After an 11-year hiatus from stock car racing, Tyler McQuarrie strapped in behind the wheel of the No. 59 Lira Motorsports Safecraft Ford Fusion for his first career start in the ARCA Racing Series presented by Menards.
With only four stock car races on his career-long resume, McQuarrie impressed at Salem Speedway in the Kentuckiana Ford Dealers 200. After qualifying in the sixth position, McQuarrie was confident in his car and his team to be able to clinch a decent finish.
“We qualified extremely well for my first ARCA start,” McQuarrie said. “I was happy with how fast our equipment was, and I was stoked for the race. I knew it was going to be a tough race because Salem has a lot of character. It’s a difficult track, but once we qualified that high on the leaderboard, I was ready to go.”
Momentum is what got him through the race to finish in the 11th position. After the first ten laps of the race, McQuarrie began to fall back within the field so that he could save tires. At a track like Salem, that’s one of the key factors in finishing the race. However, after being lapped by the leaders, he remained a lap down.
After the final pit stop, he had the fastest car on the track, but a caution flag never flew for him to receive the Lucky Dog pass to get him back on the lead lap.
“Yeah, we went a lap down and unfortunately couldn’t gain it back, but we had the fastest car on the track in the final laps, and that’s something to be proud of. This team gave me a great car, and I can’t thank them enough for letting me get behind the wheel. Thanks to Carlos for letting me join the team as well.”
Lira Motorsports and Tyler McQuarrie would like to thank Safecraft, Mobil 1, and GoPro for hopping on board of the No. 59 Ford Fusion this weekend as Salem Speedway.
Lira Motorsports PR
