bright for the second spot on lap 23.
Upfront, Windom stretched his advantage out to more than three seconds on the way to the victory. Wiedeman earned runner-up honors for the second consecutive night, with Bright placing third, followed by Grant, Thomas Meseraull, Taylor Reimer, Cannon McIntosh, and C.J. Leary.
The USAC NOS Energy Drink National Midget Series returns to the track with a pair of races the weekend of October 7-8, kicking off at Wayne County (Ill.) Speedway, before heading to Tri-State Speedway in Haubstadt, Indiana, on Saturday night.
Quotes:
Chris Windom, CB Industries Toyota: “I love this place. It feels great to get this done. This car was so good around the top. It was good last year, but I think it was better this year. Hats off to all these guys on the CB Industries crew. I’m happy to get this for Chad Boat for the second year in a row. These cars are so good here. You have to stay laser-focused when you’re running this close to the fence. Thanks to all the fans for coming out. It was an awesome crowd here at the 4-Crowns.”
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