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Tag: ARCA Menards Series

  • ARCA drivers share post-race reactions after the Shore Lunch 200 at Madison

    ARCA drivers share post-race reactions after the Shore Lunch 200 at Madison

    The ARCA Menards Series continued their summer stretch Friday by visiting the short track of Madison International Speedway.

    Chandler Smith returned to the series after being away for a short while, due to ARCA’s age restriction limit rule. Smith is just 16-years-old and is only allowed to compete on short tracks which means he will have to wait a couple of years before he can race at tracks like Daytona, Talladega and Michigan.

    With Smith returning to the ARCA field and being a previous Madison winner, there was plenty of speculation as to whether he could recapture the magic from last years race. But, Smith did just that, leading three times for 166 laps. In last year’s race at Madison, he only led 102 of the scheduled 200 laps.

    The rising star has been making a name for himself as of late. He has even been mentioned as a future Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series star if he continues his winning ways. Smith is one of the few drivers that is taking the ARCA route to the NASCAR big leagues, race by race, series by series.

    The Talking Rock, Georgia native born in 2002 has had a dominating season so far in the ARCA Menards Series earning two wins; his first was at Toledo. He won twice last year as well, at Madison and Salem.

    Smith rarely crashes and almost has a perfect score in the ARCA Series with only one wreck that came at the first Salem race last year. Still, he finished 10th in that race. Since his first ARCA start at Nashville, Smith has never finished outside the top-10.

    You could possibly say that Smith is the next Kyle Busch or Jimmie Johnson, or maybe a Kevin Harvick. However, let’s not get too far ahead of ourselves and let the young racer progress before being rushed into an Xfinity or Cup car.

    Other drivers like Michael Self, Sam Mayer, Travis Braden, Bret Holmes, Carson Hocevar, Christian Eckes and Ty Gibbs all had a decent outing at the paved half-mile track in Oregon, Wisconsin.

    Several drivers took to Twitter after the race and gave their thoughts on their performance, including Smith, who is competing in a Kyle Busch Motorsports truck for the first time ever at Iowa this weekend.

    Going 2 for 2! 1 down got more business though!!! https://t.co/NaAmAXcDxj— Chandler Smith (@CSmithDrive) June 15, 2019

    General Manager and Team Owner Billy Venturini even chimed in to speak about Smith’s success.

    Finally getting to twitter. Great night by my entire @VenturiniMotor team. All cars were good and contended. At end of the night @CSmithDrive closed the deal when he needed to and we #FlytheV. #TeamToyota . Congrats to him and my 20 team but great job across the board by all— Billy Venturini (@BillyVenturini) June 15, 2019

    Despite winning last week’s race at Michigan, Smith’s teammate, Self had to settle for a top-five finish with second place after leading 20 laps.

    Solid night at @MISRacing for our @SinclairOilCorp team last night! Took me way too long to figure that track out, but had a lot of fun once I did. We were awesome on long runs but struggled on restarts and couldn’t hang on at the end for the ?.— Michael Self (@michaelself) June 15, 2019

    Another future prospect who is also making a name for himself in the 2019 season is Sam Mayer. Mayer is a GMS Racing developmental driver who is getting all the track time he can this season by also competing in the K&N Pro Series. Mayer has four starts in ARCA this season with a best finish of second at Salem.

    Madison International Speedway is sort of a home racetrack for the Franklin, Wisconsin native. Franklin is just one hour and 25 minutes to the west of the racetrack. Mayer had high hopes for a win and was excited to be back in the ARCA Series this weekend at the track. Unfortunately, he will have to wait another year but he still had a strong showing of third in front of his hometown fans.

    Last nights race was intense. That is all.— Sam Mayer (@sam_mayer_) June 15, 2019

    Carson Hocevar, along with Smith and Mayer, is also making limited starts due to age restrictions. He returned in his usual No. 28 KBR Development machine. Hocevar was last seen at Toledo, where he finished sixth. The ARCA driver has three other starts with finishes of 17th at Pensacola, third after starting on the pole at Salem and fourth at Nashville.

    Hocevar qualified fourth and was seen up front at times, but was facing tight conditions throughout the race and was even caught a lap down at times. However, a lucky break came with a caution and he received the free pass on Lap 127. Still, Hocevar couldn’t quite do much with the car, even with the late race restart that came with ten to go. He earned a somewhat disappointing sixth place finish.

    Got stuck on the high side during the last restart and lost a few spots. @CarsonHocevar battled back from one lap down and is scored sixth at the checkered flag.#ARCA #ShoreLunch200— KBR Development (@KBRdevelopment) June 15, 2019

    Christian Eckes had a disappointing night finishing in the seventh position after qualifying on the outside pole. He was up front late in the going battling with his two other Venturini Motorsports teammates, Self and Smith. Unfortunately, the Middletown, New York native accidentally got turned around late on the frontstretch. Eckes never rebounded and ended up seventh. He looks forward heading to Gateway next weekend.

    Super strong @JBLaudio Camry tonight. Spun after contact while passing for the leading with 18 to go. My fault! Sucks but we will move on. Proud of my @VenturiniMotor team, we’re ready for Gateway ?— Christian Eckes (@christianeckes) June 15, 2019

    Like others, Ty Gibbs returned to action after a short hiatus and was strong from the get-go. Gibbs took his No. 18 Monster Energy machine and qualified it in the third position. After Smith led the first 150 laps, Gibbs finally became the first lead change of the night on Lap 151 and held on for the next 14. The rain came on Lap 156 while Gibbs was leading and he was hoping for a little bit of extra luck in hopes to secure his first ARCA win of the season.

    However, it wasn’t meant to be as the light shower quickly passed over the track and the race went back under caution. When coming down to pit road, Gibbs failed to obey the stop sign at the end of the pit road, was penalized, and sent to the back to serve his penalty.

    Despite the penalty, the Joe Gibbs Racing driver was having a solid run up front before another caution took place for Hailie Deegan’s car. With a late race restart that came with five to go, Gibbs jumped too early and changed lanes before the restart and was penalized again. He had to serve a drive-through penalty with just three laps to go. This ultimately ruined his chances of winning and he wound up with a frustrating eighth-place finish after being dominant early on.

    Yesterday was rough. One of the fastest cars I’ve ever drove. We led a couple laps and had shots to win the race. Just got on the bad side of the last restart, but that’s the way it goes sometimes. We will be back at gateway next weekend, see you there! #teamtg pic.twitter.com/Vb0GkeqcPm— Ty Gibbs (@TyGibbs_) June 15, 2019

    Corey Heim had a frustrating night as well, finishing 10th, five laps down to the race winner, after starting seventh. He was involved in the first caution of the night that came out on Lap 111 as Mayer accidentally made contact with Heim and sent him into the entry of Turn 3. Afterward, handling issues would plague the No. 22 machine. It was disappointing after being dominant as of late, winning at Charlotte and Pocono. Heim couldn’t keep the results and momentum going due to the accident, and finished in 10th place.

