DGR Crosley ARCA Menards Series Advance: Toledo Speedway

Hailie Deegan, No. 4 Monster Energy Ford Fusion
 
Hailie Deegan is ready to return to a short track this weekend and she will get two chances with an ARCA Menards Series doubleheader at Toledo (Ohio) Speedway. She shook off her bad luck last weekend with a ninth-place finish at Kansas Speedway in Kansas City after two consecutive DNFs.
 
The the 19-year-old has one prior ARCA start at Toledo. Last year she started 12th and finished 18th after an accident ended her race on lap 30 of 152. Needless to say, she did not get a lot of experience from that race, but does have notes from the laps she did run, as well as practice and qualifying.
 
The DGR-Crosley team is taking the same Monster Energy Ford Fusion which Deegan raced at Lucas Oil Raceway outside Indianapolis and Iowa Speedway in Newton. She was third at Lucas Oil and 18th at Iowa after a track bar mount broke while she was running in second place.
 
The ARCA Menards Series doubleheader from Toledo Speedway will be run on Friday, July 31 at 8 p.m. ET and Saturday, August 1 at 6 p.m. ET. Both races will be broadcast live on MAVTV and steamed on NBC Gold Trackpass. The 200-lap races will be broken into segments with competition breaks on laps 75 and 150.
 
Deegan on Toledo: “Having a doubleheader will be different since obviously you want to use the same car for both races. I think we’re just going out there and racing a hard race rather than focusing on each day itself. I have my notes from the one start I made at Toledo and I have my marks and stuff from last year, so it will help me get comfortable quicker there. Obviously with a new team the equipment is a little bit different and it’s better here, so I think we’ll have a better run. We get to qualify this weekend, so we should qualify better than last year and just try to go from there.”
 
Taylor Gray, No. 17 Ford Performance Fusion
Taylor Gray will make his third and fourth ARCA Menards Series Sioux Chief Showdown starts this weekend in the doubleheader at Toledo (Ohio) Speedway. For being a 15-year-old rookie, Gray does have the advantage of having already raced at Toledo once this season in the ARCA East race on June 13. He was in the middle of a three-wide fight for fifth place when he was spun with two laps to go. Unable to finish the race, he was credited with an eighth-place finish.
 
In two ARCA Sioux Chief Showdown starts this season, Gray has two top-five finishes. He was fourth at Lucas Oil Raceway outside Indianapolis and fifth at Iowa Speedway in Newton. His DGR-Crosley team will be taking the same No. 17 Ford Performance Fusion which he drove in both of those races to Toledo this weekend.
 
The ARCA Menards Series doubleheader from Toledo Speedway will be run on Friday, July 31 at 8 p.m. ET and Saturday, August 1 at 6 p.m. ET. Both races will be broadcast live on MAVTV and streamed on NBC Gold Trackpass. The 200-lap races will be broken into segments with competition breaks on laps 75 and 150.
 
Gray on Toledo: “I’m ready to go back to Toledo for my second time. I felt like we had a strong car there earlier this year and I have more confidence now that I have some experience under my belt. I think our team is getting better each week and I think we should be able to go there and contend for a win.”
 
Thad Moffitt, No. 46 Richard Petty Performance Plus Motor Oil Ford Fusion
Thad Moffitt will make his third and fourth starts at Toledo (Ohio) Speedway this weekend in the ARCA Menards Series doubleheader. In fact, Moffitt earned his first top-10 finish in the ARCA Series at Toledo when he finished 10th in 2018. He also competed there in 2017, but an accident ended his day early.
 
Moffitt, the grandson of NASCAR legend Richard Petty, has achieved the best results of his career so far this season. Prior to 2020, he had 15 starts with four top-10 finishes. This year alone, he has five top-10 and two top-five finishes in eight starts. The doubleheader at Toledo was not originally on Moffitt’s ARCA schedule, but he was able to secure funding to add these two races in hopes of being able to run the full season.
 
Moffitt will be driving the same No. 46 Richard Petty Performance Plus Oil Ford Fusion which he raced at Phoenix (Ariz.) Raceway, Lucas Oil Raceway outside Indianapolis and Iowa Speedway in Newton. He was 18th at Phoenix after a blown tire, fifth at Lucas Oil Raceway and 10th at Iowa.
 
The ARCA Menards Series doubleheader from Toledo Speedway will be run on Friday, July 31 at 8 p.m. ET and Saturday, August 1 at 6 p.m. ET. Both races will be broadcast live on MAVTV and streamed on NBC Gold Trackpass. The 200-lap races will be broken into segments with competition breaks on laps 75 and 150.
 
 
Moffitt on Toledo: “I like the racing style at Toledo. I like how the track races and the atmosphere there, although we don’t get to have fans this weekend. I’ve been pretty successful there in the past and I’ve had a few bad breaks. One year I was racing for seventh, or eighth and ended up getting in the infield grass a little with my left-front tire and spun into the foam blocks. All in all, I really like Toledo. I think it’s going to be really important to keep our car clean there the first night. I think the second night will be more racy since nobody wants to pull out the backup car for Saturday. We’ll get what we get on Friday, talk about it and then come back on Saturday with maybe a little better game plan, or if we do well we’ll just leave it the same and not touch it. It just depends on how it goes Friday night.”

DGR Crosley PR