TALLADEGA RACE REPORT
LOFTON TAKES THE CHECKERED FLAG AT 'DEGA!!!

TEAMMATES STEVE ARPIN: 11th; TIM GEORGE: 13th; CRAIG GOESS: 30th

"This is definitely an awesome win for me," said Lofton. "I am so excited for this. The guys deserved this win in Daytona! Everyone did a great job and we have the first one under us, so now we can move on to the next race. It feels really good to recover the points we lost last weekend in Rockingham. Now we are solely focused on Kentucky."

Despite being a "tick on the tight side," Lofton qualified the No. 20 Lofton Cattle Toyota Camry in the fourth position with a 51.381 second lap on Thursday afternoon.

After qualifying a strong 4th, the No. 6 Lofton Cattle Toyota Camry team was confident throughout the race. The team made no adjustments as the car rolled onto pit road for just one stop during a caution on lap 46, changing only the right side tires and fueling.

Lofton would restart in the second position on lap 49 and take the lead on lap 52 after a push from the No. 25 into turn 3. From there, Lofton would go on to drive it all the way into victory lane.

"We needed this one at Daytona," said Lofton. "We had an awesome car and an awesome race. I was just kind of picturing what Justin Allgaier did to Joey last year in this race during those last couple of laps and hoping that didn't happen to me. The only way to go big picture racing is to gain maximum points and the way to do that is to win races so that's what we did with the Lofton Cattle Toyota today."

As the checkered waved and Justin Lofton claimed his second career victory, he ecstatically came over the radio, "I had a great car, today. This car was built to lead races and to win races as it did today. I'm just sorry it came four races late."

Teammates Steve Arpin and Tim George, Jr. finished the race in 11th and 13th place, respectively. Craig Goess, Jr., who started the race on the outside pole, completed just 82 of 97 laps, unfortunately suffering from an overheating problem and finished the race in the 30th position.

Next Stop: The whole Eddie Sharp gang will travel to Sparta, Kentucky for the ARCA RE/MAX Series Drive Smart Buckle-Up Kentucky 150 Saturday night, May 9 at the Kentucky Speedway.

Craig Goess

TALLADEGA, AL. (April 23, 2009) – The grid is set for tomorrow's ARCA RE/MAX 250 at Talladega Superspeedway is finished.

A "Happy Hour" 45-minute practice will be run tomorrow from 9:30 a.m. - 10:15 a.m. The 94-lap race will see the green flag that afternoon shortly after 4 p.m. The race will be televised live on SPEED with additional live broadcasting available through the ARCA Racing Network (ARN) online at arcaracing.com. All times are local.

PRACTICE 1 UPDATE
LOFTON, GOESS, ARPIN: TOP-10 IN PRACTICE. GEORGE DIALING IN SET UP

Justin Lofton

TALLADEGA, AL. (April 23, 2009) – First practice session for tomorrow's ARCA RE/MAX 250 at Talladega Superspeedway is finished.

ESR's 4 squads are preparing for this afternoon's Menards Pole by Ansell qualifying session.

TALLADEGA SUPERSPEEDWAY
Eddie Sharp Racing Foursome Heads to Talladega

Crew Chief of the No. 81 Greenville Toyota Camry, Patrick Donahue

DENVER, N.C. (April 22, 2009) – Just four races into the 2009 ARCA RE/MAX Series season, the Eddie Sharp Racing foursome head to the Talladega Superspeedway for 250 miles of restrictor plate racing this weekend.

Last season, Eddie Sharp Racing fielded cars for Scott Speed, Ken Butler III, and Justin Lofton. This 2009 season has four teams entered, three of which have rookies piloting them. Those rookies include, driver of the No. 2 Ruby Tuesday Toyota Camry, Tim George, Jr., driver of the No.20 Full Force Archery Toyota Camry, Steve Arpin, and driver of the No. 81 Greenville Toyota Camry, Craig Goess, Jr. The fourth and remaining seat in the ESR crew is occupied by Westmorland, California's Justin Lofton.

