|
Justin Lofton in Victory Lane |
|
Brooklyn, Mich. (June 14, 2008) – Under bright blue skies, Eddie Sharp Racing's Justin Lofton drove to his first career ARCA RE/MAX Series win in the Race for Wildlife 200 at Michigan International Speedway. Qualifying on the outside pole and starting beside teammate Scott Speed, the Westmorland-native ran up front all day, calmly, and patiently taking the lead in the final laps for the win.
"This is definitely an emotional win for me," said Lofton. "I spun my tires on the start of the race and we lost several positions with our first pit stop. The guys did a great job on the next stop and we came out third, putting us in the position for the win. A big part of our success has been that my team owner Eddie Sharp came out of retirement to act as my Crew Chief and Lorin Ranier has spotted for me the last two races. As Lorin said recently, we have the A team going now!"
Despite being a "tick on the tight side," Lofton qualified the No. 20 Lofton Cattle Dodge on the outside pole with a 39.133 second lap on Thursday afternoon.
ARCA RE/MAX Series teams waited patiently on Friday afternoon, with all eyes on the Michigan sky. The raindrops began to pelt the pavement, first interrupting NASCAR Sprint Cup Qualifying, resulting in its cancellation. Next ARCA RE/MAX Series officials announced the postponement of the Racing for Wildlife 200 until Saturday morning. Teams scrambled to update travel plans and extend hotel rooms for the evening.
Teams returned to the track Saturday, with the garage opening at 7:00 a.m. Drivers climbed into their cars and the green flag dropped to start the 100-lap event at 8:30 a.m.
Lofton spun his tires on the start of the race, slipping to the fifth position. The Lofton Cattle Dodge remained there until the first caution on lap 21. Lofton reported to his team that the Charger was loose in Turns 1 and 2 and tight in Turns 3 and 4. The Lofton Cattle team jumped off pit wall and put four fresh tires on the car, added fuel and made an air pressure adjustment on the Dodge. An unfortunately long pit stop put Lofton back on track out of the top 10.
Lofton, poised and patient, climbed to the sixth position by lap 40. The SunTrust Rookie of the Year candidate continued to pick his way to the front, passing one car after another. By lap 55, Lofton was running in the third position.
The caution flag flew for only the second time on lap 59. Lofton, nearly out of fuel, made it to pit road for a full set of tires and fuel. Packed full, the team could now finish the race without another stop if necessary. The pit crew performed perfectly, getting Lofton back out on the track in the third position, where he restarted the race on lap 66.
Shortly following the restart, teammate Speed moved past Lofton. Speed did not maintain the position for long, with Lofton making his final pass on Speed on lap 79.
|
Eddie Sharp: Cometic Gaskets Crew Chief of the Race. |
|
Holding strong to second place, team owner and acting Crew Chief Eddie Sharp coached his young driver, "just hit your marks. He'll come to you, trust me."
And that is precisely what happed. By lap 84, Lofton was at the rear bumper of the leader [the No. 01 of Sean Caisse]. Only five laps later, Caisse wiggled in the turn and Lofton capitalized on the moment, moving into the lead on lap 90. Lofton maintained the lead for the final 11 laps, holding off a charging Ricky Stenhouse, Jr. for his first career ARCA RE/MAX Series victory.
"It is such a relief to get this win behind me," said Lofton with a big grin. "It's a huge weight off the shoulders. I came here an unknown kid from California, and deep down I knew I had the talent but I tried too hard to show it. I've spent the last couple of weeks with myself. I knew I needed to let the race come to me instead of attacking it. That's what we did and when the 01 had a problem in [Turn] 2, we moved past him. I want to thank everyone, my parents, my team, Eddie [Sharp], Lorin [Ranier], and Brad [Parrot] for all their hard work, support and advice."
Lofton added that "my dad has helped me a lot with my career. He has been a big supporter and given me the most advice about racing than anyone. Stock car, off-road racing, it's all the same. You have to save your equipment and be there at the end."
