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Kimmel Vanquishes Longest Winless Streak; ARCA News & Notes From Indy
Call it the "800-pound gorilla" or the "weight of the world on his back," or say nothing of it all, for talk of Frank Kimmel's winless streak in the ARCA Racing Series presented by Menards had already taken on a life of its own in recent seasons.
However referenced, though, one thing is certain: Kimmel's winless streak and long pursuit of his elusive 75th victory created a burden he certainly did not expect after winning for the 74th time in September 2008.
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Just how much longer was Kimmel's winless streak in relation to the previous longest of his career? 23 races.
Kimmel's first win came in his 53rd career start back in 1994, meaning his first winless streak was 52 races. Never before the recent stretch did Kimmel wait 52 races between wins, but the July 21 race at Chicagoland Speedway was the 75th consecutive event Kimmel did not win after his victory at Salem Speedway on September 13, 2008.
Interestingly, the two streaks lasted about the same amount of time. Between July 1, 1990 (Kimmel's ARCA debut) and May 22, 1994 (his first ARCA win), 1421 days transpired. Between September 13, 2008 (win No. 74) and Friday (win No. 75), 1413 days passed.
"It sucks when it takes 75 to win another one," Kimmel (No. 44 Ansell/Menards Toyota) joked after Friday's race. "Every now and then, you can't help but look at that. You say, 'man, it's been that long?' It doesn't seem like it. It's a strange feeling when you're in a situation like that, when you get older and get later in your career and wins don't come as easy. But I feel like I'm doing well behind the wheel and driving the car better than I ever did."
Kimmel cited teammate Matt Crafton, who set a track qualifying record Friday, as one who helped him during Friday's race. Crafton (No. 88 Messina Wildlife Management/Menards) hit the wall on Lap 52 and finished 31st.
"He actually helped me after he got knocked out," Kimmel said. "He talked to me a little bit about the line I was running and some things that he had found during the race."
At 50 years old, Kimmel had made 442 ARCA Racing Series starts before Friday night. By comparison, the next nine drivers in the finishing order had combined for less than half that - 203 - going into Friday. As is the case every week, Kimmel had to battle some young, far less experienced drivers in his move to the front. Notable was an early three-wide battle with Chad Hackenbracht (No. 58 Tastee Apple Chevrolet), who led 86 laps, and Mason Mitchell (No. 6 J&S Ag Services/Make-A-Wish Foundation Chevrolet), who later led seven in just his second career start.
"Everybody talks about how they're rookies or they're young and everything, but he did a really nice job, Mitchell," Kimmel said. "Chad, I've raced against a lot and he does a nice job anyway. Mitchell was a little bit of a wild card in there; we hadn't raced against him a lot, but he did a super nice job. When he needed room I gave it to him, and when I needed room he gave it back. He could have probably made it pretty ugly there when I passed him for the lead (on Lap 158)."
Points Race Tightens, but Buescher Stays at Top: Chris Buescher (No. 17 Reliance Tool/Roulo Brothers Racing Ford) is the ARCA Racing Series points leader for the third straight week, but finished behind two very close pursuers in Friday's Messina Wildlife Animal Stopper 200 presented by Federated Car Care at Lucas Oil Raceway.
Buescher finished seventh, but was three spots behind Brennan Poole (No. 25 Adcetera Chevrolet) and six behind winner Frank Kimmel. In turn, Poole trimmed Buescher's points lead from 35 to 20, and Kimmel moved from 100 points out to just 65 behind the lead.
Alex Bowman (No. 22 St. Jude Children's Research Hospital Dodge) experienced early trouble and could only drive 189 of 200 laps; he finished 22nd and dropped to fourth in the standings, 170 points behind Buescher.
Chad Hackenbracht remained fifth, ahead of Matt Lofton (No. 16 Strutmasters.com Chevrolet), race runner-up Tom Hessert (No. 52 Federated Auto Parts Chevrolet), Ryan Reed (No. 15 RaceHard.com Toyota), Spencer Gallagher (No. 23 Allegiant Air Chevrolet), and Nelson Canache (No. 35 Venezuela Tourism Chevrolet). Only Bowman and Kimmel changed positions this week in the standings.
The full and official ARCA Racing Series driver point standings will be released Tuesday.
Consecutive Top-Fives for Swindell: Kevin Swindell (No. 66 Curb Records Toyota) finished third at Lucas Oil Raceway, just six days after leading every lap at Chicagoland Speedway. Given that context, a second consecutive top-five might have been somewhat disappointing for the part-time competitor.
"We made our bed there at the beginning, hoping we could run a little longer than those guys and manage to keep tires in the pits there," Swindell said. "The yellow came out, and we were basically leading the race in technical terms from where we were. We were only six or eight laps from probably leading, and you just wait for the yellow from there. If it goes green, we're good with a lot newer tires."
Swindell lamented contact with Mason Mingus and the No. 32 car that hurt his chances to win. Nonetheless, he will be back in three weeks for the first of two dirt races on the ARCA schedule. The series will compete at the Illinois State Fairgrounds in Springfield on Sunday, August 19.
"I'm looking forward to it," he said. "I didn't ever get to do (USAC) Silver Crown stuff on the mile so to get to race there will be cool. Hopefully, it serves into my background a little bit and we go in there with an advantage."
Special Awards Spread Around: Frank Kimmel might have taken home the most sought-after trophy Friday at Lucas Oil Raceway, but special awards for the race were split among a variety of drivers and teams.
Brennan Poole's fourth-place finish helped him win top honors for the race in the Team Messina Rookie Challenge. He also extended his season lead in the category over Alex Bowman.