    Last night was rough. We had a good car but couldn’t show for it. I need to qualify better if we’re going to get good finishes. Still learning every race.— Corey Heim (@CoreyHeim3) June 15, 2019

    The ARCA Menards Series will continue their championship run to Kansas in October at World Wide Technology Raceway on Saturday, June 22.

  • Chandler Smith dominates to earn ARCA win at Madison

    Chandler Smith dominates to earn ARCA win at Madison

    Future Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series prospect Chandler Smith completely dominated the Shore Lunch 200 at Madison International Speedway located in Oregon, Wisconsin. Smith started on the pole and never looked back, winning his second straight victory in the ARCA Menards Series.

    “Ah yeah, man,” Smith told MAVTV in his post-race interview. “I can’t thank these Venturini Motorsports guys enough, Craftsman, A2A Logistics. These guys behind me (pit crew) put on a heck of a job today. I had to put it all together there at the end of the race and it came to the final restart, guys were spinning tires and that’s why we’re sitting in victory lane right now. Hats off to all these guys, they needed this, we’re going to party hard tonight!”

    It wasn’t as easy as it looked for Smith and his No. 20 Venturini Motorsports team.

    The first caution of the night came out on Lap 112 when Sam Mayer and Corey Heim made contact with each other. Heim, unfortunately, got the worst of it as he went up into the entry of Turn 3, taking him out of contention for the win.

    Another incident arose on Lap 124 for Heim’s teammate, Joe Graf Jr. had a left front and right front tire go down courtesy of Mayer again, due to reports. Graf Jr. would end up bringing out the caution once more.

    Smith led all the way until Lap 151 when Ty Gibbs took the lead for the first lead change of the night. As Gibbs passed Smith, the sky opened up and a light shower passed over the track. ARCA officials red-flagged the race on Lap 162 for approximately 17 minutes.

    Before the red flag, Smith, who had completely dominated the first half of the race, pitted and fell back in the running order in a change of strategy. If the race had continued under green the other lead lap cars would have to come down pit road to make their pit stops and it would have put Smith out front again.

    When the race restarted the rest of the field, including Gibbs, Christian Eckes, Carson Hocevar, Michael Self, Hailie Deegan, Bret Holmes and Travis Braden all had to pit.

    Right before the restart, ARCA officials penalized the 18 of Gibbs, the 15 of Eckes, the 55 of Deegan and the 23 of Holmes for running the stop sign at the end of pit road. They would have to restart in the back of the pack to serve the penalty.

    After the restart, last week’s winner at Michigan, Self, took the lead from his teammate Smith on Lap 169.

    There were intense short track racing battles going on for the top spot as Self, Smith and Eckes, as well as Gibbs, were all trying to hang on to and keep their cars from wrecking. Unfortunately, Eckes got the short end and wound up spinning out on the frontstretch while battling for the lead with Self and brought out the caution once more on Lap 181.

    Another incident took place for Deegan whose motor expired with 10 laps to go. This would be a major turning in the point in the race, as Smith would regain the lead.

    The ARCA officials would fly the red flag again due to track clean up from the oil that was laid down by Deegan’s car and to make sure the race had a green flag finish.

    The final restart came with five laps to go with Smith on the front row. Before Smith would go on to take his second checkered flag of the year, Gibbs received a black flag for changing lanes on the restart and had to serve a drive-through penalty.

    Smith went on to win for the second consecutive time at Madison.

    “Yeah, we just over adjusted a little bit on our first initial pit stop when we came and got four tires,” Smith added in his post race interview with MAVTV. “So, we went in and we got two tires, and it went back to how we were, and that’s why we’re sitting back in victory lane.”

    While Smith would win for the second time this year, last week’s Michigan winner and his teammate Michael Self had to settle for a second place finish after leading a few laps.

    “It’s kind of how he’s (Chandler Smith) been this year,” Self said in his post-race interview with MAVTV in regards to the pass for the lead late. “You know what, Chandler is a good racer man, he’s really fast. I’m actually really excited to watch him go run that truck in Iowa tomorrow, that’s going to be really cool for him. Like, a little bit more respect maybe, blasting me into the corner. I tell guys all the time, I respect the guy who wins, I still am that guy sometimes.”

    “Today was going to be a horrible day for me, I thought. We were no good in practice, didn’t qualify great, fell outside the top-10 in the early stages of the race. Props to Shannon (Rursch, Crew Chief) and all these guys on the No. 25 Sinclair Lubricants Toyota. We were a really good long run car. I mean we probably had the best car here after 50 or 75 laps, but unfortunately we had that one long green flag stint and we didn’t get many after that. Too much tight racing there at the end. The reason I like racing big tracks is because we get single file, there’s no one around you, I’m kind of old and that’s kind of stressful. I like to be single file out there, do my own thing, not tight racing like this.”

    GMS Racing developmental driver and breakout star Sam Mayer rounded out the top three finishers with third place after starting sixth.

    “Early on, we were really really free, everywhere really,” Mayer said in his post race interview with MAVTV. “We came in, tightened it up and that seemed to help the car a little bit. We were just waiting patiently about mid-pack. Waiting for something like this to happen, where we had a late race caution with short ten laps to go, we were able to somehow fight in to the top three, which is pretty awesome! Everyone at Driver’s Edge Development Chevrolet, Chevrolet Accessories, GMS Racing especially, helping me out by giving me the best car possible and glad we could get a top three out of it.”

    Smith started on the pole and finished first, and led three times for 166 laps. This is Smith’s third ARCA win of his young career and Venturini Motorsports’ seventh win of the season as a team.

    The Shore Lunch 200 saw five cautions flags and two red flags (one for rain, the other for clean up from Hailie Deegan’s car).

    Official Results

    1. Chandler Smith
    2. Michael Self, 1.422 seconds
    3. Sam Mayer, 2.408 seconds
    4. Travis Braden, 2.66 seconds
    5. Bret Holmes, 2.726 seconds
    6. Carson Hocevar, 3.895 seconds
    7. Christian Eckes, 12.771 seconds
    8. Ty Gibbs, 16.313 seconds
    9. Joe Graf Jr, Two laps down
    10. Corey Heim, Five laps down
    11. Tommy Vigh Jr, Seven laps down
    12. Hailie Deegan, OUT
    13. Eric Caudell, 13 laps down
    14. Tim Richmond, 17 laps down
    15. Brad Smith, OUT
    16. Dick Karth, OUT
    17. Dick Doheny, OUT
    18. Dale Shearer, OUT

    Up Next: The ARCA Menards Series continues their weekly racing by heading south to St. Louis, Missouri next week for race No. 11 at the newly named World Wide Technology Raceway, formerly known as Gateway Motorsports Park.

