Jake Nichols Captures Season 4 AREA Cup Series Championship

Jake Nichols (#73) racing in front of James Scioly (#7) at Homestead-Miami Speedway for the Season 4 finale of the AREA Cup Series.

Monday night saw the return of AREA Cup Series action at the 1.5 Homestead Miami Speedway, in a back and forth battle between championship contenders James Scioly and Jake Nichols.

In the early stages, it was the #7 Lucky Ducks Motorsports Chevy Camero of James Scioly leading the way with the #73 Solar Flare Racing Chevy Camero of Jake Nichols not too far behind. The other two championship contenders flexed their muscles that led them into the Championship 4, with the #1 Miller Racing Toyota Camry of Seth Noell and the #26 Chevy Camero of JT Poole overcoming their early obstacles to crack inside the Top 5.

Noell would nearly see his day come to an end on Lap 30 as the #71 Lucky Ducks Motorsports Chevy Camero of Douglas Newbigging would get loose, hit the apron, and careen his car across the track into the Turn 4 wall. He bounced off the wall and into the path of Seth Noell, skimming the right side of his car and somehow avoiding any serious damage.

James Scioly led at the halfway mark of the race by six car lengths over Jake Nichols in 2nd, JT Poole in 5th, and Seth Noell in 8th. Other drivers looking to spoil the fun for the Championship 4 were the #4 Fazekas Motorsports Ford Mustang of Cameron Hearn in 3rd, and the #42 609 Motorsports Chevy Camero of Conor Horn in 4th.

But with 57 laps to go, the caution would fly for a four car crash on the frontstretch, bringing the leaders onto pit road for the final stop of the night. James Scioly entered into his pit stall as the leader, but left his stall in 2nd as Jake Nichols screeched ahead of Scioly by just a bumper. The following restart would see the Championship 4 work their way into the Top 4 positions before the final caution flew with 47 laps to go.

On the final restart, Jake Nichols launched from the bottom lane, leaving James Scioly on the outside with Seth Noell jumping to his outside immediately and JT Poole on his inside, heading into Turn 1 three-wide for the 2nd position. Noell took control of 2nd and shortly took the lead with 41 to go, holding Jake Nichols for five laps before he resumed control of the lead with 36 to go.

With just 33 laps to go, Seth Noell and James Scioly were heading into Turn 3 side-by-side for the 2nd position as they made contact, sending Scioly’s car to the apron and holding on to both of their cars as they merged back into the other drivers fighting for the Top 5. This allowed Jake Nichols to pull out to a six car length lead that would shrink to three car lengths by James Scioly with 20 to go.

Nichols wouldn’t look back, as he would go on to win his 5th Cup race of the season and take home his third straight Cup Series Championship. James Scioly would come home 2nd in the race and Championship standings, with Seth Noell finishing 5th in the race and 3rd in the Championship standings, and JT Poole finishing 6th in the race and 4th in the Championship standings.