LAKEVILLE, Conn. — The largest Monday crowd in recent Lime Rock Park history gathered on Spectator Hill as Justin Marks won the Trans-Am Memorial Day Classic at the historic road course.
Marks, who co-owns the Trackhouse Racing NASCAR operation, dominated the finale, finishing the race nearly 10 seconds ahead of second-place finisher and local fan favorite Chris Dyson.
Pole-starter Matt Brabham rounded out the podium in third for Dyson Racing.
After struggling in practice on Saturday with engine issues, which required an overnight change, Marks only turned two qualifying laps in Monday morning’s qualifying after breaking a rotor.
The NASCAR team owner started the race from seventh and quickly charged to the front field, gapping frontrunners Chris Dyson and Matt Brabham. An incident under the Bailey Bridge brought out the red flag and grouped the cars back up.Â
Though Dyson was quick off the restart, Dyson’s championship-winning Mustang was no match for Marks’ Camaro. Marks’ victory ended Dyson Racing’s five-race win streak, it also ended Dyson’s three-race win streak at Lime Rock Park.Â
“The cars were fast and I utilized lapped traffic to try and get by them,” said Marks. “I am just really proud of my team for this win at Lime Rock. I love racing at Lime Rock Park because it is in a great part of the country, it has a lot of history, it’s a very physical race track so it’s a challenge and the laps just go so quickly, it’s one of those tracks where you can find a real rhythm and flow pretty easily.”