Michigan: Lofton wins ARCA race
Lofton, in the Lofton Cattle Dodge, capitalized on the late-race misfortunes of Sean Caisse and then kept Ricky Stenhouse, Jr. at bay to earn his career-first series victory in only his eighth series attempt.
"I came into this series as a young driver from California," said Lofton. "I knew that I had the talent to be successful here, but I came in a little too aggressive and trying too hard. The last couple of weeks I just relaxed, spent some off-time to myself, and regrouped. I came into this a lot more relaxed and just let the race come to me. Also, honestly I had Eddie Sharp as my crew chief the last two weeks, and Laurin Ranier as my spotter. Eddie Sharp is the best crew chief and car owner in the ARCA RE/MAX Series. This was an emotional win for us."
Lofton, who earned the SunTrust Highest Finishing Rookie of the Race award, became the eighth different winner after nine events in 2008. The Westmorland, California driver also established a new race record with an average speed of 150.596 mph, surpassing the old mark of 145.956 set by David Stremme in 2006.
Caisse, who led 51 of 100 laps, was leading with 12 laps to go when the Pelham, New Hampshire rookie made an unscheduled pit stop to replace a left-rear tire that had gone flat. Caisse, in the Shigeaki Hattori-owned Toyota, went one lap down in the exchange and finished 19th. Despite Caisse's misfortunes, he earned the Klotz Halfway Leader award and the Aaron's Lap Leader honors for leading the most laps.
Stenhouse, in the Roush Fenway Racing Ford, finished second nearly two seconds behind the winner. The Olive Branch, Mississippi driver also padded his point lead.
"We definitely didn't start where we wanted to (21st), but we knew we had a good race car," said Stenhouse. "We drove up through there to the first caution. I think we got up to 12th, then Lumpy decided to make a two-tire stop there. We got out in first and got the five points for leading a lap. The top three cars got by us with new tires, but we could stay right with them and they started coming back to us. Then we came in for our four-tire stop and got back out in the lead. It just wasn't too good on new tires but it was pretty good on old ones."
Frank Kimmel, who started 15th, steered the Ford Drive One-ECC Ford to the finish in third.
"We're really happy with it," said Kimmel. "It's the third race with this car for us and we're still learning on it. It's a car we got from (Jack) Roush. It's a really a nice race car; it's a lot better than we are right now."
Scott Speed, who fought a tight condition much of the race, finished fourth in the Red Bull Toyota. He also earned the Accel Fastest Lap of the Race award.
Brian Scott, in the Venturini Motorsports Chevrolet, battled back from a lap down to finish fifth.
SIM Factory Pole winner Speed led the first 14 circuits before Scott took control on lap 15. However, Scott gave up the lead to Stenhouse during first round pit stops when Stenhouse got off pit road first. Stenhouse led just two laps before Scott reassumed command. Then Caisse passed Scott for the lead on lap 31 and began to pull away from the field. Caisse led up through lap 59 before giving the lead back to Stenhouse during second round pit stops. But with Caisse on the continual charge, Stenhouse did not lead long before Caisse made the pass for the top-spot on lap 68. From there, Caisse continued to pull away from Lofton, who by then had also passed Stenhouse for position. But with a tire going down, Lofton quickly caught Caisse inside of 12 laps from the finish.
Patrick Sheltra finished sixth in the Ferguson Pipe-FloraGanics Dodge in front of Ken Butler III, who finished seventh in the Aaron's Lucky Dog Dream Machine Toyota. Jesse Smith finished eighth in the Lloyd's Barbeque-Hormel-Spam-Jones Group Dodge. Dexter Bean was ninth in the Glock Chevrolet. AJ Henriksen, who started 30th, finished 10th earning the Casite Hard Charger award for advancing the most positions.
Lofton's crew chief Eddie Sharp earned the Cometic Gaskets Crew Chief of the Race.
The next event for the ARCA RE/MAX Series will be the Cayuga ARCA RE/MAX 250 at Cayuga Motor Speedway in Nelles Corners, Ontario Sunday, June 29th.
Top-10 Unofficial Points After the Racing for Wildlife 200 at Michigan Int'l Speedway (6-14-08): 1) Ricky Stenhouse, Jr. 2015; 2) Scott Speed 1920, 3) Matt Carter 1890; 4) Frank Kimmel 1845; 5) John Wes Townley 1725; 6) Justin Allgaier 1680; 7) Patrick Sheltra 1675; 8) Tom Hessert III 1670; 9) Tayler Malsam 1660; 10) Ken Butler III 1640.
