Frank Kimmel, the 10-time ARCA Racing Series presented by Menards champion who claimed that iconic title a month ago, will be part of NASCAR’s championship weekend at Homestead-Miami Speedway in two weekends where he’ll drive a No. 13 Ansell / Menards Toyota for ThorSport Racing in the Camping World Truck Series finale.
“It was such a shame we never got to find out how that truck would’ve raced.”
Kimmel hopes to do that next weekend, though his No. 13, which ran 10 races with a couple different drivers earlier this season, has fallen out of a guaranteed starting position in the Truck Series’ owners’ points.
If he makes the race it’ll be the 14th career Truck Series start for Kimmel, who’s started multiple races in all three of NASCAR’s national tours, in addition to winning the first NASCAR Touring Division race, for what’s now the K&N Pro Series West, when Kansas Speedway opened.
Kimmel ran the July Truck Series race at Iowa in another No. 13 Ansell / Menards truck and finished 21st. But that Tundra primarily carried the No. 13’s more typical primer-gray paint scheme.
Kimmel quickly agreed that this Homestead could be considered a “celebration race,” honoring not only Kimmel’s 10th career championship but also Menards’ first stock car championship and Ansell’s first racing championship, and now possibly Menards’ second if things go well for Crafton. It makes the “tribute” truck quite a bit more meaningful to Kimmel.
Kimmel, in the end, proved just how much of a racer he is, much as he did when he won his ARCA-record 80th career victory, at Kansas, even while he clinched his record-extending championship.
“The Camping World Truck Series is a reflection of not only where I came from in my racing career, but where a lot of drivers got their start,” Kimmel said. “I think in the Truck Series a driver can get his elbows up, get up on the wheel and make a difference getting around the racetrack.”
Thorsport PR