  • ARCA Menards Series Preview- Madison

    ARCA Menards Series Preview- Madison

    While the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series is taking the weekend off, the ARCA Menards Series will take center stage Friday night at Madison International Speedway, the short track located in Oregon, Wisconsin.

    It will mark the halfway point in the ARCA Series for the 2019 season, which has seen a slew of winners and repeat winners. They include Harriosn Burton winning at Daytona, Michael Self winning two races at Pensacola and Salem, Todd Gilliland in Talladega, Christian Eckes in Nashville, the upcoming star Chandler Smith, Ty Majeski winning at Charlotte and Pocono. Self finally got back to victory lane last week at Michigan in a last-lap pass on Majeski in the last corner of the race when Majeski ran out of gas off Turn 4. It was his third win this season.

    With his win last week, Self finally saw the end of some frustrating finishes. He’s looking forward to carry his momentum from last week to Madison on Friday night. However, despite having 28 starts in over a five-year span in the ARCA Series, Madison will be new to Self as he will be making his track debut this weekend.

    “Madison is going to be totally new for me,” says Self. “I’ve never made a lap there, so I’m relying on the video I’ve watched and information from my teammates and people around the VMS shop to prepare and try and be ready to hit the ground running for practice on Friday. The track definitely looks unique and challenging, and hopefully I can pick it up and figure out by Friday night.”

    So far this season, Self has earned three wins, six top fives and top-10 finishes, along with three poles. He currently leads the ARCA Menards Series standings over Bret Holmes by 15 points.

    Self’s teammate, Hailie Deegan, will be returning to the ARCA Series this week. Deegan has been in the headlines a lot this week after a last-lap effort to win the K&N Pro Series West race at Colorado this past weekend, which took her teammate Derek Kraus out for the win.

    Madison will also be new to the rising star power of Deegan.

    “I’m excited to get back in the ARCA car this weekend with Venturini Motorsports at Madison,” said the native of Temecula, California. “I feel confident in my team and my abilities going into the weekend for my next short track start. But my goals are realistic. ARCA is a new series and there’s still a lot to learn. Our first race at Toledo ended early after getting wrecked so I’m going back with similar goals – log laps, learn as much as I can and shoot for top-five finishes.”

    It will be her first ARCA start since Pocono a couple of weeks ago, where Deegan finished seventh after starting fourth. Her previous start was at Toledo last month where she was taken out and left with a disappointing last-place finish.

    Also making his ARCA return, but already having an impressive season with three top fives and four top-10 finishes, is the grandson of Joe Gibbs, Ty Gibbs.

    Gibbs has been making a lot of noise on the track this year and looks to continue to do that at Madison where he has no starts.

    “I’m so ready to get to Madison,” said Gibbs. “I’ve been really excited for Madison since I left Toledo. It’s just a real short track that takes a lot of tires. You’ll definitely have to conserve too so you can have enough brakes to be around at the end, but I’m ready to move on to Madison and hopefully get our first win of the season.”

    Despite having early season success and not being able to compete at all the racetracks due to the age limit, Gibbs is looking to start clicking off wins this weekend.

    “We’ve got a lot of second-place finishes this season which is good in some ways and bad in some ways,” said Gibbs. “I want to win so bad but finishing second has proven that we have the equipment to run up front and compete for wins, we just need all the pieces to fall in to place and work perfectly to get to victory lane.”

    Gibbs has tons of short track experience racing the short tracks across the country in the CARS Late Model Stock Tour. So far this season in the ARCA Series, however, the grandson of Joe Gibbs has a pretty stellar record of finishing second in his first ARCA start at Pensacola, sixth at Salem and a pair of second place finishes at Nashville and Toledo, the last time Gibbs competed in an ARCA car.

    Even though the drivers mentioned above have no ARCA starts at the racetrack located in Wisconsin, Venturini Motorsports driver Christian Eckes has two starts there with a best finish of fifth coming two years ago in 2017. His other finish the year prior in 2016, resulted in a DNF due to a drive train issue and saw him finish 14th in his first track start.

    Speaking of challenges, the Middletown, New York driver has faced challenges this season after missing a race due to sickness earlier this season.

    “It’s been a rough couple of months but we’re looking to turn it around this weekend at Madison,” said the Toyota Racing Development driver. “It’s a track that I have loved in the past but haven’t been to in two years, so I’m really looking to get back there. The Venturini organization has shown a ton of success over the past decade at this place and I’m ready to keep it going. Our JBL Audio team has brought awesome race cars so far this year and we’re ready to go make it happen.”

    While other drivers will be making their first starts at Madison this weekends, one driver, Sam Mayer, is eager to get back on track in his home state. Mayer, who is apart of the GMS Racing development program, has been competing across several different racing series. In 2019, the Wisconsin native has finishes of 21st at Pensacola, second at Salem and a fifth at Toledo.

    Mayer is excited to be racing at his home track Friday night at Madison.

    “Getting the chance to race at home is really cool,” Mayer said. “Having all my family and friends come out to watch and support me is going to be really exciting and I hope we can pull out a win for all of them.”

    Sitting second in the ARCA point standings is Bret Holmes who drives the family-owned team No. 23. Holmes has amassed three top fives and seven top-10 finishes. He’ll look forward to carrying his season momentum through to Friday night.

    Madison is a tough track,” he said. “It’s almost like a banked Martinsville Speedway. The corners are really tight, you use a lot of brakes and the front tires wear quickly. I think that’s the difference maker there. You don’t want to get your front tires too hot. On long green-flag runs, that’s where you’ll beat everyone. I’m excited to get back on a short track after these few weeks at speedways. I think our intermediate track program is a little better than our short track, but we’re working on some things at the shop that we’re going to test out to see how they work. We’ve had solid top-five runs here lately, and we’re looking to continue that in Madison this week.”

    Currently, there are 18 drivers entered on the preliminary entry list for this week’s race. They include Joe Graf Jr., Tim Richmond, Eric Caudell, Dale Shearer, Brad Smith, Carson Hocevar, Travis Braden, Corey Heim, Chandler Smith, Dick Karth, Tommy Vigh Jr. and Dick Doheny, who will round out the remaining participants for the race this weekend.

