Lucas Oil Raceway Site of Improbable David Vs. Goliath Battle in 2015

Everyone loves a good underdog story.

From Walter Mathau coaching the fictional Bad News Bears to a little league championship to Alan Kulwicki’s improbable run to the 1992 NASCAR Cup Series championship, it seems like everyone pulls for David any time he goes to battle against Goliath.

The ARCA Menards Series has been home to many underdog stories over the years. Small teams. Unknown drivers. Improbable victories.

None of those stories was more improbable than the 2015 visit to Lucas Oil Raceway.

That season had been dominated by Grant Enfinger, who would go on to the series championship driving for GMS Racing, and the likes of Cunningham Motorsports and Ken Schrader Racing. Enfinger opened the season with three consecutive wins, while Cunningham had earned a trio of wins with back-to-back-to-back victories by youngsters Blake Jones at Talladega, Todd Gilliland at Toledo, and Kyle Weatherman at New Jersey Motorsports Park. Schrader’s team also had a pair of wins, one with him behind the wheel at Salem and the other with Ross Kenseth at Michigan.

By the time the series hit suburban Indianapolis in late July for the seventh short track race of the season. there had been ten different winners in the 13 total races that had been run. Enfinger was the only driver with multiple wins.

It looked like the series would see its eleventh different winner as newcomer William Byron, who started second in a Venturini Motorsports Toyota, passed Weatherman for the lead on lap 51. Over the next 35 laps, he would trade the lead with another hot young prospect, Brandon Jones. By lap 86 though, Byron was back up front where he would stay for the next 94 laps.

He looked like a sure winner.

On lap 75, under the second caution of the day, most of the lead lap cars came down and pitted for four tires. They would have two tires left for their final pit stop, which Byron made under the fourth and final caution of the day at lap 115. Byron’s car was so good he looked untouchable as he drove to a comfortable lead as the laps wound down.

Almost unnoticed on the lap 75 caution was the driver who picked up the free pass to rejoin the tail of the lead lap. Travis Braden, a college student in just his first series start for a small family-owned team, tagged the back of the pack after taking two tires. His crew chief, veteran Matt Weber, made an adjustment to help the handling and hoped they’d get another caution later to change all four tires.

When that caution waved at lap 115 and the rest of the lead lap cars took their two tires, Braden took four. It took 70 laps, but Braden was able to work his way through traffic and eat away at Byron’s sizable advantage. With laps winding down and lapped traffic ahead, Braden caught Byron and slipped underneath to take the lead. Byron couldn’t keep up with older rubber and Braden drove off to a 3.1 second win.

Braden’s family-owned team, with enough of a budget to run just one race, had gone to battle against one of the most powerful organizations in the series and came out victorious.

“He’s a genius,” Braden said about Weber in victory lane. “I was questioning him. I was thinking ‘you’re an idiot’. I did’t say that but I was thinking it. I can’t believe what we just did.”

A two-time champion of the ARCA/CRA Super Series, Braden is now a full-time driver in the ARCA Menards Series driving the No. 27 MatrixCare/Consonus Health Care/Liberty Village Ford for Don Fike’s RFMS Racing team, based just down the road from Lucas Oil Raceway. Ironically, Fike’s car – then piloted by A.J. Fike – was the car that helped hold up Byron in traffic as Braden was chasing him down and allowed him to take the lead.

Braden ran a full season for the team in 2018, finishing fifth in the final championship standings. With two races remaining in the 2019 season, Braden sits fourth in the standings with a 140-point advantage over fifth-place Joe Graf, Jr.

“It was great to get our first win there back in 2015 with our family-owned team,” Braden said. “I’m looking forward to getting back to Lucas Oil Raceway with RFMS Racing. We’re going to give it our best shot to get another win at our team’s home track.”

The ARCA Menards Series will take two weekends off before returning to action on Saturday October 5 with the Herr’s Potato Chips 200 at Lucas Oil Raceway. Practice starts the day’s activities at 2 pm ET, with General Tire Pole Qualifying at 5 pm ET. The 200-lap main event, scheduled for live broadcast MAVTV, will go green shortly after 8 pm ET. ARCA for Me members can access live timing & scoring, live chat, and live track updates at ARCARacing.com. New users can register for free with a valid email address at ARCARacing.com/login. Discounted adult general admission tickets are available through October 4 at Indianapolis-area Menards locations for just $20. For more information, please visit TrackEnterprises.com.