17-Year old Chase Purdy will make his ARCA Racing Series presented by Menards debut Sunday at the Winchester Speedway driving for Mason Mitchell Motorsports (MMM). He will be behind the wheel of the No. 78 Bama Buggies Chevrolet for the 200-lap event.
MMM is coming off of a thrilling victory last weekend at the Pocono Raceway with Justin Haley behind the wheel. The victory marked the first for MMM during the 2017 season. The team has one prior victory at the Winchester Speedway in 2015.
“We had a great test last week that has me really confident for the race,” Purdy stated. “I think managing tires and being able to stay consistent with the track changes is going to be key. MMM has a great record at Winchester and they bring a lot of momentum into this weekend.”
“Talking with people, I feel that Winchester is one of the most difficult tracks on the ARCA schedule. All drivers want a challenge and I feel that Winchester is the best place to test my abilities as a driver. I’m looking forward to it. I don’t see any reason why we can’t go out and compete for the win.”
Purdy will pull triple duty this week with Winchester being the second race on the schedule. On Friday, he will race at Watkins Glen with the NASCAR K&N Pro Series East before heading to Winchester. On the following Wednesday, August 9, he’ll be racing a super late model in the ARCA/CRA Super Series.
Purdy is having a breakout season in the NASCAR K&N Pro Series. Prior to Iowa, he earned four straight pole positions. His speed has transferred to success in the races as well where has earned four second place finishes in ten starts this season including three in his last four races. He was also selected to the 2017-18 NASCAR Next class.
MMM and Purdy tested at the half-mile last week in preparation for this Sunday’s Winchester ARCA 200.
The Meridian, Mississippi, native began racing go-karts at the age of nine. After quickly finding success in karts he moved into U.S. Legend Car racing, starting with Bandolero cars when he was 12, then Legends at the age of 15 and was crowned the U.S. Legend Car Young Lion National Champion in 2015. In 2016, Purdy moved into full-size stock cars. He adapted right away to the heavier cars of the NASCAR Whelen All-American Series late model stock cars winning ten races and earning 20 top-10 finishes in 21 starts, enough to earn him not only the state award, but also the national NASCAR Rookie Of The Year title in the series.
Chassis Information: Purdy will make his ARCA debut driving a familiar chassis out of the MMM stable. He will race chassis No. 589. The chassis last raced at the Iowa Speedway with Mason Mitchell behind the wheel. Speedway. In 21 starts the chassis has two wins (Iowa 15 and Springfield 16), 13 top-five finishes and 18 top-ten finishes.
MMM at Winchester: MMM has three prior starts at the high-banked half-mile track. In those three starts the team has three top-three finishes. The team won the 2015 edition of the race. Winchester ARCA 200
The Winchester ARCA 200 will be tape-delayed on MAVTV, airing initially August 19 at 10 p.m. Eastern, and again on August 26 at 10 p.m. Follow live coverage of all the ARCA on-track activities at Winchester with Live audio, timing and scoring and Live chat at arcaracing.com Saturday and Sunday.
MMM PR
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