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ARCA Rookie Productive During Five Hour Practice at Daytona
Judging by the top of the speed charts, the 2008 ARCA RE/MAX Series SunTrust Rookie of the Year competitors made good use of Thursday’s five-hour practice session at Daytona Int’l Speedway. Ricky Stenhouse, Jr., in the No. 99 Roush Fenway Racing Ford was quickest among all 65 drivers entered for this weekend’s ARCA 200 at Daytona.
Stenhouse, Jr., the 2007 USAC National Sprint and Midget Series Rookie of the Year, tested at Daytona during the ARCA open test in December and plans to compete in all 21 ARCA RE/MAX Series races in 2008. He was followed on the final practice chart by a pair of ARCA RE/MAX Series veterans, including Justin Marks in the No. 65 Voodoo Ride Toyota (Germain Racing) and Dexter Bean in the No 37 Glock Chevrolet (Spraker Racing Enterprises).
“The Voodoo Ride Camry was really good right when we unloaded in qualifying trim,” said Marks. “We had to make a rear end gear change to make it better in the draft, which may hurt us a little bit in qualifying. Germain Racing has done a great job preparing this car and we’re looking forward to being contenders to win this race.”
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Marks finished fifth in the 2007 ARCA RE/MAX point standings and plans to compete full time in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series for Germain Racing in 2008. Bean, who ended up third in practice, used the session to prove that he is feeling pretty comfortable in the Spraker Racing Enterprise’s No. 37 Glock Chevrolet. The driver competed on a full time basis in the series last year in equipment fielded by his father but made the switch to Spraker beginning with an ARCA open test at Daytona in December.
“We had a really strong car here in the test so I knew that when we unloaded here for the race at Daytona we would be really good,” said Bean midway through practice. “Jeff [Spraker] and all of the guys have been working really hard. We’re only going to make about five more laps. The motor is running a little bit warm and we want to correct that before the end of the day.”
Dario Franchitti, the 2007 Indy 500 winner, was fourth quickest at 183.688 mph (48.996 seconds), followed by Landon Cassill in the No. 88 Stanley-Vidmar-Proto Chevrolet (183.602 mph/49.019 seconds).
Michael Annett drove his No. 28 Bill Davis Racing Toyota to the top of the speed charts early during the practice session, settling for sixth. The West Des Moines, Iowa native is no stranger to restrictor plate racing, as he posted his career first ARCA RE/MAX Series victory at Talladega Superspeedway last October. The Talladega victory also made Annett the first driver to bring the Toyota nameplate to victory lane in ARCA RE/MAX Series competition.
Max Dumarey was seventh quickest in the No. 94 Body Coach Ford, followed by Scott Speed.
“It’s going to take a lot more to drive the race than at Talladega,” said Speed, who finished seventh in his ARCA RE/MAX Series debut at Talladega in October. “The track has less grip and is a lot bumpier. The car felt pretty good especially in the small amount of drafting that we did. The track changes a lot with the wind so that was a factor today. I think optimistically we could qualify in the top-5. Realistically top-10. We would love to see a little rain tomorrow.”
Five-time ARCA RE/MAX Series Daytona winner Bobby Gerhart was ninth quickest, while Ryan Fischer was tenth in the No. 25 Venturini Motorsports Chevrolet.
Many ARCA RE/MAX Series teams were hard at work during Thursday’s practice session, including Win-Tron Racing, who made the decision to change engines in Dominick Casola’s No. 32 A. Casola Farms Dodge.
“The entire Win-Tron Racing team has worked hard preparing our No. 32 Dodge Charger for Dominick Casola,” said Nate Thiesse, team manager. “We went out today during practice and the motor wasn’t responding to our liking. We adjusted a few items hoping to correct the issue but to no avail. This is a huge race for our team so instead of taking a chance of losing the motor completely we decided to pull it and put our back-up in from RC Consulting. We aren’t fazed with the change; we just can’t take any chances in the 2008 season opener. Dominick is doing a great job for us and we know that when ARCA SIM Factory pole qualifying rolls around on Friday, we’ll find ourselves in the show comfortably.”
Casola finished 13th in the ARCA RE/MAX Series point standings in 2007, posting a career best finish of third at Talladega Superspeedway in October. Coppell, Texas’ Ed Kennedy also changed engines in his No. 00 Thunder 2-Daytona Lagoon Chevrolet. Nine-time and defending ARCA RE/MAX Series champion Frank Kimmel, debuting a new team, a new number and a new manufacturer this weekend at Daytona, opted to make several mechanical changes during the five hour practice, including changing the rear axle housing and trailing arms. Kimmel was 17th on the charts in the No. 44 Prestolite Wire Dodge.
SIM Factory Qualifying Up Next
Next up for the ARCA RE/MAX Series is SIM Factory Pole Award qualifying. The qualifying session will help determine the starting line-up for Saturday’s ARCA 200 at Daytona, as the fastest 32 cars from the qualifying session will be locked into the 43-car starting field. The starting field will grow from the usual 41 starting positions to 43 for the Daytona event, as series officials have built two additional provisionals into the starting line-up. Positions 33 through 36 are reserved for car owners based on final 2007 ARCA point standings, while positions 37-42 are reserved for “Golden A” eligible teams who competed in 100 percent of the series races in 2007. Position 43 is made available for a past ARCA RE/MAX Series champion. If no past champion is in need of a provisional, the position is made available to a Golden A eligible team who competed in 100 percent of series races in 2007. If no additional Golden A teams are eligible for a provisional, the field will be set at 42.
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