The 2017 ARCA Racing Series kicks off their 2017 in the Lucas Oil Complete Engine Treatment 200 driven by General Tire. The season opening race at Daytona is one of thrill and excitement for many drivers. This is the first of 20 races on the 2017 schedule.
44 drivers are hoping to compete in the late Saturday expedition. Notable names in the field consist of Matt Tifft, Noah Gragson, and Austin Theriault.
The first ARCA race ran at Daytona in 1964, resulting in a total of 52 races. Bill Venturini holds the qualifying record set back in 1987 at 200.209 mph. The race record was set in 1976 by Lennie Pond at 153.224 mph. Nine races have been won from the pole. Bobby Gerhart holds the records of eight wins with the closest driver being Iggy Katona with three wins. Gerhart also holds the most poles with four with Ferrel Harris holding three poles.
Drivers are excited to kick off the 2017 season.
“We had a really solid test,” he said. “This 55 team comes prepared each and every week. It showed back in January and I have no doubt it will show again this week with our Musselman’s Big Cup Toyota. VMS does their homework and they’ve always stood out during these restrictor plate races. With Billy Venturini as my crew chief, we’re going to be a force to be reckoned with come race time.”
Cunningham Motorsports is looking to defend their championship with Dalton Sargeant and Shane Lee.
“I know we have a fast car going into Daytona and I think we have a really good chance to win the race,” said Lee. “Working with the guys at Cunningham has been great and so much work has been put into this race; I really think we can take this No. 22 Big Tine Ford Fusion to the top of the leader board and stay there. It would be a great start to the season to come away with a win and it would obviously be a step in the right direction to keep the Series Championship back with Cunningham”
“I’m really starting to enjoy plate racing at these superspeedways,” said Sargeant. “It takes a completely different mindset to be at the end of these races and there’s still a lot of things I’d like to try while drafting, but I’m looking forward to having Chad Bryant help me out. The test proved we have speed, hopefully we come out on top and put the No. 77 Phoenix Construction, Cunningham Motorsports Ford Fusion in victory lane.”
Qualifying for the ARCA Racing Series will be at 3:30 p.m. EST. Arcaracing.com will have timing and scoring for the event. Fox Sports 1 will have the race broadcast beginning at 4:15 p.m. EST.
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