CONCORD, N.C. – Dawson Cram led Tuesday night’s Bojangles’ Summer Shootout winners at Charlotte Motor Speedway after a stirring performance saw him lead all 25 laps for his first Pro division victory at the 10-race summer series.
Cram, who moved up to the top class in 2016, got the upper hand after a two-invert moved him from the outside to the inside of the front row and never looked back when the green flag waved. He charged to the lead over Hudson Halder and held it all the way to the finish in a caution-free 25-lap feature.
“This has been a long time coming. Farbo Motorsports gives me a great car week in and week out and it’s nice to finally get a win,” Cram said. “That invert putting us on the bottom was exactly what we needed, and I was just hoping for no cautions after we got out in front. I knew we could hold on.
“This is a really special night,” Cram continued. “After racing a car prepared by my dad for so long … it was a bit of a leap of faith to go and do something different this year, but that change has all worked out for the better for all of us. I couldn’t be happier about this one tonight.”
Halder ran second to Cram all the way, with points leader Sam Mayer, Joey Padgett and Garrett Manes completing the top five.
Other Legend Car winners during the fifth race of the series included Carl Cormier (Masters), Gracie Trotter (Semi-Pro) and Jak Crawford (Young Lions).
Cormier came calling late after contact between Mark Green and points leader Robby Faggart saw Green sustain damage and lose the handle on his No. 20 in the closing laps of the 25-lap Masters division feature. Cormier finally made the winning pass entering turn three with four laps to go.
“I’m really very lucky,” Cormier said. “I was going to be patient. I kind of stayed back. I saw Green’s car get a little bit of damage and it was affecting his handle. The key was to just take advantage when he slipped. Last week, we had a great car and we made a mistake we shouldn’t have made. This week, we didn’t have that.”
Green hung on to finish second, but noted a bizarre occurrence allowed Cormier to pounce.
“In all my years of racing here, I’ve never had this happen. We run third gear here … and going into three, the car didn’t slow down and I realized it had jumped into fourth gear,” Green explained. “It’s been a year of firsts for me this summer. I’m just hopeful we can put it behind us next week and come back stronger.”
Faggart, Jon Craig and Jan Ingram were third through fifth, respectively.
Trotter topped a thrilling back-and-forth battle with Sammy Smith for the Semi-Pro win. After Smith took command of the field with 10 laps in the books and dominated the middle stint, Trotter found her way to second with nine laps remaining and proceeded to trade bump-and-runs with Smith for the lead.
The orange-and-white No. 11 finally moved in front for good with six to go and never trailed after that.
“It was really exciting,” Trotter said. “I got hit early on and I thought the front was knocked in, but it actually started handling better. It feels great to win.”
Class points leader D.J. Canipe ended up second, ahead of Smith, early leader Tristen Love and Dustin Rumley.
Jak Crawford made his season debut at the Shootout a winning one, passing Austin Macdonald for the lead on the seventh round and going on to his second-career win in the Young Lions class.
“It feels good to win here,” Crawford said. “The car ran really good. We’ve been working for this for the past six months.”
A last-lap crash between Macdonald and Tommy Good for the runner-up spot saw Isaak Love come through to finish second, ahead of Bryson Ruff, Ryan Rackley and Jason Alder.
Garin Mash (Outlaws), Zack Miracle (Bandits) and Alex Meggs (Beginner Bandolero) each won Bandolero features on Tuesday night.