Frank Kimmel finished fifth in Saturday’s ARCA Racing Series presented by Menards Scott 150 at Chicagoland Speedway. It was his second consecutive top-5 and his 271st overall during his storied career.
Kimmel, who qualified sixth, once again found himself in the hunt for the top spot.
After a successful practice session Friday afternoon, the GreenWorks-Menards team had the No.25 Toyota dialed-in for the 100-lap event. At the onset of the race Kimmel would maintain a top-10 running position as several early caution flags stalled his progress.
Once the field settled, Kimmel would use the strength of his No.25 car to move up into the fourth position by lap-20. A motivated Kimmel would continue to march forward maintaining his position solidly inside the top-5 by the midway point of the race.
Kimmel would continue to improve working his way up to the second position. A caution on lap-64 would restack the field giving Kimmel a shot at eventual race winner, Ryan Reed. But a slow restart would shuffle Kimmel back to sixth. After the restart and inside the final 30-laps of the race, Kimmel would report a “bad push” causing his progress to slow. Kimmel would battle back during the closing laps and regain his fifth position where he’d eventually finish.
“We came up a bit short today but I’m happy with the team’s performance,” said Kimmel. “The team has been strong and continues to get better every week. It’s only a matter of time before we get back on top.”
After three consecutive races behind the wheel, Kimmel will once again relinquish his seat to Brandon Jones for next week’s return to Winchester Speedway for the Herr’s Chase the Taste 200 event Sunday afternoon.
Kimmel and Jones co-pilot the No.25 Menards Toyota and together have combined for six top-5 and eight top-10 finishes during the first 10 races of the season – their combined efforts put the No.25 second in the ARCA Owner Championship Point Standings.
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