Fall-Line Motorsports drivers Mark Boden and Bryan Sellers backed up their win at Watkins Glen when they kissed Indy’s yard of bricks after winning the Brickyard Sports Car Challenge race at Indianapolis Motor Speedway on July 26th. It was the second win in a row for their #46 BMW M3 in the 2013 Continental Tire Sports Car Challenge. Jack Roush Jr. and Billy Johnson were runners up with their ROUSH Performance Mustang BOSS 302R at the historic Midwest racetrack.

Grand-Am’s second visit to Indy’s 2.6-mile road course was a highlight on the 2013 Grand-Am Continental Tire Sports Car Challenge schedule. Held as an opening act of the “Super Weekend at the Brickyard,” which included NASCAR events on Saturday and Sunday, this year’s Grand-Am portion of the event featured Grand-Am practice and qualifying on Thursday, with the race on Friday.

Green flag at Indianapolis! Pole-sitter Jade Buford leads the field to turn one.

After their spectacular crash during the Watkins Glen race totaled the #61 ROUSH Performance Mustang Boss 302R’s chassis, Billy Johnson and Jack Roush Jr. arrived at Indy with a freshly-built Mustang and set the quickest time in the first practice session. Fastest in the second session were Al Carter and Hugh Plumb in the #45 Fall-Line Motorsports BMW M3, with the fastest Mustang being the #51 ROUSH Performance Mustang BOSS 302R driven by Shelby Blackstock and Joey Atterbury.

In qualifying, Jade Buford qualified his #55 Mulitimatic Motosports Aston Martin Vantage on pole for the fifth time this season, tying the record set by Joe Foster in 2011. Surprisingly, Burford’s dominant qualification performances have yet to yield a podium finish. The championship-leading #13 Rum Bum Racing Porsche qualified 7th with Nich Longhi behind the wheel.

The #51 of Joey Atterbury and Shelby Blackstock leads their sister #61 ROUSH Performance Mustang BOSS 302R through the infield road course at Indianapolis. The 2.6-mile course utilizes the oval’s turn one and front straight.

Mother nature continued to be kind to the racers and fans on Friday, as she brought mostly sunny skies and a 77-degree temperature for the start of the race. After the drop of the green flag, Hugh Plumb in the #45 Fall-Line Motorsports BMW moved to the lead ahead of pole-sitter Jade Buford’s #55 Aston Martin. A few laps later, Buford relinquished second place to Matt Bell in the #9 Stevenson Motorsports Camaro. Sitting second in the championship standings, Bell and co-driver John Edwards hoped to gain ground in this race on championship-leading Matt Plumb and Nick Longhi’s #13 Porsche.

Thirteen minutes into the race, the race’s first full-course caution came out to clear a rear bumper cover from the track. Even though the required minimum 30 minutes of driving time to receive points hadn’t occurred, some teams elected to come into the pits and change drivers anyway, including Jim Click (#2 Mustang BOSS 302R) and Joel Janco (#05 Mustang BOSS 302R). When the race returned to green, Joey Atterbury had moved up to third in his #51 ROUSH Performance Mustang BOSS 302R, up two positions from his starting spot.

With 27 laps in the books, Aschenbach (#01 Camaro), started to close the gap between he and leader Hugh Plumb (#45 BMW). Nearly an hour into the race, the cars were getting close to needing fuel. Teams readied tires and fuel hoses while drivers donned helmets. 17-year-old Trent Hindman (#48 BMW) was the first of the front-runners to come down pit lane. He pitted from 4th, and handed over driving duties to 2010 series champion Charles Espenlaub, who rejoined the race 18th. One lap later leader Hugh Plumb pitted, and Al Carter got into the #45 BMW, along with the #46 BMW of Mark Boden, who swapped driving with Bryan Sellers.

Roger Miller and Ian James shared the Dempsey/Miller Racing Mustang BOSS 302R at Indy, shown here rounding turn 9 at Indianapolis.

A lap later a full-course caution came out, prompting those that hadn’t pitted to do so. This gave those that pitted BEFORE the caution a distinct advantage. Because the field was bunched up behind the pace car, those that pitted under yellow would lose more positions than those that pitted when the race was green.

The first of the benefactors of this strategy was Billy Johnson in the #61 ROUSH Performance Mustang BOSS 302R, who led Bryan Sellers (#46 BMW) and Al Carter (#45 BMW) when the race returned to green. With 65 minutes remaining, if the race stayed green to the end, the current leaders would be very close to running out of fuel!

But, the race was green for only one lap before another caution flag came out, but not before Bryan Sellers passed Billy Johnson for the lead. After Nick Mancuso’s #16 Aston Martin was retrieved from backing into the wall at turn 12, the race quickly went back to green. Sellers built up a 0.665-second lead on Johnson, who applied heavy pressure to Sellers, trying to force a mistake. Sellers maintained the lead even after two more cautions and subsequent restarts.

Jack Roush Jr. is shown here qualifying the #61 ROUSH Performance Mustang BOSS 302R 8th, from which he and co-driver Billy Johnson challenged for the lead before the race was cut short due to multiple caution flags.

The final caution came out with four minutes remaining in the race to retrieve cars that were battling for 2nd place in the ST class, which sealed the deal. The Brickyard Sports Car Challenge ended under caution with the #46 Fall-Line BMW of Bryan Sellers and Mark Boden taking the win. Billy Johnson and Jack Roush Jr. finished second in their #61 ROUSH Performance BOSS 302R, and Bill Auberlen and Paul Dalla Lana came home third in their #96 Turner Motorsport BMW.

In the championship standings, Rum Bum Racing extended their points lead when Nich Longhi and Matt Plumb finished 5th in their #13 Porsche—their closest competition in the points chase finished 20th after suffering heavy suspension damage when Edwards made contact with the #45 BMW.

Next up on the schedule is Road America in historic Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin. The track is a favorite of fans and drivers alike. The August 10th race is on a weekend with a combined Grand-Am and American LeMans Series event, two series that will be combined to form United Sports Car Racing in 2014, so it will be a historic weekend on many levels.

Will Rum Bum Racing, the defending series champions and race winners at Road America, revisit victory lane? Will Mark Boden and Bryan Sellers take their third consecutive checkered flag? We’ll find out in two weeks!

The #2 Jim Click Racing Mustang BOSS 302R heads out of the paddock to the pre-race fan walk prior to the Brickyard Sports Car Challenge. Driver Jim Click started the race 21st, and co-driver Mike McGovern finished 16th.

Joey Atterbury rounds turn six in his #51 ROUSH Performance Mustang BOSS 302R after the race’s mid-point. He and co-driver Shelby Blackstock finished the race 6th after starting 5th.

Billy Johnson and the #61 ROUSH Performance Mustang BOSS 302R pressures Bryan Sellers in the #46 Fall-Line BMW during the closing laps of the race in front of the fans on the grassy mounds surrounding the infield road course at Indianapolis.

To the winners go the spoils! Brian Sellers and Mark Boden celebrated their victory, Billy Johnson and Jack Roush Jr. savored second, and Bill Auberlen and Paul Dalla Lana took third.