New Jersey’s Adam Cabot needed a win to advance to the Monday Night Racing Rowdy Energy Pro Series Playoffs, and in the closing laps of the Big Green Egg 120 at Chicagoland Speedway, he was in the catbird seat and he stayed perfect as chaos ensued over the closing 20 laps of the event.
“It’s incredible,” Cabot said of the win. “How about that timing too? To get that momentum coming into the Playoffs here. I got spoiled with that win back in May, because I thought — I was hoping I would be racking them up. Turns out, it’s damn hard to win a race in this league.”
Cabot took the race win in a green-white-checkered finish over Rajah Caruth and David Schildhouse, who had an impassioned battle for the runner-up spot on the final lap of the race.
For Caruth, the runner-up finish gave him exactly what he needed point-wise to make the Playoffs, as he edged Justin Melillo out by one point for the final Playoff berth.
Schildhouse’s third-place finish secured the regular season championship for the driver of the No. 20 TobyChristie.com Chevrolet Camaro.
Anthony Alfredo finished fourth and Gary Sexton, who was in the mix for the win over a series of late-race restarts faded to fifth after contact with Schildhouse on the final lap.
Cabot staked claim to a Playoff berth with his clutch win in the regular season finale of the Monday Night Racing Rowdy Energy Pro Series Season 4.
With 20 laps to go in the race, two-time NASCAR Cup Series champion Kyle Busch looked like he was going to try to steal a win as he stayed out on old tires. But the thrash of cautions late, ruined any hope Busch had at snagging the win.
In the end, Busch would be involved in more incidents and would come home 26th, three laps off the pace. Busch, by virtue of a win earlier in the season, will advance to the Playoffs.
Ryan Vargas, like Busch, suffered a rough finish, despite having a very fast car throughout the night. Vargas ended the night 29th and out of the race after a late race crash.
V8 Supercars champion Shane Van Gisbergen, who won last week’s race at virtual Michigan, obliterated Brad Perez late in the race and received an End of Line penalty for his troubles. Van Gisbergen would be involved in another hard wreck later in the race and would DNF in 30th.
The Playoff field will consist of: David Schildhouse (2 wins), Collin Fern (1 win), Cabot (1 win), Kyle Busch (1 win), Ryan Vargas (1 win), Garrett Smithley (1 win), Will Rodgers (+45 points), Max Kennon (+27 points), Preston Pardus (+5 points) and Rajah Caruth (+1 points).
Justin Melillo narrowly missed out on a Playoff berth, as he failed to advance to the post-season championship battle by one point.
Robby Lyons was four points short, Ford Martin came up nine points behind Caruth and James Bickford was just 10 points from the Playoffs.
If you missed the race, and would like to watch it in it’s entirety, the race is available on Podium eSports:
Here are the final race results for the Big Green Egg 120 at Chicagoland:
| Fin | St | Car | Driver | Behind |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 7 | 17 | Adam Cabot | - |
| 2 | 1 | 44 | Rajah Caruth | -0.739 sec. |
| 3 | 11 | 20 | David Schildhouse | -0.835 sec. |
| 4 | 2 | 5 | Anthony Alfredo | -1.006 sec. |
| 5 | 9 | 13 | Gary Sexton | -1.128 sec. |
| 6 | 22 | 19 | Robby Lyons | -1.242 sec. |
| 7 | 12 | 24 | Will Rodgers | -1.316 sec. |
| 8 | 19 | 50 | Gabe Wood | -1.770 sec. |
| 9 | 13 | 53 | Justin Melillo | -1.835 sec. |
| 10 | 14 | 21 | Max Kennon | -1.935 sec. |
| 11 | 17 | 12 | Brandon Brown | -2.279 sec. |
| 12 | 34 | 91 | Cole Irvin | -2.645 sec. |
| 13 | 32 | 29 | James Bickford | -3.285 sec. |
| 14 | 4 | 42 | Preston Pardus | -3.347 sec. |
| 15 | 28 | 99 | Mark Rebilas | -3.600 sec. |
| 16 | 30 | 11 | Steve Auffant | -4.268 sec. |
| 17 | 20 | 41 | Matt Stallknecht | -4.886 sec. |
| 18 | 21 | 57 | Seth Eggert | -5.124 sec. |
| 19 | 8 | 86 | Collin Fern | -5.843 sec. |
| 20 | 15 | 07 | Ford Martin | -6.312 sec. |
| 21 | 29 | 28 | Ron Capps | -6.755 sec. |
| 22 | 6 | 52 | Garrett Smithley | -7.865 sec. |
| 23 | 24 | 46 | Steven Ellis | -16.713 sec. |
| 24 | 25 | 84 | Kase Kallenbach | -24.696 sec. |
| 25 | 27 | 27 | Michael Massie | -4 laps |
| 26 | 3 | 6 | Ryan Vargas | -6 laps |
| 27 | 26 | 4 | Brett Baldeck | -6 laps |
| 28 | 23 | 51 | Kyle Busch | -6 laps |
| 29 | 31 | 97 | Shane Van Gisbergen | -6 laps |
| 30 | 10 | 60 | Brad Perez | -9 laps |
| 31 | 16 | 25 | Stefan Wilson | -10 laps |
| 32 | 18 | 1 | Joshua Slate | -11 laps |
| 33 | 33 | 64 | Drew Welker | -68 laps |
| 34 | 5 | 2 | TJ Majors | -92 laps |
| 35 | 35 | 33 | Jason Keffer | -125 laps |
