The ARCA Racing Series will invade the Daytona International Speedway Saturday afternoon for the 2015 season opener. The Lucas Oil 200 presented by AutoZone will begin a long 20-race schedule for the series throughout the year. It provides a ton of challenges for the teams and drivers as they make stops at superspeedway, intermediate, road course and even dirt facilities.
The entry list for the Lucas Oil 200 includes 49 drivers from all over North America. Some of these drivers include Bobby Gerhart, Daniel Suarez, Frank Kimmel, Leilani Munter, Mason Mitchell, Patrick Starapoli, Daniel Hemric, Bobby Hamilton Jr., Cassie Gannis and Austin Wayne Self.
Frank Kimmel comes into the season opener still looking to find victory lane at Daytona despite having 80 career wins and 10 ARCA Racing Series championships. In 23 career starts at Daytona, Kimmel has finished second three different times, including last season behind winner Grant Enfinger. With the Indiana native making his debut with Venturini Motorsports, this could be the biggest chance he gets. If he is able to score the win this weekend, it will certainly be one of his biggest wins of his career.
Mason Mitchell Motorsports will not be playing around Saturday afternoon as they look to be one of the biggest threats all weekend long. Austin Wayne Self, who captured the 2014 Scott Rookie of the Year award, joins the championship racing team to pilot the No. 98 Ford. Team owner and 2014 Champion, Mason Mitchell, will pilot a second entry in the No. 78 Ford. If you’re into fantasy and need a solid pick for the race, these two drivers should definitely be on your list.
At the beginning of February, ARCA announced a format change to the way qualifying will be done at the 2.5-mile oval. Instead of the traditional single-car qualifying format, cars will now be placed in groups based on practice speeds. Each group will be on the track for a total of eight minutes. The top-30 positions will be set via group qualifying times. Positions 31 through 34 will be determined by 2014 owner points standings. The 35th through 39th spots will be determined by teams who completed during the entire 2014 season who are not already into the field. The 40th spot will be reserved for a past champion. If no past champion is able to fill the empty spot, it will be given to another team based on the final 2014 owner points.
The Lucas Oil 200 will air live on FOX Sports 1 Saturday at 4:15 p.m. Et. The Motor Racing Network will offer online radio coverage for the first time in ARCA Racing history. Practice and qualifying will not air on television, however, fans can follow online at ARCARacing.com. You will need to sign-up for a free account to access the content.
Weekend schedule:
Thursday |
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4:00 – 6:00 p.m. Et. |
Practice |
No TV |
Friday |
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9:30 – 10:30 a.m. Et. |
Final Practice |
No TV |
3:30 p.m. Et. |
Group Qualifying |
No TV |
Saturday |
||
4:15 p.m. Et. |
Lucas Oil 200 (80 laps, 200 mi) |
FOX Sports 1 / MRN |
About Me: Brett has been following the sport of NASCAR since the beginning of the 2006 NASCAR Sprint Cup season. Since Brett was 13, he has had a passion of chasing a job in sports that not many get the opportunity of doing. He has been in the NASCAR media since the middle of the 2010 season. Since then, he has been a part of many racing podcast shows to improve his talents. He has written for racingonfuel.com and theracingwheel.com. Currently, Brett writes for motorsportsnat.com and TracksideChatter.com. You can find him on twitter @NASCAR_Brett.
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