ATLANTA, GA :: The World Crown 300 at Gresham Motorsports Park served as a sort of Separation Saturday as far as the Southern Super Series championship standings were concerned.
Entering the race, the top five in the standings were all separated by just 45 points but many of the contenders were caught up in costly accidents during the second extra-distance race of the season. Each of the top-5 were caught up in crashes but those who wrecked earlier were the most penalized.
Donnie Wilson entered the event third in the standings and 40 points behind Bubba Pollard. On lap 130, Wilson was turned into the Turn 1 outside retaining wall by Brian Hoar and finished 19. This dropped him to fifth and 92 points behind Pollard.
Anderson Bowen was caught up in the multi-car accident on lap 176 and the damaged he received ended his night. He finished 15th and gained a spot over Wilson but dropped to 74 points behind Pollard.
Augie Grill was the dominant force of the World Crown 300 on Saturday leading 200 laps but crashed hard into the Turn 3 wall on lap 247. He still finished 10th due to all of the attrition and advanced to third in the standings but 55 points behind Pollard.
As for Pollard, he qualified on the outside pole but also crashed in the closing stages, finishing sixth in the World Crown 300. That allowed him to extend his championship lead by one digit — leading defending champion Daniel Hemric by 26 points — entering the Alabama 200 at Montgomery Motor Speedway on Sept. 6.
2012 PASS South champion Kyle Grissom finished second in the race but remains sixth in the standings and 127 points out of the lead. A maximum of 115 points can be gained per race. The race winner receives 100 points while the pole-sitter receives 15 for a max of 115 combined.
The Southern Super Series championship standings with three races remaining can be viewed below.
- Bubba Pollard Ldr.
- Daniel Hemric -26
- Augie Grill -55
- Anderson Bowen -74
- Donnie Wilson -92
- Kyle Grissom -127
