For Immediate Release:
Tuesday, March 29, 2011
Patrick Sheltra Leads First Day, Tim George Jr. Tops Opening Session of ARCA Racing Series Testing at Talladega
(TALLADEGA, Ala.) - Patrick Sheltra, the 2010 ARCA Racing Series presented by Menards champion, finished atop today's open testing chart at Talladega Superspeedway with a best lap of 50.575 seconds (189.343 mph) in the No. 63 Sheltra Motorsports Toyota.
Sheltra, who drove 28 laps, was at the test to assist Milka Duno, who plans to make her first Talladega Superspeedway start on Friday, April 15 in the ARCA Racing Series 250. Sheltra owns the No. 63 Sheltra Motorsports entry and also secured the owner championship in the series last season.
Dakoda Armstrong, last season's winner at Talladega, finished the day second after a lap of 50.589 seconds (189.29 mph) in the No. 22 Cunningham Motorsports Dodge. Tim George Jr., who led the three-hour morning session, was third for the day in 50.732 seconds (188.757 mph). Kyle Fowler and Hal Martin, teammates at Venturini Motorsports, rounded out the top five.
Ty Dillon, Max Gresham, Pierre Bourque, Tom Hessert, and Maryeve Dufault comprised the remainder of the top 10 in a session which saw nine drivers top George's leading time of 51.936 seconds from the morning. The four-hour afternoon test session was the first to allow drafting practice on the 2.66-mile Alabama oval. In all, 18 drivers charted a lap on the first day. The full list of speeds from the afternoon session is below.
| ARCA Racing Series presented by Menards |
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| Talladega Superspeedway, 3-29-11 |
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| Open Test Afternoon Session Results |
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| POS | CAR | DRIVER/HOMETOWN | TEAM AND CAR | TIME | SPEED |
| 1 | 63a | Patrick Sheltra/Indiantown FL | Sheltra Motorsports Toyota | 50.575 | 189.343 |
| 2 | 22 | Dakoda Armstrong/New Castle IN | Ferrellgas-Syngenta Dodge | 50.589 | 189.290 |
| 3 | 31a | Tim George Jr./New York NY | RCR Development Chevrolet | 50.732 | 188.757 |
| 4 | 15 | Kyle Fowler/Smyrna GA | Venturini Motorsports Chevrolet | 50.747 | 188.701 |
| 5 | 55 | Hal Martin/Galliano LA | Venturini Motorsports Toyota | 50.757 | 188.664 |
| 6 | 41 | Ty Dillon/Lewisville NC | UNOH Chevrolet | 50.758 | 188.660 |
| 7 | 25 | Max Gresham/Griffin GA | Venturini Motorsports Toyota | 50.850 | 188.319 |
| 8 | 6 | Pierre Bourque/Ottawa Ontario | ESR Toyota | 51.460 | 186.086 |
| 9 | 52 | Tom Hessert/Cherry Hill NJ | Federated Auto Parts Toyota | 51.617 | 185.520 |
| 10 | 12 | Maryeve Dufault/Sorel Quebec | TMR Dodge | 52.115 | 183.748 |
| 11 | 5a | Bobby Gerhart/Lebanon PA | Lucas Oil Chevrolet | 52.959 | 180.819 |
| 12 | 31b | Tim George Jr./New York NY | RCR Development Chevrolet | 53.011 | 180.642 |
| 13 | 17a | Chris Buescher/Prosper TX | David Ragan Fan Club Ford | 53.124 | 180.258 |
| 14 | 63 | Milka Duno/Caracas Venezuela | Citgo Lubricants Toyota | 53.319 | 179.598 |
| 15 | 44 | Frank Kimmel/Clarksville IN | Ansell-Menards Ford | 53.774 | 178.079 |
| 16 | 82a | Sean Corr/Goshen NY | Empire Racing Ford | 53.924 | 177.583 |
| 17 | 5b | Damon Lusk/Kennewick WA | Bobby Gerhart Racing Chevrolet | 53.991 | 177.363 |
| 18 | 82b | Sean Corr/Goshen NY | Empire Racing Ford | 54.108 | 176.979 |
| 19 | 7 | Drew Charlson/New Bremen OH | Aluma Aluminum Trailers Chevrolet | 54.263 | 176.474 |
| 20 | 23 | Nick Igdalsky/Long Pond PA | Fox Realty Chevrolet | 54.556 | 175.526 |
Testing at Talladega Superspeedway will continue Wednesday with three hours of single-car runs starting at 9 a.m. Central, and four hours of drafting practice at 1 p.m. Central. ARCARacing.com will continue to carry live timing and scoring coverage from the track.
On-track activity for the ARCA Racing Series 250 at Talladega Superspeedway begins with practice and Menards Pole Qualifying presented by Ansell on Thursday, April 14, and concludes with the final practice and the 94-lap, 250-mile race on Friday, April 15. The race will air live on SPEED at 5 p.m. Eastern.
The ARCA Racing Series presented by Menards has crowned an ARCA national champion each year since its inaugural season in 1953, and has toured over 200 race tracks in 28 states since its inception. The series tests the abilities of drivers and race teams over the most diverse schedule of stock car racing events in the world, annually visiting tracks ranging from 0.4 mile to 2.66 miles in length, on both paved and dirt surfaces as well as a left- and right-turn road course.
Founded by John Marcum in 1953 in Toledo, Ohio, the Automobile Racing Club of America (ARCA) is recognized among the leading sanctioning bodies in the country. Closing in on completing its sixth decade after hundreds of thousands of miles of racing, ARCA administers over 100 race events each season in two professional touring series and local weekly events.
