Lopez Bounces Back For 23rd Victory

Mexico Series Wins Leader Rolls At Aguascalientes

Official Release
October 18, 2015 - 5:37pm

Rogelio Lopez celebrates a dominating victory Sunday in the Desafio
Deportivo at Aguascalientes, Mexico. 
OCESA

AGUASCALIENTES, Mexico – Rogelio López got the win Sunday, but for his 2015 NASCAR Mexico Series championship hopes, it came one race too late.

Lopez won his series-record 23rd race in the Desafio Deportivo 240 at Autódromo Internacional de Aguascalientes, the second race of the five-race Desafio.

Lopez was eliminated from the playoff after a mechanical failure left him with a 17th-place finish in the Desafio opener on Oct. 4. He bounced back Sunday with a dominating effort in the No. 6 Akron/CTS Alpha Racing Ford that left just nine cars on the lead lap after taking the checkered flag on lap 171.

Hugo Oliveras followed in second, 3.874 seconds back, and Rubén Rovelo was third.

Rubén García Jr., who won at Chihuahua in the Desafio’s first race, maintained his points lead with a fourth-place finish at Aguascalientes. Garcia won the pole position earlier in the day. Rodrigo Peralta rounded out the top five.

Rogelio Lopez takes the checkered flag nearly four seconds in
front of the runner-up Sunday in winning at Aguascalientes. 

OCESA

Homero Richards, Rafael Martínez, Jorge Contreras Jr., Rubén Pardo and Antonio Pérez rounded out the top five.

García leads Rovelo by four points, while Irwin Vences (13th Sunday), Richards, Martinez, Peralta, Oliveras and Perez advanced to the next round.

Santiago Tovar and Luis Felipe Montaño were eliminated from the Desafio. Tovar finished 12th Sunday and was three points behind Perez at the cutoff, while Montaño was another six points back after his 16th-place finish.

The Desafio will head to Mexico City for a double-header weekend on Nov. 7-8 at Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez. The season championship will be decided on Nov. 22 at Súper Óvalo Chiapas in Tuxtla Gutierrez.

FINAL RESULTS From NASCAR Home Tracks:

Pos	No.	Piloto	Equipo	Marca	Vueltas	T.Total	Dif.	Mejor V.	En
1	6	Rogelio López	Akron - CTS Alpha Racing	Ford	171	1:27:29.203		24.167	155
2	11	Hugo Oliveras	MONSTER Energy-Toyota-3M	Toyota	171	1:27:33.077	3.874	24.077	60
3	28	Rubén Rovelo	G3C - GESTI	Dodge	171	1:27:33.179	3.976	24.164	160
4	88	Rubén García Jr.	Canels - Scotiabank - HDI	Toyota	171	1:27:36.333	7.130	24.139	61
5	24	Rodrigo Peralta	Alcatel One Touch - Cinemex	Ford	171	1:27:36.910	7.707	24.114	59
6	20	Homero Richards	Axtel - Avaya - M Racing	Toyota	171	1:27:46.695	17.492	24.311	98
7	18	Rafael Martínez	Canels - Scotiabank - HDI	Toyota	171	1:27:47.238	18.035	24.301	4
8	58	Jorge Contreras Jr.	Axtel - Cedva - M Racing	Ford	171	1:27:48.126	18.923	24.140	60
9	15	Rubén Pardo	Citizen - Potosinos - Toyota	Toyota	171	1:27:53.128	23.925	24.300	109
10	1	Antonio Pérez	FedEx - TELMEX	Toyota	170	1:27:32.268	1 Lap	24.414	93
11	2	Abraham Calderón	ARRIS - TELCEL	Toyota	170	1:27:36.108	1 Lap	24.379	63
12	23	Santiago Tovar	Alcatel One Touch - Cinemex	Ford	170	1:27:44.155	1 Lap	24.331	92
13	46	Irwin Vences	Axtel - Avaya - M Racing	Ford	170	1:27:52.944	1 Lap	24.582	64
14	68	Manolín Gutiérrez (N)	H & H - High Speed	Ford	169	1:27:29.855	2 Laps	24.619	159
15	77	Enrique Contreras III	RacePlanet-Adhler-Anáhuac	Ford	169	1:27:30.786	2 Laps	24.480	96
16	87	Luis Felipe Montaño	Aeropostale-Integra-Toyota	Toyota	168	1:27:32.952	3 Laps	24.377	12
17	9	James Nides	Volaris - Alpha Racing	Ford	167	1:27:35.446	4 Laps	24.717	66
18	01	Israel Jaitovich	Interjet - HC+	Toyota	166	1:27:38.096	5 Laps	24.787	98
19	00	Rodrigo Marbán	Net Click - Marbán Racing	Chevrolet	166	1:27:39.338	5 Laps	24.808	92
20	30	Víctor Barrales	Haas Automation - API Lube	Chevrolet	166	1:27:46.417	5 Laps	24.788	62
21	0	Rafael Vallina	CocaCola Zero - Bokados	Chevrolet	75	45:15.954	96 Laps	25.128	60
22	31	Jorge Goeters	54D- AC Delco - Picsa	Chevrolet	49	30:02.870	122 Laps	24.614	38

- Credit to NASCAR Home Tracks for this article.