    It will be an all-day show for the ARCA Menards Series drivers. The only practice session begins at 2:15 p.m. ET. The General Tire Pole qualifying is slated for 6 p.m. ET There will be two laps for every driver.

    The Shore Lunch 200 is scheduled to get underway shortly after 9 p.m. CT. The event will see 200 laps that will make up the 100-mile race distance. The race can be seen on MAVTV.

  • Weekend schedule for Michigan and Texas

    Weekend schedule for Michigan and Texas

    The Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series and the Xfinity Series head to Michigan International Speedway this weekend along with the ARCA Menards Series while the Gander Outdoors Truck Series will run a standalone race at Texas Motor Speedway.

    All times are Eastern.

    Texas:

    Thursday, June 6

    3:05 p.m. – 3:55 p.m.: Gander Outdoors Truck Series First Practice – Results
    5:05 p.m. – 5:55 p.m.: Gander Outdoors Truck Series Second Practice – Results
    7 p.m. – 7:45 p.m.: Gander Outdoors Truck Series Final Practice – Results

    Friday, June 7

    5:35 p.m.: Gander Outdoors Truck Series Qualifying – NASCAR.com/MRN
    9 p.m.: Gander Outdoors Truck Series SpeedyCash.com 400 – 250.5 miles (167 Laps) – Stage 1 (Ends on Lap 40), Stage 2 (Ends on Lap 80), Final Stage (Ends on Lap 167) FS1/MRN

    Michigan:

    Friday, June 7

    8:30 a.m. – 10 a.m.: Arca Menards Series Final Practice
    Noon: ARCA Series Group Qualifying
    1:05 p.m. – 1:55 p.m.: Xfinity Series First Practice – MRN/NASCAR.com/live
    2:05 p.m. – 2:55 p.m.: Monster Energy Cup Series First Practice – MRN/NASCAR.com/live
    3:05 p.m. – 3:55 p.m.: Xfinity Series Final Practice – FS2 (Airing tape delayed at 4 p.m.)
    4:05 p.m. – 4:55 p.m.: Monster Energy Cup Series Final Practice – FS2/MRN (Airing tape delayed on at 5 p.m.)
    6 p.m.: ARCA VizCom 200 – (100 laps – 200 miles) – FS1

    Saturday, June 8

    10:30 a.m.: Xfinity Series Qualifying – FS2 – Qualifying Impound (Single Vehicle/One Lap All Positions)
    12:05 p.m.: Monster Energy Cup Series Qualifying – Qualifying Impound (Single Vehicle/One Lap All Positions) – FS1/MRN
    1:30 p.m.: Xfinity Series Lti Printing 250 – 250 miles (125 Laps) –  Stage 1 (Ends on Lap 30), Stage 2 (Ends on Lap 60), Final Stage (Ends on Lap 125) – FS1/MRN Defending Race Winner: Austin Dillon

    Sunday, June 9

    2 p.m.: Monster Energy Cup Series FireKeepers Casino 400 – 400 miles (200 laps) –  Stage 1 (Ends on Lap 60), Stage 2 (Ends on Lap 120), Final Stage (Ends on Lap 200) – FS1/MRN Defending Race Winner: Clint Bowyer

    Follow @angiecampbell_ for the latest NASCAR news and feature stories.

  • ARCA Menards Racing Series Preview- Michigan

    ARCA Menards Racing Series Preview- Michigan

    The 2019 ARCA Menards Series season heads to Michigan International Speedway this week for race number nine, almost reaching the halfway point of the season.

    And what a season we have seen so far in the ARCA Menards Series. When the season opened up at Daytona, we saw upcoming superstar Harrison Burton take the checkered flag with the powerhouse team of Venturini Motorsports. The Venturini’s continued their dominance by winning back-to-back with Michael Self at Five Flags in Pensacola and Salem.

    From there, it looked liked Self and the No. 25 Venturini team would run away with the championship. However, troubles were ahead after having early season success. They still had a decent run at Talladega finishing fifth, but frustrations started to grow at Nashville, Toledo and Charlotte.

    At Nashville, the No. 25 of Self was caught up in an accident which took him out of contention and he wound up 15th in that race. Toledo had a better showing for the team, as they finished fourth after starting on the pole and leading 12 laps. Although, Self and company still felt like it was a race they had given away. His teammate, Chandler Smith would go on to win the Toledo race. Then Charlotte came and it looked like the 25 team was back on track to dig themselves out of a hole.

    Self started on the pole once more and led a whopping 91 laps of the scheduled 100. But issues arose late in the going when oil and smoke came out of the back of the car. It would eventually go away on restarts, but then on lap 87 of 100, Self spun out when leading the race. The team never could rebound which led to a frustrating fifth place finish in a race they should have won.

    Last week at Pocono, Self finished 11th but is starting to grow tired of not winning, even though they feel like they have a car capable of winning every race.

    And now ARCA heads to Michigan International Speedway, not too far from the racing capital of the world. Manufacturers like Chevrolet and Ford, among others, are located there and it gives drivers like Self extra motivation to go out and win.

    For Self and the No. 25 Venturini team, they only have one start together which came in last year’s race. The Park City, Utah native has one top-five finish in his only outing finishing third after starting third and leading 23 laps. Despite finishing third there last year, Self and the No. 25 team are hoping to finish the race this weekend after having some frustrating finishes of as late.

    “After the last few weeks, I think I’m just really hoping for a completely smooth day at Michigan from the first lap of practice to the checkered flag at the end of the race.” Self said. “We’ve been off-kilter a bit, between mistakes by me and mechanical issues, I just want to focus on getting that cleared up. Once we do, we’ll be rock solid. The Venturini Motorsports guys bring the fastest cars to the racetrack every weekend, but we’ve beat ourselves the last two races on track where I feel like we should’ve excelled. I really like Michigan and think it’s a ton of fun to race there, and hope this is the place we can piece everything back together and have a shot at another win.”

    Despite Self’s issues, another driver is starting to heat up their on-track performance and that’s Chad Bryant Racing driver Ty Majeski. He won his second consecutive race last week at Pocono after a late race charge to the lead passing Riley Herbst for the win.

    At Michigan, Majeski has just one start that came two years ago finishing sixth. Majeski drove the Cunningham Motorsports car that is now owned by Chad Bryant.

    Even with only one start at the track, Majeski and the No. 22 team are looking to continue their winning ways this week at Michigan after having much success as of late in a part-time schedule.

