Jurkovic Holds Off Griffin and Elliott to Win Winchester 400

[Kyle]

With five laps to go Derrick Griffin and Chase Elliott were battling for the lead of the 40th Annual Winchester 400. Griffin lead, Elliott could pull down beside him but could not pass, then a spin on the backstretch brought out a caution, Griffin did not want. Elliott pitted for fresh tires, putting Boris Jurkovic in second. With only seven cars on the lead lap, Elliott did not have far to go to get to the front. Jurkovic took the lead on the restart and pulled ahead, only to have another caution on lap 398. Griffin pitted for tires as there were only five cars now on the lead lap. When the green flag dropped, Jurkovic took off, Elliott in second and Griffin few up to third. As they came to checkered out of the fourth turn, Griffin slipped past Elliott to take second.

"Who would have thought I would win after getting two laps down early. We suffered a left rear twisted tire, and the crew kept telling me to stay out and hang on to the caution, unfortunately I was the caution. " Jurkovic stated. "But we got back to the front with the lucky dogs. I can't thank my guys enough, Chris Gabehart gave me the setup, and the guys really worked hard."


Derrick Griffin became only the second CRA Rookie to win the CRA Super Series Championship. After staring the day three points ahead of Scott Hantz, Griffin raced to second, while Hantz had an oil line spring a leak and had to pit under green to fix it, falling eight laps down to finish 10th.

"This is something you dream about, but who believes you can win a Championship against these guys in your rookie year?" Griffin commented. "I just can't believe it, it is great, just great."