Joe Graf, Jr. nudged two drivers out of the way on the final two green flag laps to score his first career ARCA Racing Series victory Saturday night at Berlin Raceway in Marne, Michigan.
Graf edged Zane Smith at the finish by 0.041 seconds- or about three feet.
Graf had to work his way past Jasper, Georgia’s Chandler Smith, who himself had recovered from a spin while battling for the third position at lap 141.
Chander Smith pitted for right side tires and quickly knifed his way through the field to take the lead from Christian Eckes on lap 163. From there, he led until lap 200 when he was nudged out of the way coming to what should have been the checkered flag, but starter Denise Engle instead waved the caution flag setting up a one lap dash to the finish.
Chander Smith would go on to finish seventh.
On the final restart at lap 206, Graf led the field to the green but spun his tires, which allowed Zane Smith and Travis Braden to move around. But heading into turn three, Graf dove to the bottom side of the track and made contact with Zane Smith, moving him up the track and allowing Graf to take the win at the stripe.
“I can’t thank my guys at Chad Bryant Motorsports enough,” Graf said in victory lane. “We were a little off the first half of the race. We made some adjustments and got the lucky dog twice and we were there at the end. I believe we should have won a couple of them by now. I spun the tires on the restart but it’s every man for himself on the last lap.”
“I didn’t mean to get into the 20 (Chandler Smith) coming to the checkered the first time,” he said. “I wanted to get to him and move him and I got into him a little too hard. No one was driving into turn three at the end harder than I was.”
For his part, Zane Smith was frustrated with what he saw on the final lap.
“I can’t believe it,” a disappointed Smith said after he climbed from his car. “I wasn’t even the first one he did that to,” he said as he pointed to the damage on the left side of his car.”
Braden finished third, with Carson Hocevar in fourth and Gus Dean in fifth.
ARCA Racing Series
Berlin Raceway – Marne MI
Primera Plastics 200 – August 25, 2018
1. Joe Graf, Jr.
2. Zane Smith
3. Travis Braden
4. Carson Hocevar
5. Gus Dean
6. Sheldon Creed
7. Chandler Smith
8. Chase Purdy
9. Riley Herbst
10. Natalie Decker
11. Christian Eckes
12. Bret Holmes
13. Tyler Hill
14. Mike Basham
15. Scott Melton
16. Brad Smith
17. Dick Doheny
18. Con Nicolopoulos