    “It’s been a great few weeks,” said Majeski. “I can’t thank Chad (Bryant), Paul (Andrews) and the rest of the No. 22 Crestliner guys for their hard work and belief in me. We worked hard at Charlotte and Pocono to come away with the win and we’re going to take the same approach that we did the last two races and apply it to Michigan and hope for the same result.”  

    With only one ARCA start at Michigan, the No. 22 Chad Bryant Racing driver hopes to build upon that sixth place finish two years ago.

    “Michigan International Speedway is a beast, but it’s a blast of a place to race,” added Majeski. “It’s a very wide race track with a lot of room to race with incredibly fast speeds. I’m hoping I can apply some of what I learned a couple of years ago to our No. 22 Crestliner Ford Fusion during practice and qualifying on Friday.”

    While Majeski and Self both have one start to their track record, the No. 15 Venturini Motorsports driver Christian Eckes will be making his first ARCA start or stock car start of any kind this weekend at Michigan.

    With no experience, Eckes is excited to get to the 2-mile racetrack that is Michigan International Speedway.

    “I’ve done a lot to prepare for Michigan this week,” said Eckes. “I’m excited to make my first laps on track. I’ve spent time on the sim at TRD and just basic stuff like film and notes. I feel extremely prepared to go have another great run this weekend.”

    Another possible future superstar will have added track time experience this weekend. Joe Graf Jr. will be running the ARCA race and also making his NASCAR Xfinity Series debut for Richard Childress Racing at Michigan.

    Graf Jr. has one start at Michigan that came last year, where he finished fifth after starting deep in the field. Even though he has only had one start at Michigan, he is ready for the additional track time and believes it will be his best finish yet.

    “I’m very excited about Michigan this weekend,” said Graf Jr. “It’s been an incredibly busy week with preparation, testing and then getting to Michigan. I’m incredibly focused and look forward to the chance to have my strongest results of the year.”

    Myatt Snider, a former NASCAR Truck Series regular and now a part-time driver for ThorSport Racing makes his return to the ARCA Menards Series this weekend. He had one win, three top fives and six top-10 finishes in just 10 races in his short ARCA career before making the move to trucks.

    After completing a limited schedule, Snider made the jump to the Truck Series to drive for Kyle Busch Motorsports in his rookie season and then to the dominant ThorSport Racing team in 2018. Snider’s best finish in the Truck Series was second at Talladega last fall.

    At Michigan, he has one start in the Truck Series finishing 18th after starting eighth. In the ARCA Series, Snider started on the pole in his only race three years ago but finished a disappointing 23rd after crashing on Lap 38.

    This time around, the 24-year old returns in a Venturini Motorsports No. 20 prepared Toyota.

    “Glad we could put this deal (together) late in the game so I could make a return to the 2-mile superspeedway,” said Snider. “Michigan is one of the toughest tracks on the ARCA circuit. But that’s what makes it so fun. Really excited for the weekend.”

    The ARCA Menards Series will see an 18 car field in Friday’s race at Michigan International Speedway. Other drivers include Dick Doheny, Morgen Baird, Tanner Gray, C.J. McLaughlin, Tommy Vigh Jr, Riley Herbst, Bret Holmes, Travis Braden, Brandon McReynolds, Thad Moffitt, Brad Smith, Scott Melton and Tim Richmond, who will all look to tame the 2-mile superspeedway located outside Brooklyn, Michigan.

    Since 1980, Michigan International Speedway has seen 38 ARCA races and the winners are a list of whos-who.

    The list of winners include Joe Rutmann, Tracy Leslie, Dave Mader III, Stanley Smith, Bob Keselowski, Jeff Purvis (who won three in a row), Ron Barfield Jr, Tim Steele, Mark Thompson, Frank Kimmel, David Keith, Kerry Earnhardt, Blaise Alexander, Chad Blount, Casey Mears, Reed Sorenson, Steve Wallace, David Stremme, Brent Sherman, Erik Darnell, Justin Lofton, Parker Kligerman, Mikey Kile, Ty Dillon, Chris Buescher, Brennan Poole, Austin Theriault, Ross Kenseth, Brandon Jones and Sheldon Creed.

    The ARCA Menards Series will see another different winner this weekend.

    Qualifying is very important at Michigan where the winner has come from the pole position six times, occurring in 1999, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2006 and the last in 2017. The lowest a race winner has come from to win was 28th in 1997 set by Tim Steele. Since then, the lowest a driver has ever started to win was ninth (twice, which occurred in 2001 by Kerry Earnhardt and 2012 by now Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series star Chris Buescher).

    The race winner has also come from the second starting spot, 10 times which occurred in 1994, 1996, 2004, 2008, 2010, 2011, 2013, 2014, 2015 and 2018.

    The ARCA Menards Series teams will get on track early Friday morning with the only practice session taking place at 8:30 a.m. ET lasting until 10 a.m. ET, live on ArcaRacing.com.

    Qualifying takes at noon ET and will also be live on Arcaracing.com.

    The VizCom 200 green flag is scheduled to fly at 6:15 p.m. ET live on Fox Sports 1. There will be 100 laps to make up the 200 miles.

  • Ty Majeski goes back to back after winning at Pocono

    Ty Majeski goes back to back after winning at Pocono

    Majeski and the No. 22 Chad Bryant Racing team earned his second win of the 2019 ARCA Menards Series after passing Riley Herbst with 14 to go, beating Herbst on the final round of pit stops.

    “Ah man, this is a dream come true,” Majeski excitedly told Fox Sports 1 in his post-race interview. “Like I said last week, from losing my ride last year to Chad Bryant (Team Owner) taking a chance on me, man this is so special! Coming into the season, the goal was to win one race, one pole, but I’ll take wins any day over a pole. So this is really cool. Huge thank you to Crestliner for coming on board. That was so special. Paul Andrews (Crew Chief) made great calls all day long. Man, this Chad Bryant team works so hard, day in and day out. This Crestliner Ford was fast all day. It was just a matter of beating the 18 (Riley Herbst) off pit road in those green flag stops. I feel like whoever came out with track position was going to win the race.”

    The #AnywhereIsPossible 200 green flag flew shortly after 5:30 p.m. ET and it looked like Herbst was going to completely dominate the whole race.

    There were only a couple of incidents that did not bring out the caution. Pole sitter Harrison Burton had a right front tire go down while Steve Glasson had a flat left front tire go down one lap later.

    On lap 29, the first and only caution came out for Bobby Gerhart who stalled in the tunnel turn but was able to refire his car after the caution flag flew. After the caution, nothing really changed, other than the fact that Burton was back up to fifth after having a flat tire a couple of laps earlier.

