Venturini Motorsports (VMS) announced today that 20-year old Cole Rouse will compete in the final two ARCA Racing Series presented by Menards season events starting with Friday’s General Tire Super Weekend: Crosley Brands 150 at Kentucky Speedway.
Rouse, a native of Fort Smith, Arkansas, will make his ARCA series debut driving the VMS prepared No.15 Musselman’s BIG CUP Apple Sauce Toyota at Kentucky Speedway. He’ll also drive in the series’ season finale at Kansas Speedway on October 20.
“This is an exciting opportunity – one we’ve been working on for some time,” said Cole Rouse. “The ARCA Series has long been a great launching pad for so many drivers, and to make my first start this week at Kentucky with Toyota and Venturini Motorsports is a huge honor.”
Friday night’s ARCA race on Kentucky’s 1.5 mile surface will mark Rouse’s first ever start on a track larger than one-mile. Rouse will get a warmup as he’ll join VMS for a scheduled series open test session at Kentucky today (Tuesday).
“To make it in this sport you’ve got to win. I’m excited but putting a lot of pressure on myself to be fast and compete for the victory Friday night. I’ve watched a lot of guys come into the ARCA series and win in their first race. I hope I can add my name to this list.”
If Rouse does indeed drive to victory lane Friday at Kentucky he’ll become the ninth different VMS driver to do so in their first series attempt.
The list of drivers includes Joey Logano (Rockingham, 2008), Scott Lagasse Jr. (Chicagoland, 2008), Sean Caisse (Rockingham, 2009), Brennan Poole (Salem, 2011), Alex Bowman (Madison, 2011), Austin Theriault (Michigan, 2014), Todd Gilliland (Toledo, 2015) and Christopher Bell (Salem, 2016).
Currently leading the CARS Super Late Model Tour driver point standings, Rouse has notched two series victories (Orange County and Concord Speedway) racing under the Toyota Racing banner with Kyle Busch Motorsports Super Late Model team.
Rouse finished seventh in the NASCAR K&N Pro Series West standings in 2016 after posting four top-five and 12 top-10 finishes resulting in an average finish of 7.6 across 14 events in his rookie campaign. He began his racing career at the age of 14, competing in mini-cup cars before advancing to Late Model competition in 2013. He led a race-high 145 laps of the All-American 400 at Fairgrounds Speedway Nashville in 2015, before being relegated to a fifth-place finish after a shock broke late in the race.
Venturini Motorsports, coming off Christopher Bell’s dramatic victory at Chicagoland Speedway last Thursday, now has 44 all-time ARCA Series Victories.
Race Day Schedule
Practice for the Crosley 150 is Friday afternoon, Sept. 22 from 1 – 2:30 p.m., followed by General Tire Pole Qualifying at 5:10 p.m. The Crosley 150 is scheduled to get the green flag just after 8:00pm and will be aired live on FOX SPORTS 1.
VMS PR