Chad Hackenbracht led 86 laps between Laps 52 and 150, 35 more than Menards Pole Award winner Matt Crafton and twice as many as Kimmel. For that, Hackenbracht won his first Aaron's Lap Leader race award of 2012. He has now led in three races this season and stands fourth in the year-long Aaron's Lap Leader Award standings.
Tom Hessert improved 12 positions from the start before finishing as the runner-up, and earned the CGS Imaging Hard Charger Award for Friday's race for doing so.
"We certainly fought hard for our second-place finish," Hessert said. "The Ken Schrader team brought a solid Federated car, but we certainly had to work for it. I'm pleased to come home second. Of course, I wish we'd won, but it's also nice to see Frank back in Victory Lane after so long."
Hessert said the car was "snug" in practice, and he battled a spectrum of conditions free to tight during the race before settling on a feeling by the race's conclusion.
After missing the race at Chicagoland Speedway, a full 20-race schedule is obviously out the question for Hessert. He gave no clear indications about the rest of his 2012 schedule in a post-race interview.
"I don't know what our plan is," he said. "We came home second tonight and we're pleased with that. We'll move on to the future when we're ready to."
Josh Williams (No. 02 Fields Auto Parts/Southwest Florida Cable Ford) also gained 12 positions, from 25th to 13th, but Hessert earned the Hard Charger Award tiebreaker by finishing higher.
Three Drivers in Top 20 Earn Career Highs: Outside of earning praise from a nine-time ARCA champion, Mason Mitchell also notched his first ARCA top-five in just his second series start on Friday night.
The Iowan was the final race leader before Frank Kimmel's race-winning run, and ran second to Kimmel before spinning his tires on a late restart and having to settle for fifth place. He also ran in the top 10 in his ARCA debut for Eddie Sharp Racing at Iowa Speedway on July 14.
"I made a mistake on that last restart spinning the tires," Mitchell said in a team press release. "I could have got them back if I had more laps, but I wanted it bad. All in all, it was a great run for us and great experience for me. I really want to thank my family and J&S AG Services for giving me this opportunity. I also want to thank my ESR team for giving me a great car; it was awesome all night."
Brian Finney (No. 3 Bob Steele Chevrolet) finished 12th in his ARCA debut. Finney is from Merritt Island, Fla. Brad Lloyd (No. 51 Frontline Ministries Ford) finished 18th, his ARCA best.
Reed on Top-10 Streak: Ryan Reed finished in the top 10 only once in the first half of the season, racing nine of 10 events before skipping the July 1 event at New Jersey Motorsports Park. Since his return, Reed has finished in the top 10 three consecutive times, capped by a sixth-place finish at Lucas Oil Raceway Friday.
After driving a Toyota Friday, he will compete in the No. 15 JDRF Ford for Venturini Motorsports at Pocono Raceway this weekend.
Basham's Career Celebrated: Darrell Basham received a wooden plaque at Friday's ARCA Racing Series driver meeting, a commemoration of his 300th start in the ARCA Racing Series. Basham has competed in ARCA since 1972 and has been a regular entrant since the start of the 2002, failing to start just three races in that period of over 10 years. The honor was even more special to Basham as it came in his home state; he is from Henryville, Ind.
Variety Up Front: In all, six drivers led laps in Friday's Messina Wildlife Animal Stopper 200. In order of first lap led, the drivers are Matt Crafton, Chad Hackenbracht, Kevin Swindell, Chad Boat, Mason Mitchell, and Frank Kimmel. No race this season has had as many as six different leaders.
Second Pocono Trip Up Next: After closing Chris Buescher's points lead to 20 at Lucas Oil Raceway Friday, Brennan Poole has to be looking forward to competing at Pocono Raceway. After all, Poole won the Menards Pole Award presented by Ansell with a track qualifying record there eight weeks ago, and then led 77 of 80 laps to win the Pocono ARCA 200, his third career ARCA victory.
Frank Kimmel is another driver with momentum going into Pocono. In addition to his win Friday, Kimmel finished sixth at Pocono in June. His last Menards Pole Award came at Pocono in July 2010.
"I'm looking forward to going back," Kimmel said. "I think we learned a lot in Michigan with this new (tapered spacer) rule we have on these big tracks. The asphalt is a big variable that we didn't understand when we got there and I think once we ran Michigan, we could understand it. I think if it's just a standard race and everybody's head is up, we'll be very, very competitive."
Now, the ARCA Racing Series presented by Menards will visit Pocono for the second time in 2012 in the Pennsylvania ARCA 125 on Saturday. The 50-lap shootout on the 2.5-mile oval will begin at 3 p.m. and air live on SPEED. Practice will take place on Friday, from 1:40-3 p.m., and Menards Pole Qualifying presented by Ansell will start at 5:15. ARCARacing.com will provide live timing and scoring coverage of all on-track action. The event will be the 14th of 20 this season.
2012 is the ARCA Racing Series presented by Menards' 60th Anniversary Season, featuring 20 races at 18 tracks. The complete 2012 event schedule is available at ARCARacing.com.
The ARCA Racing Series presented by Menards has crowned an ARCA national champion each year since its inaugural season in 1953, and has toured over 200 race tracks in 26 states since its inception. The series has tested the abilities of drivers and race teams over the most diverse schedule of stock car racing events in the world, visiting tracks ranging from 0.375 mile to 2.66 miles in length, on both paved and dirt surfaces as well as a left- and right-turn road course in its most recent season. This year, the series visited Alabama's Mobile International Speedway and Minnesota's Elko Speedway for the first time.
PaddockTalk Perspective
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