    On lap 43, points leader, Michael Self had issues that began when he had a right rear tire go flat and eventually fuel pressure problems on Lap 76, which would eventually take him out of contention for the win. Flat tires continued to cause problems as Burton would suffer another one on Lap 50.

    The final round of pit stops began with 20 to go and Hailie Deegan was the first to pit. Christian Eckes who was running third, came to pit but overshot his pit with 17 to go.

    With 13 to go, eventual race winner, Majeski, would pit, taking only two right side tires. One lap later, race leader Riley Herbst made his final pit stop.

    After making his pit stop, Majeski was already crossing the start/finish line while Herbst was entering Turns 1 and 2. There’s an ARCA rule where you have to stay below the yellow line after pitting. Herbst tried all he could to be the leader after pit stops, but Majeski went by him on the backstretch.

    Herbst would need a caution in order to have another shot at Majeski but that would not happen as Majeski and the No. 22 Chad Bryant Racing team would go on to win their second straight race.

    “The dirty air is real tough,” Majeski said in his post-race interview when describing catching Riley Herbst. “I could get within a couple of car lengths of him before I would just die. The inside is so preferred here. It’s tough to get clean air on the nose and get the front end to turn. I did all I could there. Fortunately, I made that pass on pit road and didn’t make it on the race track. I was thinking about my green flag pit stop and my marks, and it paid off.”

    After leading 68 of the scheduled 80 laps, the No. 18 Monster Energy Joe Gibbs Racing driver, Riley Herbst would have to finish a disappointing second after being so dominant earlier on.

    “I think right there at the end, we took two tires, just really tightened us up too much and couldn’t get back to the 22 (Ty Majeski),” Herbst said. “It just sucks. Man, when you have a dominating car like that to come home second, I just drove hard there and couldn’t do anything about it.”

    It was Majeski’s second consecutive ARCA win in his first ARCA outing at Pocono. Majeski started fifth and took the lead with 13 laps to go from Herbst.

    There would be just one caution and only four cars finished on the lead lap.

    Final Results

    1. Ty Majeski
    2. Riley Herbst
    3. Christian Eckes
    4. Raphael Lessard
    5. Bret Holmes, One Lap Down
    6. Harrison Burton, Two Laps Down
    7. Hailie Deegan, Two Laps Down
    8. Joe Graf Jr., Two Laps Down
    9. Cole Glasson, Three Laps Down
    10. Travis Braden, Three Laps Down
    11. Michael Self, Four Laps Down
    12. Ed Pompa, Seven Laps Down
    13. Scott Melton, Eight Laps Down
    14. Tim Richmond, 12 laps down
    15. Brad Smith, 33 laps down
    16. Bobby Gerhart, 61 laps down
    17. Tommy Vigh Jr, 71 laps down
    18. Dick Doheny, 77 laps down

    Up Next: The ARCA Menards Series continues their summer stretch to Michigan International Speedway on Friday, June 7, live on Fox Sports 1.

  • Harrison Burton paces only ARCA practice, wins pole at Pocono

    Harrison Burton paces only ARCA practice, wins pole at Pocono

    When the ARCA Menards Series teams got to Pocono Raceway this morning, they would have to wait for nearly half the morning to get on track. Showers and thunderstorms were in the area and made for a wet race track.

    Weepers were also a problem during track drying and with limited time, ARCA officials decided to forego qualifying and used the shortened practice session to set the field for today’s race.

    Harrison Burton was the fastest in the 30-minute practice session and will start on the pole for the  General Tire #AnywhereIsPossible 200. This continued Venturini Motorsports’ hot streak of earning a front row starting spot. This will be his first pole in the ARCA Menards Series in over 14 races for the 18-year-old.

    Last week’s winner, Ty Majeski, was fifth fastest in the practice session thus earning him a fifth place starting spot.

    2. Riley Herbst
    3. Michael Self
    4. Hailie Deegan
    5. Ty Majeski
    6. Joe Graf Jr
    7. Raphael Lessard
    8. Cole Glasson
    9. Christian Eckes
    10. Bret Holmes
    11. Travis Braden
    12. Ed Pompa
    13. Bobby Gerhart
    14. Tim Richmond
    15. Scott Melton
    16. Tommy Vigh Jr
    17. Brad Smith
    18. Dick Doheny

    While showers and thunderstorms plagued the area earlier this morning, there will be no weather woes for Friday night’s #AnywhereIsPossible 200.

    The race can be seen on Fox Sports 2 a little after 5:30 p.m. ET and 80 laps will make up the 200-mile race.

  • ARCA Menards Series Preview-Pocono 1

    ARCA Menards Series Preview-Pocono 1

    The ARCA Menards Series continues their summer stretch by visiting Pocono Raceway located in Long Pond, Pennsylvania this Friday night after a short turnaround racing at Charlotte Motor Speedway last Thursday night.

    Chad Bryant Racing driver Ty Majeski visited victory lane at Charlotte for the first time of his ARCA Series career and is once again entered in this week’s ARCA race at Pocono.

    There are only 19 cars are entered in this week’s General Tire #AnywhereIsPossible 200.

    Riley Herbst and Harrison Burton are the only repeat winners that are entered for Friday’s race. Herbst won in 2017, while Burton is the race winner of last year’s spring race at Pocono.

    Raphael Lessard will be making his second ARCA start this year, his previous coming at Five Flags Speedway in Pensacola, Florida where Lessard finished eighth after starting sixth driving for Mike Bursley. He will once again drive for Bursley, but this time he will be piloting the No. 28 KBR-Development Chevrolet.

    It will be a stacked field of NASCAR’s future stars like Thad Moffitt, Christian Eckes, Riley Herbst, Harrison Burton, Joe Graf Jr, Raphael Lessard and Hailie Deegan.

    Here are five drivers you should keep an eye on in this weeks #AnywhereIsPossible 200 at Pocono Raceway.

    1. Harrison Burton – Burton is the previous race winner. He will also make his first Truck Series track debut at Pocono but will be preparing for that by driving in the ARCA race Friday night. This year, Burton has three ARCA starts winning at the season opener in Daytona. Since then, his best finish came last week at Charlotte by finishing fourth. In last year’s race at Pocono, he led 24 of the scheduled 80 laps to win. After pulling a different double duty last week, racing on Thursday night and graduating high school the next day, Burton can now focus on racing this summer.

      “This track is amazing,” said the recent high school graduate. “Pocono is a technical race track with every corner being completely different than the last so that’s a lot of fun for the drivers. It creates a lot of good racing opportunities, good passing zones, there’s drafting on the straightaways and I’m excited to be back to defend.”

