| Mikey Kile Takes Lucas Oil 200 | Last-lap bump, pass puts rookie in Salem Speedway Victory Lane
Salem, Ind.—How wild was the finish of the Lucas Oil 200 presented by Touchstone
Energy at Salem Speedway? Well, consider this, Benny Gordon was running third
and figured he was in the right place on a restart with four laps remaining.
“I really thought they were going to wreck each other and I was going to get a
win,” said Gordon.
Gordon was referring to leader Allen Purkhiser and rookie Mikey Kile, who were
both searching for their first Hooters Pro Cup wins and leaving nothing on the
table.
Gordon premonition proved incorrect, but just barely.
With two laps to go, Purkhiser carried the lead into Turn 1 before slipping up
the track, allowing Kile to close within a car length. On the final lap, Kile
closed enough to nudge Purkhiser up the track in Turn 2, slid past and inched
away from Purkhiser to win his first Pro Cup event in his fifth start.
“There was a lot of give and take, and a lot of good racing between us,” Kile
said of his battle with Purkhiser. “I didn’t want to get into him, but I was
fighting for the win. I would’ve expected the same out of him.”
Though the last lap battle went into overtime as the two bounced off each other
the entire cool-down lap, Purkhiser agreed.
“That was just hard racing,” said Purkhiser, driver of the No. 68n Bill Ellis
Barbeque Ford. “If I was in his position, I would have done the same thing.”
Purkhiser actually did the same thing on Lap 174. After catching Kile for the
lead, Purkhiser bumped Kile high, moved to the point with 25 laps remaining and
began to pull away from the field. But the late-race caution on Lap 194 changed
that.
“It was good thing for us that we got that last caution, or I wouldn’t have
caught him,” said Kile, who took home $11,800 for the win. “I was able to cool
the tires off and make run at him. It looked like his car got a little tight on
the restart and I was able to get under him, then it was drag race down to Turn
3.”
Purkhiser tried to close on Kile in the final turn, but he came up .170 seconds
shy of his first Pro Cup win.
Benny Gordon, driver of the No. 66n Samuel Metals Ford, held onto finish third.
Gary St. Amant and Mike Hampton completed the top five.
The Lucas Oil 200 featured eight lead changes among five drivers and was slowed
eight times for 46 laps of caution.
Unofficial Results
1. Mikey Kile
2. Allen Purkhiser
3. Benny Gordon
4. Gary St. Amant
5. Mike Hampton
6. Brandon Ward
7. Travis Miller
8. Tyler Young
9. Tim Bainey Jr.
10. Ray Love Jr.
11. Danny Jackson
12. Michael Kidd
13. Matt Merrell
14. Jeff Agnew
15. A.J. Frank
16. Brett Butler
17. Derek Kale
18. Derrick Kelley
19. Ronnie Souders
20. Tim Kerr
21. Sam Fullone
22. Joe Harrison Jr.
23. Jay Fogleman
24. Jason Sarvis
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