Veteran driver, Justin Lofton, of the No. 6 Lofton Cattle Toyota Camry returns to the Talladega Superspeedway after finishing in the sixteenth position last season. Lofton says, "I'm really looking forward to racing at Talladega. We had a great test here a couple of weeks ago. The guys have been working incredibly long hours for this race and I really appreciate everything they've done. This should be an exciting race. You never know what can happen at a superspeedway. Hopefully we can stay out of trouble, avoid the ‘Big One' and leave here with the finish this Lofton Cattle team deserves."

The ESR teams are geared up for their final restrictor plate race of the season this weekend. Crew Chief of the No. 81 Greenville Toyota Camry, Patrick Donahue is pleased to return to Talladega, "I am excited to go to Talladega. We messed up the nose in the race at Daytona earlier this year and had to change the radiator and we didn't get as good of a finish as we had hoped for. After a good test at Talladega we think our car is better than it was at Daytona and hope to have another solid top-10 finish this weekend."

On board the No. 20 Toyota Camry this week for the ARCA RE/MAX 250 is Full Force Archery, Inc. Steve Arpin is thrilled to be a part of the partnership at the Talladega Superspeedway, "We are looking forward to starting a relationship w/ Full Force Archery, Inc. They are a relatively new company, with great people and new ideas, and it's going to be cool to be a part of and grow with them." -..read more

Tim George

No. 2 Ruby Tuesday Toyota Camry

455 points - Eigth in the ARCA RE/MAX Series Championship

Steve Arpin

No. 20 Full Force Archery Toyota Camry

425 points - Ninth in the ARCA RE/MAX Series Championship

Justin Lofton

No. 6 Lofton Cattle Toyota Camry

575 points - Third in the ARCA RE/MAX Series Championship

Craig Goess

No. 81 Greenville Toyota Camry

515 points - Fifth in the ARCA RE/MAX Series Championship

TALLADEGA SUPERSPEEDWAY
ARCA RE/MAX 250

DENVER, N.C. (April 21, 2009) –The ARCA RE/MAX 250 is the fourth of 22 events on the 2009 ARCA RE/MAX Series schedule. It will be the 47th ARCA race at Talladega and it is a two-day show.

Practice begins Thursday with a three-hour practice session planned from 10 a.m. - 1 p.m. Menards Pole by Ansell qualifying is set for later in the day slated to begin at 5:05 p.m. A "Happy Hour" 45-minute practice will be Friday from 9:30 a.m. - 10:15 a.m. The 94-lap race will see the green flag that afternoon shortly after 4 p.m. The race will be televised live on SPEED with additional live broadcasting available through the ARCA Racing Network (ARN) online at arcaracing.com. All times are local.

Eddie Sharp Racing is the first team owner in series history to field 4 fulltime teams. Sharp, who fielded cars for Scott Speed and Michael McDowell, currently has 3 rookies on his driver roster and 1 veteran. Those rookies include Greenville, North Carolina's Craig Goess, New Yorker Tim George, Jr. and Canadian Steve Arpin. All 3 rookies are in the top-10 in points: Goess 5th, George 8th and Arpin 10th.

The 4th seat in the ESR stable is occupied by Californian Justin Lofton, who competed fulltime on the tour in 2008. With 2 poles under his belt in the first 3 races of 2009, Lofton, who was leading in points going into Rockingham, fell to 3rd in points following a tough result at Rockingham.

TRACK FACTS
TALLADEGA SUPERSPEEDWAY
Location	Talladega, Alabama
Address	3366 Speedway Blvd, Talladega, AL 35160
Phone:	877-Go2-DEGA (877-462-3342)
Length	2.66-mile tri-oval
Banking	North and south turns: 33 degrees Grandstands tri-oval: 16.5 degrees
First ARCA Race	1969
EVENT SCHEDULE:
Thurs, Apr 23:	Practice 10:00 AM - 1:00 PM;
	Menards Pole Qualifying by Ansell at 5:05 PM (2 laps)
Friday, Apr 24:	Final practice 9:30-10:15 AM;
	ARCA RE/MAX 250 at 4:00 PM (all times local)

The race will be televised live on SPEED with additional live broadcasting available through the ARCA Racing Network (ARN) online at arcaracing.com. All times are local.