    2. Christian Eckes – Eckes will be visiting his home track this weekend, as he grew up not too far from Pocono being born in New York. He has just two starts at Pocono, both coming last year. The Tricky Triangle was tricky last year for Eckes and his No. 15 Venturini Motorsports team. Both finishes came outside the top-10 with a finish of 11th in his first outing and 13th in his second outing. He has had an up and down season so far, and bad luck has bitten him as of late. In last week’s race, Eckes had to deal with two flat tires and spent two laps down throughout the race before rebounding to finish seventh. However, the ARCA Series had an open test on Wednesday before being canceled early due to thunderstorms. Eckes topped the speed charts, completing 36 laps with a best time of 53.17 seconds. Whether this speed will transfer to the race is yet to be seen, but it is encouraging for the New Yorker who is ready to turn his season around this Friday.

      “Pocono has always been a place I’ve enjoyed going to,” said Eckes. “Being almost a ‘Home Race’ for me it’s pretty cool to have my whole family out to watch. The race track itself has been super fun. We haven’t gotten the results we deserved in our two attempts but we’re here to change that this week. Everybody on the JBL team has been working really hard, we’re ready to take the triangle head on.”

    3. Riley Herbst – Aside from Burton, Herbst is the other winner entered for this weeks race at Pocono. He won the 2017 race after leading well over half the race (45 laps). To date, it’s Herbst’s only ARCA win of his career. Aside from not competing in one race that year, he has two full seasons under his belt in the ARCA Series. In last year’s spring race, Herbst finished fifth after leading 11 laps to continue his success at Pocono. Herbst is only doing a part-time schedule this year, sharing the ride with Ty Gibbs. He only competed in three races this season with a best finish of second at Talladega. Herbst and the No. 18 Joe Gibbs Racing team was sixth fastest in the afternoon test session.

    4. Ty Majeski – It’s hard to not to count out last week’s winner Majeski who is looking to carry momentum from his race win at Charlotte. He has just one start in an ARCA car coming in 2017 driving for the Cunningham Motorsports team finishing seventh. For those who don’t know, Chad Bryant Racing took over the reins from Briggs Cunningham last year. If Wednesday’s test means anything, Majeski was fourth fastest. Chad Bryant brought two other cars to the test with Corey Heim who was third fastest and Joe Graft Jr. who was 10th fastest.

    5. Travis Braden – Braden only has two starts at Pocono in the ARCA Menards Series with a best finish of fourth in the spring race last year. In his other start later in the summer, he finished ninth, giving Braden one top five and one top-10 finish.

      “As a driver, you need to hit all three corners just right,” Braden said. “if you miss one corner it messes up all three of them. Everyone looks at the long straightaways and you think you want to reduce drag, but the corners are where the speed is at.”


      Who To Watch:

      Hailie Deegan will be making her second ARCA start this season, piloting the No. 55 iK9 Toyota for Bill Venturini.

      Cole Glasson returns to the ARCA Menards Series driving the No. 32 Win Tron Racing Chevrolet. Glasson has one ARCA start coming in last year’s season finale at Kansas, finishing 10th.

      Raphael Lessard makes his track debut at Pocono this Friday. Lessard was fifth quickest Wednesday in ARCA’s afternoon test.

      Michael Self will look to rebound after finishing a disappointing fifth when he led a dominating 91 laps.

      Wayne Peterson Racing will bring a new Toyota after their Chevy was destroyed last week in a crash.

      Venturini Motorsports looks to continue their qualifying streak by qualifying on the pole this Friday.

      The ARCA teams had a morning and afternoon open test session before the afternoon session was shortened by thunderstorms. Christian Eckes was the fastest in the afternoon session.

      2. Chandler Smith
      3. Corey Heim
      4. Ty Majeski
      5. Raphael Lessard
      6. Riley Herbst
      7. Michael Self
      8. Harrison Burton
      9. Cole Glasson
      10. Joe Graf Jr
      11. Hailie Deegan
      12. Bret Holmes
      13. Scott Melton
      14. Ed Pompa
      15. Bobby Gerhart
      16. Jonas Fors
      17. Tim Richmond

      The ARCA Menards Series has visited Pocono Raceway before it was known as The Tricky Triangle since 1987. Since then, the track has hosted 63 races with multiple race winners. The winners include Bob Schacht, Lee Raymond, Bob Keselowski, Jimmy Horton, Ben Hess, Tim Steele, Jeff Purvis, Mike Wallace, Frank Kimmel, Blaise Alexander, Kerry Earnhardt, Ryan Newman, Damon Lusk, Casey Atwood, Casey Mears, Scott Riggs, Ryan Hemphill, Chase Miller, Chad McCumbee, Michael McDowell, Ricky Stenhouse Jr, Justin Allgaier, Joey Logano, Justin Lofton, Craig Goess, Robb Brent, Tim George Jr, Ty Dillon, Brennan Poole, Chad Hackenbracht, Chase Elliott, Kyle Larson, Justin Allison, Trevor Bayne, Cole Custer, Grant Enfinger, Chase Briscoe, Justin Haley and Zane Smith to name a few.

      After an open test session on Wednesday, the ARCA teams will have a one day show Friday with one practice session on Friday morning at 9 a.m. ET lasting an hour. Qualifying is slated for 12 p.m. ET and will be live on Arcaracing.com.

      The #AnywhereIsPossible 200 is scheduled to get underway shortly after 5:30 p.m. ET live on Fox Sports 2 and is scheduled for 80 laps. There will be a same-day replay on Fox Sports 1 later that night.





  • Ty Majeski wins ARCA General Tire 150 in overtime finish

    Ty Majeski wins ARCA General Tire 150 in overtime finish

    The ARCA Menards Series came to Charlotte Motor Speedway for a rare Thursday night event and its second race back since returning last year after a few years of hiatus.

    Eighth-place qualifier Ty Majeski took the checkered flag for his first ARCA victory, holding off defending series champion Sheldon Creed and Gus Dean in a two-lap overtime dash for the checkered. Majeski took advantage of dominant pole sitter Michael Self’s issues when he brought out the caution on Lap 85 by spinning in the first turn. Self stayed out on the race track in hopes of trying to stay as the leader, but everyone else, including Majeski, came down to pit road under the caution. Majeski took the lead with four to go and was able to hang on through three overtimes to earn the win in just his 11th start.

    “Ah man, this is unbelievable, I can’t even believe this,” Majeski said in his post-race interview with Fox Sports 1. “From losing my ride this year [in the Xfinity Series], it was like January or February when this deal finally came together. Chad (Bryant, Team Owner) took a chance on me. We both have a lot to prove. This is a great win for everybody. We have a great sponsor on board, Crestliner. This is freaking awesome! We have the [Alan] Kulwicki colors on, that’s where I kind of cut my teeth in the late model racing and jump start my career. For it to come full circle and come to victory lane, and the polish victory lap, it doesn’t get any better.”