Results
|
FIN |
STR | NO | DRIVER/HOMETOWN | TEAM & CAR | LAPS | STATUS |
| 1 | 2 | 20 | Justin Lofton/Westmorland CA | Lofton Cattle Dodge | 100 | Running |
| 2 | 21 | 99 | Ricky Stenhouse Jr./Olive Branch MS | RoushFenway.com Ford | 100 | Running |
| 3 | 15 | 44 | Frank Kimmel/Clarksville IN | Ford Drive One-ECC Ford | 100 | Running |
| 4 | 1 | 2 | Scott Speed/Manteca CA | Red Bull Toyota | 100 | Running |
| 5 | 3 | 15 | Brian Scott/Mooresville NC | Venturini Motorsports Chevrolet | 100 | Running |
| 6 | 19 | 60 | Patrick Sheltra/Indiantown FL | Ferguson Pipe-FloraGanics Dodge | 100 | Running |
| 7 | 14 | 22 | Ken Butler III/Lilburn GA | Aaron's Lucky Dog Dream Machine Toyota | 100 | Running |
| 8 | 11 | 30 | Jesse Smith/Wildwood MO | Lloyd's Barbeque-Hormel-Spam-Jones Group Dodge | 100 | Running |
| 9 | 17 | 37 | Dexter Bean/Westby WI | Glock Chevrolet | 100 | Running |
| 10 | 30 | 7 | AJ Henriksen/Mooresville NC | Engineered Components Ford | 100 | Running |
| 11 | 5 | 00 | Robb Brent/Shelby Township MI | Abigayle Place-Orchard Chrysler Dodge Jeep Chev | 100 | Running |
| 12 | 16 | 46 | Matt Carter/Denver NC | Stine Seed-Hantz Group-Fort Dodge Animal Ford | 100 | Running |
| 13 | 8 | 09 | John Wes Townley/Watkinsville GA | Zaxby's Ford | 100 | Running |
| 14 | 20 | 66 | Bryan Reffner/Stevens Point WI | Hendren Motorsports Chevrolet | 100 | Running |
| 15 | 26 | 90 | Gabi DiCarlo/Phoenix AZ | Great Clips Toyota | 100 | Running |
| 16 | 13 | 32 | Chris Wimmer/Wausau WI | Win Tron Racing-Red Line Oil Dodge | 100 | Running |
| 17 | 22 | 5 | Bobby Gerhart/Lebanon PA | Lucas Oil Chevrolet | 100 | Running |
| 18 | 23 | 4 | Tayler Malsam/Seattle WA | Dodge Driver Development Dodge | 100 | Running |
| 19 | 7 | 01 | Sean Caisse/Pelham NH | Aisin AW Toyota | 99 | Running |
| 20 | 9 | 45 | Michael Phelps/Suwanee GA | Dodge-Bowen Family Homes Dodge | 99 | Running |
| 21 | 24 | 11 | Bryan Silas/Stuart FL | Nortrax-Shell Rotella T Ford | 99 | Running |
| 22 | 32 | 75 | Michael Simko/Clarkston MI | DenteMax Ford | 98 | Running |
| 23 | 18 | 1 | Tom Hessert III/Cherry Hill NJ | Maaco Auto Painting America's Body Shop Ford | 98 | Running |
| 24 | 27 | 12 | Alli Owens/Daytona Beach FL | ElectrifyingCareers.com Chevrolet | 97 | Running |
| 25 | 25 | 8 | Terry Jones/Amherstburg ON | Jones Group Racing Dodge | 97 | Running |
| 26 | 10 | 25 | Ryan Fischer/Surrey British Columbia | Venturini Motorsports Chevrolet | 96 | Running |
| 27 | 35 | 23 | Donny Kelley/Humble TX | Porter Glass Chevrolet | 95 | Running |
| 28 | 29 | 29 | Larry Hollenbeck/Kalamazoo MI | SWAT Fitness Chevrolet | 94 | Running |
| 29 | 12 | 39 | Matt Hawkins/Canton GA | JaniKing-Racing Radios Dodge | 93 | Axle |
| 30 | 36 | 26 | Brad Smith/Shelby Township MI | CCM Mold Design & Maintenance Ford | 93 | Running |
| 31 | 6 | 18 | Billy Leslie/Algonac MI | Titan Tires & Wheels Ford | 92 | Suspnsn |
| 32 | 41 | 08 | James Hylton/Inman SC | Fubar Energy Drink Dodge | 92 | Running |
| 33 | 33 | 34 | Darrell Basham/Henryville IN | Darrell Basham Racing Chevrolet | 91 | Running |
| 34 | 31 | 24 | Mike Harmon/Birmingport AL | Just1Shirt.com Chevrolet | 87 | Running |
| 35 | 37 | 06 | Tim Mitchell/Fayetteville TN | Star Wheels Skate Center Ford | 84 | Running |
| 36 | 28 | 77 | Todd Hansen/Farmington MN | Mad Croc Energy Drink-JDRF Chevrolet | 84 | Running |
| 37 | 4 | 16 | Justin Allgaier/Springfield IL | AG Tech-Hoosier Midwest-Hot Hues Chevrolet | 77 | Running |
| 38 | 39 | 94 | Brian Kaltreider/Reading PA | Independent Graphics Ford | 29 | Engine |
| 39 | 34 | 84 | Norm Benning/Pittsburgh PA | Norm Benning Racing Chevrolet | 28 | Oil Pump |
| 40 | 40 | 81 | Greg Seevers/West Milton OH | Norm Benning Racing Chevrolet | 1 | Vibration |
| 41 | 38 | 14 | John Graham/Aurora Ontario | Kickbutt Energy Ballz Ford | 1 | Engine |