Brandon JonesBROOKLYN, Mich. (June 10, 2016) – Brandon Jones took advantage of his own really fast No. 8 Menards-Valvoline Chevrolet and Kyle Weatherman’s empty gas tank to win the 35th running of the Corrigan Oil 200 Friday afternoon at Michigan Int’l Speedway.

Late-race leader Weatherman gambled on fuel but ran well short when his No. 58 St. Charles Glass Ford ran dry four laps from the finish. From there, Jones cruised under the checkered flag more than six seconds ahead of his closest rival Chase Briscoe.

“I really wasn’t too worried about the 58,” Jones said. “I really didn’t know their game plan or what fuel cycle they were on, but I was definitely confident in our game plan. We had an awesome Menards-Valvoline Chevy all week. This is my first time being here at Michigan…pretty cool to get a win in ARCA’s backyard.”

It was Jones’ third career ARCA Racing Series presented by Menards victory and first for his team – Ranier Racing with MDM.

Briscoe’s second-place finish in the No. 77 Big Tine Ford padded his point lead after eight events.

“Great points day,” Briscoe said. “Obviously you want to win but big picture-wise we’re in a good place. Hopefully, we can take what we learned today and use it to our advantage at the next one. This is our best finish so far, but we want to win one for sure.”

Jones’ teammate Kyle Benjamin led one lap and finished third in the No. 28 FEVR Chevrolet.

“We had a really good car,” Benjamin said. “I’m proud of all the guys…we’ll get it better next time. This series is about getting experience and I feel like we did that today. I’d like to thank FEVR for coming on board this season. We’ll try and get ’em next time.”

With an empty tank, Weatherman lost two laps getting back to pit road, relegating the Wentzville, Missouri driver to 12th in the final running order.

“We knew we were way tight on fuel, but gambled it anyway,” Weatherman said. “That’s what you have to do sometimes to win. I’m really proud of all our guys…they battled through some issues and gave us a shot at the win.”

Briscoe led the first 30 laps from the outside front row starting position and pulled away by more than a second early on before Jones began to reel him in. Jones got to within a length of the leader before the first caution waved on lap 28. Both Briscoe and Jones came down pit road for service; however, Jones beat Briscoe off to take the lead.

Back under green, Jones and Briscoe continued to race for the lead and swapped the top spot on lap 37. Jones took it right back to lead the 38th lap. In clean air, Jones began to show his strength and pulled away.

“Our car was really tight behind the 77,” Jones added. “But once we got out of dirty air, it really freed the car up and we were able to drive off. General Tire brought another great tire today. There’s not much fall-off and it’s got really good grip. The composite body car was awesome. It gets a little tight behind other cars but that’s not uncommon. It’s definitely the way to go for sure. I’m so glad to be back in victory lane. We won in our first two ARCA starts, but it’s been a while.”

Jones only gave up the lead once more when he and Briscoe pitted under green for gas on the 79th lap. That handed the lead to Weatherman who chose to stay out. Weatherman led 17 laps up through lap 96 before he ran out of gas.

Travis Braden finished fourth in the No. 01 West Virginia University Chevrolet, the only steel bodied car to finish in the top-10. Matt Tifft, in the No. 15 Cometic Gasket Toyota, finished fifth, the last car on the lead lap. Brady Boswell, AJ Fike, Matt Kurzejewski, Dalton Sargeant and Shane Lee completed the top-10, respectively.

Just two cautions for minor incidents slowed the race for 15 laps.

The ARCA Racing Series presented by Menards heads next to Madison Int’l Speedway for the Montgomery Ward Father’s Day 200 next Sunday, June 19, live on the American Sports Network.

ARCA Contact: Don Radebaugh
dradebaugh@arcaracing.com

ARCA Racing Series presented by Menards
Michigan Int’l Speedway
Official Results, Corrigan Oil 200 (6-10-16)

FIN NO DRIVER/HOMETOWN LAPS STATUS
1 8 Brandon Jones/Atlanta GA 100 Running
2 77 Chase Briscoe/Mitchell IN 100 Running
3 28 Kyle Benjamin/Easley SC 100 Running
4 01 Travis Braden/Wheeling WV 100 Running
5 15 Matt Tifft/Hinckley OH 100 Running
6 98 Brady Boswell/Watkinsville GA 99 Running
7 27 A.J. Fike/Galesburg IL 99 Running
8 52 Matt Kurzejewski/Mansfield PA 99 Running
9 55 Dalton Sargeant/Boca Raton FL 99 Running
10 32 Shane Lee/Newton NC 99 Running
11 2 Sarah Cornett Ching/Summerland BC 99 Running
12 58 Kyle Weatherman/Wentzville MO 98 Running
13 51 Chad Finley/DeWitt MI 96 Running
14 9 Thomas Praytor/Mobile AL 95 Running
15 08 Nick Higdon/Big Clifty KY 94 Running
16 20 Tom Berte/New Berlin WI 92 Running
17 64 Morgen Baird/Jackson MI 90 Running
18 38 Sheldon Creed/Alpine CA 87 Out
19 48 Brad Smith/Shelby Township MI 86 Running
20 6 Josh Williams/Port Charlotte FL 69 Out
21 25 Tom Hessert/Cherry Hill NJ 58 Out
22 34 Michael Basham/Henryville IN 44 Out
23 22 Myatt Snider/Charlotte NC 38 Out
24 19 David Sear/LaJolla CA 38 Out
25 14 Dustin Knowles/Moody AL 26 Out
26 10 Dick Doheny/Ballston Spa NY 17 Out
27 0 Richard Hauck/Howell MI 13 Out
28 65 Jeffery MacZink/Brownstown MI 10 Out
29 36 Michael Lira/Port Orange FL 7 Out
30 23 Chris Bailey Jr./South Park PA 4 Out
31 06 Con Nicolopoulos/Columbus MI 3 Out
32 00 Wayne Peterson/Pulaski TN 2 Out
  42 Bo LeMastus/Louisville KY DNS  
  69 Will Kimmel/Sellersburg IN DNS