Scott Speed & Toyota win again in ARCA
"Honestly, the 01 (Caisse) and the 16 (Allgaier) were battling so hard that I was willing to settle for third," said Speed. "But when the opportunity presented itself I took it-just played out the race and waited to lead until the end. Those are the only laps you need to lead anyways."
Caisse and Allgaier battled back and forth much of the way bumping and grinding on one another, under green and caution periods, while Speed watched and waited in third. Inside of 10 laps to go, Allgaier finally raced underneath Caisse to lead the 97th lap of the scheduled 113-lap race, and began pulling away from everyone.
Then the caution came out when Bryan Silas made contact with the wall setting up the restart during which Caisse made contact with Allgaier coming to the green. Allgaier spun as a result while Caisse continued on with Speed and Clements in tow. Allgaier lost several positions in the exchange but was able to continue on while Speed put immediate pressure on Caisse. Caisse managed to hold off Speed for two laps before the eventual winner raced underneath Caisse three laps from the finish. Caisse continued to fall back while Speed continued to pull away. Then the final caution came out just after Speed took the white flag, which lengthened the race four additional laps to accommodate the ARCA-mandated green flag finish. It also set up a one-lap dash to the checkers during which Speed pulled away by five lengths at the final stripe.
The victory was Speed's fourth of the season as the Manteca, California driver padded his point lead headed into the homestretch of the 2008 season.
"I am in this for the experience," continued Speed, who also earned the SunTrust Rookie of the Race award. "The points would be nice but at the end of the day I honestly don't think that winning the ARCA Championship will make or break my career. No one but the Old Man [Frank Kimmel, nine-time ARCA RE/MAX Series Champion] has won in years."
Clements, who started 14th, finished second in the Boudreaux's Butt Paste-1 Stop Convenience Chevrolet, earning the Casite Hard Charger of the Race award.
"We lost this race in the pits," said Clements. "I honestly don't know what was happening. Why we put scuff tires on is beyond me. It's disappointing. I don't know what my future is for the rest of the year in ARCA. We are a family-owned team and just trying to find enough money to race."
Brian Scott, who is competing in both the ARCA RE/MAX Series and the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series events at Nashville this weekend, finished third in the Albertsons-Venturini Motorsports Chevrolet.
"We overcame a lot of obstacles today," said Scott. "After wrecking the car in practice we had to work really hard to fix it and then we had a clutch problem during the race so I felt bad because that made it really tough on the crew. I haven't run the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series race yet so it's hard to say whether or not my experience here in ARCA today will help me for the truck race but we will see how the track conditions are and go from there."
Caisse, who earned the Aarons Lap Leader award, led most of the way with 94 laps-led total, but fell all the way back to 16th in the final running order after yet another altercation on the last lap. Caisse also earned the Klotz Halfway Leader honors.
Matt Hawkins finished fourth in the JaniKing Dodge in front of Speed's teammate Justin Lofton, who finished fifth in the Lofton Cattle Dodge.
SIM Factory Pole Award winner Ken Butler III was sixth in the Aaron's Lucky Dog Dream Machine Toyota with Ricky Stenhouse, Jr. trailing in seventh in the Ford Drive One Ford. Allgaier charged back through the pack to finish eighth in the CARFAX-Venturini Motorsports Chevrolet. Allgaier also earned the Accel Fastest Lap of the Race award.
Matt Carter was ninth in the Town & Country Ford-Stine Seed Ford. Patrick Sheltra finished 10th in the Ferguson Pipe-FloraGanics Dodge.
