Photo – Kirk Irwin/Getty Images
Sergio Pena found a familiar place after Saturday’s JEGS 150 at Columbus Motor Speedway. It was victory lane for the first time in three years.
Pena took the lead after a lap 119 restart from Turner Scott Motorsports (TSM) driver Cameron Hayley and remained out front the rest of the night.
This is Rev Racing’s third win on the season and Pena’s first since Greenville-Pickens Speedway in September 2011.
Pole-sitter Heckert’s car dominated by leading the first 56 laps and putting some distance on the field as he was looking for his first victory.
Hayley then snatched the lead from Ross Chastain after a restart and led for a while and, like Heckert, also trying to win his first K&N East race.
Heckert started to put pressure on Hayley and while trying to go back into the race lead, Hayley made contact with the No. 34 car and sent Heckert spinning.
Hayley then assumed the lead, before losing it to Pena and had to settle for a second-place finish. Heckert came back from a lap down to come home tenth.
Their TSM teammate and current points leader Ben Rhodes finished third with Loudon winner Jesse Little and Ryan Gifford rounding out the top five. Kaz Grala finished eighth for his third consecutive top-ten finish.
Defending race winner Daniel Suarez didn’t compete in the race as he decided to run the NASCAR Mexico Toyota Series race instead Saturday, a series in which he leads the points. Gifford drove the No. 6 car instead of his regular No. 2 car at Columbus.
Rev Racing has won three of the last four K&N East races at Columbus Speedway, with Darrell Wallace, Jr. in 2011 and Suarez in 2013.
Pena becomes the sixth different winner in 11 races on the season.
Ben Rhodes has a 62-point lead over his teammate Cameron Hayley with Gray Gaulding in third as the series heads to Iowa Speedway for a battle with the K&N West drivers on August 1.
The JEGS 150 will broadcast on Sunday, July 27 at 10 a.m. ET on FOX Sports 1.
JEGS 150 Top-Ten
#4 Sergio Pena
#98 Cameron Hayley
#41 Ben Rhodes
#97 Jesse Little
#6 Ryan Gifford
#1 Ross Chastain
#15 Nick Drake
#31 Kaz Grala
#24 Brennan Newberry
#34 Scott Heckert