SALEM, Ind. — Gary St. Amant held off Matt Carter, Benny Gordon and Shane Wallace down the stretch to win the Lucas Oil 200 presented by Kmart at Saturday Salem Speedway.
St. Amant, driver of the No. 7 JEGS.com/Speedco Chevrolet, avoided a track-clogging incident on lap 139 and took the lead. Clay Rogers slipped past St. Amant briefly on lap 174. But on lap 175, Rogers’s car came out from underneath him and slid into the inside wall along the frontstretch.
After taking the lead back, St. Amant was able to fend off challenges from Carter in the waning stages to pick up his second Pro Cup triumph and his first since 2004.
“I don’t think we were on anybody’s radar, but I knew we had a good car after qualifying,” said St. Amant, who started 16th. “To bring a new car here, not put a scratch on it and win the race, it don’t get any better than that.”
St. Amant was one of the few leaders that didn’t have problems.
Brandon Ward was leading before being caught up in a melee on lap 139. A.J. Frank, who led much of the first 100 laps, was also involved in the wreck. Gordon, who led early in the event, made a late-race pit stop and tracked down Carter and St. Amant in the final laps, but Gordon spun while trying to wrestle second from Carter, hit the water barrels at the end of pit road and finished 10th.
With Gordon’s misfortune, St. Amant extended his point lead and sits atop the Northern Division standings with just three races remaining in the regular season.
Carter, driver of the No. 26 Travis Carter Motorsports Ford, finished second.
Wallace, driver of the No. 38 Sears Auto Center Ford, rebounded from a mid-race spin to finish third.
Rookie Ben Stancill, driver of the No. 9 Stancill Farms Ford, came home a season-best fourth and picked up an extra $1,000 for being the Miller Lite Rookie of the Race.
Danny Jackson, driver of the No. 05 Redbank Transport Chevrolet, completed the top five.
The finish:
Showing driver, car, laps completed and money won: 1. Gary St. Amant, Chevrolet, 200, $10,400; 2. Matt Carter, Ford, 200, $7,000; 3. Shane Wallace, Ford, 200, $5,000; 4. Ben Stancill, Ford, 200, $5,000; 5. Danny Jackson, Chevrolet, 200, $3,000; 6. Sam Fullone, Chevrolet, 200, $3,100; 7. Jody Lavender, Ford, 200, $2,850; 8. Jeff Fultz, Ford, 200, $2,400; 9. Jim Crabtree, Jr., Chevrolet, 200, $2,300; 10. Benny Gordon, Ford, 199, $4,450; 11. Derek Kale, Chevrolet, 196, $2,400; 12. Ryan Duff, Chrevrolet, 190, $2,000; 13. Ronnie Souders, Pontiac, 190, $2,400; 14. A.J. Frank, Chevrolet, 183, $1,800; 15. Jack Bailey, Chevrolet, 183, $2,400; 16. Brandon Ward, Ford, 176, $2,500; 17. Joe Harrison, Jr., Chevrolet, 175; $1,800; 18. Clay Rogers, Ford, $174, $1,600; 19. Tim Bainey, Jr., Ford, 159, $1,800; 20. Michael Kidd, Pontiac, 156, $1,600; 21. Brian Silas, Ford, 151, $1,400; 22. Jef Agnew, Ford, 144, $1,400; 23. Ray Love, Jr., Chevrolet, 127, $1,400; 24. J.D. Leonard, Chevrolet, 125, $1,400; 25. Johnny Rumley, Ford, 102, $1,400; 26. Neil Gacom, Chevrolet, 100, $1,200; 27. Allen Purkhiser, Ford, 61, $1,200; 28. Rick Markle, Pontiac, 60, $1,200; 29. Danny Abold, Chevrolet, 30, $1,200; 30. Brian Scott, Ford, 27, $1,200; 31. Tim Kerr, Chevrolet, 26, $1,200; 32. Mike Hampton, Ford, 23, $1,200; 33. Mike Garvey, Ford, 21, $1,200; 34. Sean Sauer, Chevrolet, 13, $1,200; 35. Tara Gess, Ford, 3, $1,200.