In addition to the win, Lofton earned the SunTrust Highest Finishing Rookie of the Race award and established a new race record with an average speed of 150.596 mph, shattering the previous record of 145.956 set by David Stremme in 2006. Crew Chief Eddie Sharp earned Cometic Gaskets Crew Chief of the Race honors.
|
Speed Finishes Fourth at MIS; Climbs to 2nd in Series Point Standings
|
Busy: Scott Speed also took third place in a photo finish at the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series Cool City Customs 200 |
|
Brooklyn, Mich. (June 14, 2008) - Scott Speed and his Red Bull team travelled to the Irish Hills of Michigan this weekend for the Race for Wildlife 200. With a flawless qualifying effort, the No. 2 Red Bull Toyota started on the pole at Michigan International Speedway, becoming the first repeat SIM Factory Pole award winner. The 100-lap event was postponed until Saturday morning due to rain Friday afternoon. Struggling with a tight condition, Speed wrestled the Red Bull Toyota home in the fourth position. Despite the disappointing finish, Speed and his Eddie Sharp Racing team climbed to second in the ARCA RE/MAX Series Championship points, only 95 points out of the top spot.
"There was definitely something wrong today that we just couldn't fix," said Speed following the race. "Hoosier changed the tires on us after qualifying, so I don't know if that was the issue or not. Something just did not agree with our Red Bull Toyota today. We were the best car out there, for the first five laps, that is. On a restart with fresh tires, we could jump out and dominate. After that, we fell off and did everything we could to stay in the top 5. I know my team worked hard to try to fix the problem but it still was very disappointing."
Speed qualified the No. 2 Red Bull Toyota in the pole position with a 38.895 second lap on Thursday afternoon. Teams returned to the track Friday afternoon for the 5:15 p.m. race. Ominous skies threatened the day's events, and when the rain finally arrived, it resulted in the race's postponement until Saturday morning.
"There was definitely something wrong today that we just couldn't fix... Something just did not agree with our Red Bull Toyota ..." -Scott Speed |
|
The Race for Wildlife 200 started under clear blue skies at 8:30 a.m. Speed immediately jumped out front and led the field for the first 14 laps before relinquishing the lead to the No. 15 of Brian Scott. Speed reported to the team that the car was "incredibly tight all around" and that "it's getting worse and worse with each lap."
When the first caution of the day came on lap 21, Speed was running in the fourth position. The No. 2 Red Bull Toyota came down pit road for four tires, fuel, and track bar and air pressure adjustments.
On the restart, Speed immediately climbed to the second position. He was fast and ready to challenge the leader when the car's condition tightened again. Speed slipped to third behind leader Sean Caisse in the No. 01 and Scott. Speed struggled to keep the car from climbing up the track, losing additional track positions. When the second caution of the day came out on lap 59, Speed was in the fourth position.
Speed radioed his team prior to pit lane being opened by ARCA officials, "the car is definitely worse after that last stop. I don't know, maybe we went the wrong way with that change on the last stop. But it definitely did not help it at all. It is even tighter now."
Crew Chief Patrick Donahue made the call to put on two scuff tires on the left side and two sticker tires on the right side of the Camry when Speed came to pit road. The team also went down with air pressures and added a half rubber in the right rear spring. Speed restarted in the fourth position on lap 63.
The day's final caution came one lap later, on lap 64. Speed reported to his team that "the 01 [Caisse] is incredibly loose out here. He's coming off the corner almost in a drift. We're just so tight, I don't understand." Speed added, "It definitely feels better compared to that first change that we made, but it's still really right."
The race restarted on lap 66. Speed went three-wide with the No. 20 of Eddie Sharp Racing teammate Justin Lofton and the No. 99 of Ricky Stenhouse, Jr. as they battled for positions 2 through 4. With 25 laps to go, Speed was in second place behind the No. 01. Lofton chased Speed down lap after lap. Speed was unable to hold the No. 2 Red Bull Toyota low on the track, lost momentum and slipped back to finish the race in the fourth position.