    The General Tire 150 got underway shortly after 8 p.m. ET. Self earned the pole earlier in the day, thus continuing the Venturini Motorsports pole streak ever since the season started at Daytona. Former NHRA driver Tanner Gray put the No. 54 DGR-Crosley Toyota on the outside pole for his mile-and-a-half debut.

    When the green flag fell, the action was exciting and intense from the get-go.

    On the start, the No. 9 of Codie Rohrbaugh spun his tires and jacked up the field a little bit. This saw Self pull away from the field and lead early on. The first caution of the night came out on the fifth lap for Venturini Motorsports driver Christian Eckes, who had a left front tire go down in Turn 3. After a few laps under green, he would bring out another caution on lap 10 for another flat left front tire. Another caution was seen on Lap 16 for the No. 35 of David Dodson, who crashed off the fourth turn.

    The race was restarted on Lap 22 and when Joe Graf Jr. was penalized on the restart for passing before the start-finish line. Graf had to come down pit road to serve a pass-through penalty. The next caution flew on Lap 51, as the No. 06 of Con Nicolopoulos ran into trouble on pit road. At this time Self’s machine began to smoke. While Self and his No. 25 Venturini Motorsports team worked to assess what was happening, ARCA officials let the team stay on the track without being black flagged for leaking oil, as the smoke would eventually go away when the race would go back green.

    Another caution would fly on Lap 58 when the No. 69 of Scott Melton spun on the backstretch. Afterward, the race saw a long green flag run where Self would dominate the field until Creed began to run down the leader with 25 laps to go. Self kept a manageable lead over Creed and was looking to be just the second driver to earn the pole and win the race at Charlotte Motor Speedway in an ARCA event since Ryan Newman in 2001.

    Following Self’s spin and gamble on the restart, which saw the rest of the field pit for tires and Creed being sent to the tail of the longest line for being penalized on the restart, Bret Holmes took the lead before Riley Herbst was sent into the wall after contact with Creed. On Lap 102 following the first overtime restart, Codie Rohrbaugh made contact with the wall off the second turn. This set up the final restart with Majeski coming out on top over Creed and Dean.

    “Yeah we had a bad adjustment there,” Majeski said to Fox Sports 1 when describing his late-race rally to the front. “I don’t know if it was the scuff tires that we qualified on or going to stickers that freed the car up. We were way too free. We got a caution there at the end. Paul (Andrews, Crew Chief) made a great adjustment. Ah man, this is so cool!”

    Michael Self and the No. 25 Venturini Motorsports team finished fifth after rebounding from his late-race issues.

    “I just made a mistake,” Self told Fox Sports 1 in his post-race interview after his spin in Turn 1 to bring out the caution. “I just got greedy, I guess. That was just dumb on my part. Just an idiotic move. This Sinclair No. 25 was such an incredible car today, I mean that thing was so fast. I got in and got a little bit free, you know getting right there, borderline free all night. That run was right on the edge and I totally blew it. But you know what, we came out with an okay points day. Thanks to everyone here, thanks to General Tire for putting this race on. This was a blast. Compared to last year, I’ll take it. We’re going to Pocono and I just have to learn.”

    This was Majeski’s second start of 2019, leading 14 laps en route to the victory. Self led the most laps with 91.

    Official Results

    1. Ty Majeski
    2. Sheldon Creed
    3. Gus Dean
    4. Harrison Burton
    5. Michael Self
    6. Tanner Gray
    7. Christian Eckes
    8. Bret Holmes
    9. Travis Braden
    10. Thad Moffitt
    11. Andy Seuss
    12. Joe Graf Jr
    13. Bryan Dauzat
    14. Scott Melton
    15. Tommy Vigh Jr
    16. Codie Rohrbaugh
    17. Willie Mullins
    18. Jason Miles
    19. Riley Herbst
    20. Brandon McReynolds
    21. Devin Dodson
    22. Con Nicolopoulos
    23. Brad Smith
    24. Dick Doheny
    25. C.J. McLaughlin- Withdrew Before Start Of The Race

  • Sam Mayer and Carson Hocevar round out top 3 finishers at Salem Speedway

    Sam Mayer and Carson Hocevar round out top 3 finishers at Salem Speedway

    Sam Mayer and the GMS Racing team was racing with heavy hearts at Salem Speedway this weekend, as a co-worker, Jonathan Morrison, known as “Outlaw,” passed away this weekend.

    They were hoping to put the No. 21 machine in victory lane so they could dedicate the win to him. However, Mayer and the team fell one spot short as he finished second to race winner Michael Self.

    “It was pretty crazy starting in the back like that about mid pack,” Mayer told MAVTV post race. “I felt like we had a good car overall, I wish we would have been able to put four tires on it after that restart and go see what she had, but it got rain delayed and eventually canceled.

    “I was really looking forward going out trying to get that win for “Outlaw” and GMS. It would have been really nice over there at GMS. Can’t thank them enough. The Chevrolet Accessories No. 21 was pretty sporty today, but just wasn’t able to get it done.”

    For Mayer, it was his best ARCA Menards Series finish and his best finish since IRP last summer where he finished seventh.

    Carson Hocevar, backed by the No. 28 team, collected his first ever ARCA Menards Series pole of his young career. It was the 16-year old’s first ARCA race back since IRP of last year, where he finished fifth after starting second that day.

    However, that was the past and this is the present. Hocevar was hoping to put the No. 28 machine in victory lane today, but fell three positions short.

    He got passed by eventual race winner Self for the lead on Lap 18. After that, Hocevar could never really catch the leader again. He quietly ran in the top five for the rest of the race. Hocevar ran his race, but the rain came and he wound up third. But he wanted to go back racing and was a little unsatisfied with a third place finish.

    “I was really hoping they (ARCA) wouldn’t call it,” Hocevar told MAVTV in the post-race interview. “I was disappointed when the guys told me it was over, but KBR Development gave me a good Scotts-Berger Chevrolet. I think we had a really good shot at it. We were just too free early on, I was sitting there saving so I had to back my pace down, so I had something there at the end. Especially with it looking like it was going to go all the way green.”

    “My guys did a heck of a job all weekend,” he continued. “So overall, a third place isn’t too bad.”

    It was Hocevar’s third top five of his career and first of the season.

    Carson Hocevar at Salem Speedway by KBM Development via Twitter