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ESR's Michael McDowell led the ARCA RE/MAX Series in laps in 2007 |
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TOLEDO, OH, (November 14, 2008) –Eddie Sharp Racing’s No. 2 Red Bull Toyota was a familiar sight at the front of ARCA RE/MAX Series fields in 2008, leading a Series’ high 407 laps in 14 races to earn the Aaron’s Lap Leader award. It marks the second consecutive year that the team has earned the season-end award.
Sharp’s up-and-coming Formula One racer-turned stock car driver, Scott Speed, led laps in 14 of a possible 21 races in 2008. The 2008 Aaron’s Lap Leader Award, along with the $5,000 cash prize that comes with it, will be presented at the ARCA RE/MAX Series Championship Awards Banquet at the Northern Kentucky Convention Center on Saturday evening, December 6th.
Speed began the 2008 ARCA RE/MAX Series season with limited stock car experience but it did not take long for him to find the front of the field in Toyotas prepared by crew chief Patrick Donahue and the Eddie Sharp Racing Team. The team led their first laps in only the second race of the season at Salem Speedway on April 13th in Speed’s short track racing debut. The team would go on to lead laps at Iowa Speedway, Kansas Speedway, Kentucky Speedway (May and July), Toledo Speedway, Pocono Raceway (June and August), Michigan Int’l Speedway, Berlin Raceway, Nashville Superspeedway, Chicagoland Speedway and the Fall Salem Speedway race.
Speed posted four wins, ten top-5 finishes, 17 top-10 finishes and three SIM Factory Pole Awards in the ARCA RE/MAX Series this season. He was followed in the Aaron’s Lap Leader standings by Justin Allgaier’s 353 laps led in ten races, Frank Kimmel’s 333 laps led in seven races, Matt Carter’s 280 laps led in five races and Joey Logano’s 272 laps led in two races.
2008 marks the second consecutive year in which Eddie Sharp Racing has led the ARCA RE/MAX Series in laps led. In 2007 Michael McDowell led 822 laps in 15 races in Sharp’s No. 2 ARCA RE/MAX Series entry. McDowell also led the 2007 ARCA RE/MAX Series in SIM Factory Pole Awards (nine) and race wins (four).
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| Aaron’s Lap Leader Award Winners, 2008-1978 |
| Year |
Driver |
Laps Led
/Races |
| 2008 |
Scott Speed |
407/14 |
| 2007 |
Michael McDowell |
822/15 |
| 2006 |
Frank Kimmel |
445/13 |
| 2005 |
Joey Miller |
1002/15 |
| 2004 |
Frank Kimmel |
1027/17 |
| 2003 |
Frank Kimmel |
1042/17 |
| 2002 |
Frank Kimmel |
1237/20 |
| 2001 |
Frank Kimmel |
1474/20 |
| 2000 |
Frank Kimmel |
966/13 |
| 1999 |
Bill Baird |
830/15 |
| 1998 |
Frank Kimmel |
893/14 |
| 1997 |
Tim Steele |
1412/19 |
| 1996 |
Tim Steele |
1513/20 |
| 1995 |
Bobby Bowsher |
564/10 |
| 1994 |
Bobby Bowsher |
559/12 |
| 1993 |
Tim Steele |
632/12 |
| 1992 |
Bob Keselowski |
362/14 |
| 1991 |
Bob Keselowski |
412/7 |
| 1990 |
Bob Keselowski |
421/12 |
| 1989 |
Bob Strait |
341/6 |
| 1988 |
Bob Keselowski |
639/8 |
| 1987 |
Bill Venturini |
494/10 |
| 1986 |
Grant Adcox |
276/4 |
| 1985 |
Ed Hage |
289/3 |
| 1984 |
Davey Allison |
454/9 |
| 1983 |
Bob Schacht |
298/6 |
| 1982 |
Marvin Smith |
167/5 |
| 1981 |
Marvin Smith |
222/4 |
| 1980 |
Marvin Smith |
311/6 |
| 1979 |
Marvin Smith |
128/7 |
| 1978 |
Marvin Smith |
340/5 |
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Frank Kimmel and Tim Steele, who are ranked first and second among all time lap leaders, both have multiple seasons which they have led 1,000 laps or more in a single season of competition. Steele led 1,513 laps in 20 races in 1996 and 1,412 laps in 19 races in 1997. Kimmel led a career high 1,474 laps in 20 races in 2001 and went on to lead more than 1,000 laps in 2002, 2003 and 2004. In 2005, Joey Miller earned the lap leader award in his rookie season of ARCA RE/MAX Series competition with 1,002 laps led in 15 races.
2008 marks the first year that Aaron’s has sponsored the Lap Leader award. Aaron’s also sponsors the ARCA RE/MAX Series’ Lucky Dog program and in 2008 the company was frequently featured on the No. 22 Eddie Sharp Racing Toyota driven by Ken Butler, III in the ARCA RE/MAX Series.
The Aaron’s Lap Leader Award will be presented at the ARCA RE/MAX Series Championship Awards Banquet at the Northern Kentucky Convention Center in Covington, Kentucky on Saturday evening, December 6th. The banquet is open to the public and tickets are available by calling Shalene Williams at the ARCA Office (734) 847-6726.
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