Results
|
FIN |
STR | NO | DRIVER/HOMETOWN | TEAM & CAR | LAPS | STATUS |
| 1 | 5 | 2 | Scott Speed/Manteca CA | Red Bull Toyota | 117 | Running |
| 2 | 14 | 3 | Jeremy Clements/Spartanburg SC | Boudreaux's Butt Paste-1 Stop Convenience Chevy | 117 | Running |
| 3 | 12 | 25 | Brian Scott/Boise ID | Albertsons-Venturini Motorsports Chevrolet | 117 | Running |
| 4 | 10 | 39 | Matt Hawkins/Canton GA | JaniKing Dodge | 117 | Running |
| 5 | 6 | 20 | Justin Lofton/Westmorland CA | Lofton Cattle Dodge | 117 | Running |
| 6 | 1 | 22 | Ken Butler III/Lilburn GA | Aaron's Lucky Dog Dream Machine Toyota | 117 | Running |
| 7 | 13 | 99 | Ricky Stenhouse Jr./Olive Branch MS | Ford Drive One-Roush Fenway Racing Ford | 117 | Running |
| 8 | 4 | 16 | Justin Allgaier/Springfield IL | CARFAX-Venturini Motorsports Chevrolet | 117 | Running |
| 9 | 11 | 46 | Matt Carter/Denver NC | Town & Country Ford Nashville-Stine Seed Ford | 117 | Running |
| 10 | 16 | 60 | Patrick Sheltra/Indiantown FL | Ferguson Pipe-FloraGanics Dodge | 117 | Running |
| 11 | 8 | 1 | Tom Hessert III/Cherry Hill NJ | Maaco Auto Painting America's Body Shop Ford | 117 | Running |
| 12 | 23 | 96 | Brandon Knupp/Sidney OH | Cash4Gold Ford | 117 | Running |
| 13 | 18 | 4 | Tayler Malsam/Seattle WA | Dodge Development-Firedown Graphics Dodge | 117 | Running |
| 14 | 20 | 18 | Billy Leslie/Mt. Clemens MI | Titan Tires & Wheels Ford | 117 | Running |
| 15 | 17 | 29 | Billy Wease/Noblesville IN | Kenwood Audio Dodge | 117 | Running |
| 16 | 2 | 01 | Sean Caisse/Pelham NH | AISIN Toyota | 117 | Running |
| 17 | 3 | 32 | James Buescher/Plano TX | Mercedes Homes-Red Line Oil Dodge | 117 | Running |
| 18 | 25 | 37 | Dexter Bean/Westby WI | Glock Chevrolet | 117 | Running |
| 19 | 7 | 44 | *Frank Kimmel/Clarksville IN | Ford Drive One-Kimmel Racing Ford | 116 | Running |
| 20 | 33 | 45 | Michael Phelps/Suwanee GA | Bowen Family Homes-Cunningham Dodge | 116 | Running |
| 21 | 15 | 30 | Chad Blount/Walkerton IN | Jones Group Racing Dodge | 115 | Running |
| 22 | 21 | 5 | Bobby Gerhart/Lebanon PA | Lucas Oil Chevrolet | 114 | Running |
| 23 | 34 | 84 | Norm Benning/Pittsburgh PA | Norm Benning Racing Chevrolet | 112 | Running |
| 24 | 37 | 06 | Tim Mitchell/Fayetteville TN | Star Wheels Skate Center Ford | 111 | Running |
| 25 | 32 | 7 | Frank Kapfhammer/Louisville KY | Long John Silver's-Pepsi Chevrolet | 111 | Running |
| 26 | 36 | 26 | Brad Smith/Shelby Township MI | Central Michigan University Ford | 110 | Running |
| 27 | 30 | 34 | Darrell Basham/Henryville IN | Darrell Basham Racing Chevrolet | 109 | Running |
| 28 | 29 | 11 | Bryan Silas/Stuart FL | Nortrax-Shell Rotella T Ford | 106 | Accident |
| 29 | 22 | 12 | Alli Owens/Daytona Beach FL | ElectrifyingCareers.com Chevrolet | 75 | Accident |
| 30 | 26 | 23 | Donny Kelley/Humble TX | Porter Glass Chevrolet | 73 | Rear End |
| 31 | 19 | 71 | Tim George Jr./Petaluma CA | Gleukos All Natural Sport Fuel-TRG Motorsports Chevy | 69 | Accident |
| 32 | 28 | 21 | Chris Cockrum/Conyers GA | Berktek-Ortronics-Accu Tech Line Chevrolet | 67 | Accident |
| 33 | 9 | 09 | John Wes Townley/Watkinsville GA | Zaxby's-SPS-BB&T-Saxon Group Ford | 51 | Accident |
| 34 | 27 | 75 | Clay Rogers/Mooresville NC | Bob Schacht Motorsports Ford | 33 | Engine |
| 35 | 40 | 14 | James Hylton/Inman SC | Hylton Racing Dodge | 19 | Brakes |
| 36 | 35 | 24 | Mike Harmon/Birmingport AL | Mike Harmon Racing Chevrolet | 17 | Engine |
| 37 | 31 | 48 | Ben Stancill/Ayden NC | Quaker Steak & Lube Dodge | 13 | Accident |
| 38 | 39 | 94 | Jason Basham/Henryville IN | Darrell Basham Racing Chevrolet | 11 | Transmssn |
| 39 | 41 | 8 | Greg Seevers/West Milton OH | Norm Benning Racing Chevrolet | 2 | Vibration |
| 40 | 24 | 90 | Gabi DiCarlo/Phoenix AZ | Great Clips Toyota | 2 | Accident |
| 41 | 38 | 0 | Wayne Peterson/Pulaski TN | Wayne Peterson Racing Chevrolet | 1 | Handling |
| *Frank Kimmel was relieved by Will Kimmel |