Casey Johnson did not cross the finish line first on Tuesday night but he was declared the winner of the Dixieland 250 at Wisconsin International Raceway an hour after the fact.
Kyle Busch was flagged the winner of the event but was deemed too light before a thorough post-race inspection could even take place. As a result, Johnson scored his first victory in the ARCA Midwest Tour and collected the $10,000 check that accompanied it.
Johnson was closing in on Busch during the final laps but couldn’t capitalize when he caught a caution with seven laps to go. Midwest Tour rules state that all restarts within 10 laps remaining are conducted in a single-file manner. That allowed Busch to surge ahead on the final restart with seven laps to go, but it was ultimately taken away.
“I’m still speechless,” Johnson said after being declared the winner. “I am definitely surprised to jump in a car that I have never seen before, I raced against it a couple of times, but it’s great equipment and a heck of an opportunity to drive and we were able to come away with one.”
Johnson said that the deal for him to drive the No. 5 — normally driven by Rich Schuman Jr. — was cut around 4 p.m. on Monday.
“I definitely have mixed emotions,” Johnson said. “This would have been the second time I finished second in this race (after finishing second to Nick Murgic in 2015), and in the Midwest, this is one of the premiere events and to fall short, you have an entire year to think about it and try it again.
“I saw (Busch) roll over the scale three times and just wondered if anyone was going to come over and talk to me. We were parked next to Busch’s car and we had our car on jack stands and tear some things apart, and they just couldn’t get him off the scales after Ty (Majeski) and I have already been through them. Then the officials came over with the big check in hand and said congratulations. That was pretty neat.”
Busch was dominant and led 137 laps en route to what the thought was his first Super Late Model victory since the 2014 CRA Super Series portion of the Kalamazoo Klash.
Instead, the drought will continue.
Busch controlled the event from the moment he walked through the gates, placing his Kyle Busch Motorsports No. 51 on the pole. An invert forced him to start eighth but he captured the lead by Lap 96. The 2015 NASCAR Cup Series champion only lost it once due to pitting on a different tire cycle.
He regained the lead on Lap 144 and held it through the end.
There was a caution with seven laps to go, that allowed Johnson to make up a 1.2 second gap, but ARCA Midwest Tour rules state that all restarts are single-file with less than 10 laps to go. Busch took the checkered flag under caution when a crash took place on the white flag lap.
The official results for the race can be viewed below.
- Casey Johnson
- Ty Majeski
- Paul Shafer
- Jeff Van Oudenhoven
- Dennis Prunty
- Chris Weinkauf
- Cardell Potter
- Dalton Zehr
- Bobby Kendall
- Jason Weinkauf
- Travis Sauter
- Matt Kocourek
- Austin Nason
- Dan Fredrickson
- Travis Braden
- Jacob Goede
- Corey Kemkes
- John DeAngelis Jr.
- Brandon Reichenberger
- Jonathan Eilen
- Travis Dassow
- Braison Bennett
- Ricky Baker
- Nick Murgic
- Michael Ostdiek
- Kyle Calmes
- Andrew Morrissey
- Derek Kraus
- Justin Mondeik
- Kyle Busch
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Matt Weaver is the owner and founder of Short Track Scene. Weaver grew up in the sport, having raced himself before becoming a reporter in college at the University of South Alabama. He also has extensive experience covering NASCAR, IndyCar and Dirt Sprint Cars.