"We had something strange happen today," said Speed. "We had the field covered by quite a lot, and it seemed that no matter what we changed in the car during the race we couldn't fix the problem the tight condition. So, I don't have an answer yet, but we'll figure out what happened there and move on to our next race"
Despite the frustrating morning, Scott Speed jumped to second in the ARCA RE/MAX Series Championship point standings, only 95 points behind leader Ricky Stenhouse, Jr. |
Butler III Grabs a Top-Ten at Michigan
|
With his seventh place finish at Michigan, Ken Butler, III is currently tenth in ARCA RE/MAX Championship points |
|
Brooklyn, Mich. (June 14, 2008) – Eddie Sharp Racing's Ken Butler, III and his Aaron's Lucky Dog team travelled to Michigan International Speedway this weekend. Butler, III qualified in the 14th position on Thursday afternoon with a 39.831 second lap. The Racing for Wildlife 200 was postponed until Saturday morning due to rain Friday afternoon. In the closing laps of the race, Butler charged hard into the top 10, finishing the day in the seventh position.
"We had a good run today," said Butler following the race. "We really needed this top 10. The Aaron's Lucky Dog Toyota was in decent shape today. We've struggled a lot with this car at Pocono and here at MIS. We were 30th in practice, which was very disappointing and only qualified 14th. I do want to thank my guys for working on the car to improve it."
"We were better than a seventh-place car today," said Butler. "We should have been a top 5 car, but the pit stops just killed us. We drove past the same cars after each stop to regain our track position. ...I'm not exactly sure what happened, but it was very frustrating to drive forward and lose all that track position in the pits. " |
|
Friday afternoon ARCA RE/MAX Series teams waited patiently with all eyes on the Michigan sky. The rain made its appearance, first interrupting NASCAR Sprint Cup Qualifying, resulting in its cancellation. Next ARCA RE/MAX Series officials announced the postponement of the Racing for Wildlife 200 until Saturday morning. Teams returned to the track Saturday, with the garage opening at 7:00 a.m. Drivers climbed into their cars and the green flag dropped to start the 100-lap event at 8:30 a.m.
Butler was on the gas immediately, climbing to tenth by lap 10. The first caution of the day emerged on lap 21. Butler reported to his team that the No. 22 Aaron's Lucky Dog Toyota was "pretty tight". Coming to the pits, the over the wall crew quickly put four fresh tires on the Camry, added fuel, and made a wedge adjustment to try to free the car up just a little. Because the 22 team was short a man over the wall, Butler restarted the race in the 17th position.
Again, Butler made up track position on the next run, climbing to the 13th position by lap 55. The next caution came at lap 59. Butler radioed to the team that the car was still tight. Coming to pit road for the final stop, the team changed four tires, topped off with fuel, and made a track bar adjustment to free the car up some more. Butler was caught speeding down pit road as he left and restarted the race in the 19th position, at the tail end of the lead lap.
The final caution of the day came at lap 64, one lap after the restart. The Aaron's Lucky Dog Toyota was still in the 19th position. The race restarted at lap 66. Butler was the fastest he had been all day, reporting that the car was now "really free!" On lap 79 Butler took over the tenth position and in the remaining 20 laps, climbed three more to take the checkered flag in the 7th position.
"We were better than a seventh-place car today," said Butler. "We should have been a top 5 car, but the pit stops just killed us. We drove past the same cars after each stop to regain our track position. The guys did the best they could but we were short a carrier. I know the one that was supposed to come didn't show up, but it is unacceptable to start a race like that. I'm not exactly sure what happened, but it was very frustrating to drive forward and lose all that track position in the pits. The team worked on the car's handling all day and we finally got it free on the last run. So, we'll take the seventh place finish and move on to Canada."
Butler, III remains in the Top-10 in the ARCA RE/MAX Series Championship point standings, in the tenth position and 375 points behind leader Ricky Stenhouse, Jr.
| Next Stop: Eddie Sharp Racing's three ARCA RE/MAX teams will enjoy an off-weekend before traveling across the border to Nelles Corners, Ontario (Canada) for the Cayuga ARCA RE/MAX 250 at Cayuga Motor Speedway on Sunday, June 29th. |
|
Scott Speed 
Justin Lofton 
Ken Butler, III 
