Barnes Charges From 25th Again, Wins Las Vegas for Third Straight A-Open Victory

Christian Barnes started 25th at Kansas Speedway last week and won. On Sunday night at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, he started 25th again and did it one more time.

Barnes drove the No. 27 Ford from the back half of the field to the front, led a race-high 66 laps and fought off Dallas Manus over a frantic final run to win by 1.047 seconds. Shawn Hook finished third and Zack Domer fourth.

It was Barnes's fourth A-Open win of the season and his third in a row, after Bristol Motor Speedway and Kansas. His other win this season came at Auto Club Speedway in August.

Breland sets the early pace

Ronald Breland put the No. 11 Toyota on the pole and led every lap of the opening run, 42 in all. The race was only a few laps old when a crash on the frontstretch collected several cars. Gregory Vadnais and Gerrad Essenberg were finished after four and five laps, and Chasen McCook and John Williams were also caught up in it.

Barnes made the most of the early caution. He had already climbed to 15th by the restart, then went around the outside of Adam Ramsey and was running inside the top 10 before the first round of green-flag stops.

Hook had been chipping away at Breland's lead and was the first of the front-runners to pit. Breland's night came apart during that cycle. He fell off the lead lap and never got back into contention.

Barnes takes over

When the stops shook out, Hook had the lead on the freshest tires. Barnes worked past Manus for second and then went after the No. 88. The two leaders came up on Jason Trocki's lapped car, ran side by side through the traffic and Barnes came out in front.

Hook then switched to a different plan. He pitted again after a short run, aiming to split the race into three stints of about 30 laps.

"I knew I had to do something different. I wasn't very good on the long run," Hook said. "I knew I had to do something different to try to win the race, and that was kind of my only play."

Barnes made his second stop on schedule, and Chris Etchepare, who was running a different pit sequence, inherited the lead. Etchepare led seven laps before Trocki hit the inside wall hard on the backstretch and brought out the caution. Barnes, already on fresh tires, stayed on track and took back the lead while the rest of the leaders pitted. Etchepare came off pit road second and restarted on the front row.

Three restarts

The final 30 laps were decided on restarts. Barnes pulled away from Etchepare on the first one. A few laps later, Robert T Burke spun on the backstretch, and Gary May, Jacob Loesch and Izaak Treece all hit the wall in the scramble behind him. The leaders pitted one last time. Breland, still laps down, was then wrecked in contact with McCook, setting up one more restart with 18 laps to go.

Barnes got another strong jump. Manus moved into second, and Domer and Hook raced side by side for third. Etchepare dove to the apron underneath Domer, but Domer held his ground and Etchepare fell back.

Inside the final 15 laps, Manus finally got by. He took the lead from Barnes and led three laps. It was the only time anyone passed Barnes for the lead on track after he first took it. Barnes answered on the high side, pulled even and cleared the No. 35. Manus slid into the wall and dropped to third behind Hook.

"I almost kind of gave it away to the 35. He got to me," Barnes said. "I gave him the bottom thinking the high side would give me more momentum, but I just got tight high. Once I got back by him, I just stuck to the bottom."

Manus recovered to take second back from Hook in the closing laps, but Barnes was gone.

"Definitely stings. I feel like I gave that one away," Manus said. "I worked all race to kind of buy my time and then finally had it at the end and let it slip away."

Second place matched Manus's best A-Open finish and was his fourth straight top five. He is still looking for his first win.

Behind the leaders

Domer finished fourth after starting second. William VanAlstyne was fifth from 14th on the grid, and Etchepare finished sixth after starting 23rd. Scott C Matthews took seventh. Treece recovered from his trip into the wall to finish eighth from 24th. Michael L Patrick came from 26th to ninth, and Joe Konen gained 10 spots to round out the top 10.

Only 12 cars finished on the lead lap. Joseph Essenberg was 11th, and Jim Treat finished 12th after starting third. Breland was classified 19th, 22 laps down. Ramsey started fifth and was classified 23rd after disconnecting with 90 laps complete.

The A-Open Series heads to Charlotte Motor Speedway on October 18.