Three Wins for Bowman in '12, Three for Cunningham at Iowa;
For Immediate Release: Monday, July 16, 2012 News & Notes from Prairie Meadows 200 (TOLEDO, Ohio) - Alex Bowman's race-winning car at Iowa Speedway had not previously seen Victory Lane at the 0.875-mile oval, but the minds behind the car had. Friday's race win was the third at Iowa Speedway for Cunningham Motorsports. The team also won with Parker Kligerman on July 11, 2009 and again with Tom Hessert on July 10, 2010. Hessert finished in a race-record one hour, 39 minutes, and 24 seconds, an average speed of 105.634 mph. |
Bowman's winning chassis was No. 81 from the Cunningham shop, which now stands three-for-three after prior wins at the high-banked Salem and Winchester Speedways in Indiana. "It's kind of cool that we brought chassis No. 81, which has won every race it's run this year, all three of them," Bowman said. "Cunningham Motorsports has won here twice in the past. They have great car setups, but to be honest, we didn't take the car that has won here in the past. We kind of risked it here a little bit, but we just prepared by going back on previous notes from Parker Kligerman and Tom Hessert, so it was a great job by everybody." Bowman (No. 22 Manatt, Inc./St. Jude Children's Research Hospital Dodge) had to succeed on long and short runs at the end of the race for his third win of 2012 and his fifth victory in 13 ARCA Racing Series attempts. He had to persist through several caution-interrupted runs before passing Frank Kimmel (No. 44 Ansell/Menards Toyota) at the start of a long run on Lap 152. In the end, he was forced to hold Grant Enfinger away on a two-lap dash, part of a green-white-checkered finish. "At the end of the race, we got really, really tight on short runs," Bowman said. "I knew I got through (Turns) 1 and 2 better than Grant did, so I would just try to get through 1 and 2 and protect through 3 and 4. On that green-white-checkered, we were getting so tight going into 1 on short runs that I just had to get to the bottom and protect, so that's what we did and it worked out." Bowman is the 68th driver in ARCA's six-decade history with five wins in the national touring series. Buescher Leads Points for First Time: Friday's Prairie Meadows 200 was Chris Buescher's 45th race in the ARCA Racing Series presented by Menards, but the first after which he has led the point standings. Buescher (No. 17 BeavEx/Reliance Tool Ford) had a rough day by his own standards, finishing as the last car on the lead lap in 13th place. He had earned six consecutive top-five finishes before racing at Iowa. Buescher's below-average finish, though, did not keep him from making up what was a 25-point deficit to Brennan Poole (No. 25 The Ad Man/Midas Chevrolet) at the green flag. Poole crashed while leading just over 70 laps into the race and eventually finished 28th. He lost substantial ground in the standings and now trails Buescher by 45 points, 2695-2650. Alex Bowman's win vaulted him back to third place. He trails Buescher by 75 points and Poole by 30, and leads Frank Kimmel (No. 44 Ansell/Menards Toyota) by 30, 2620-2590. Chad Hackenbracht (No. 58 Tastee Apple Chevrolet) kept fifth in the standings with a sixth-place finish, and remains ahead of Matt Lofton (No. 16 Strutmasters.com Chevrolet) and Tom Hessert (No. 52 Federated Auto Parts Chevrolet), who traded positions. Just behind Hessert and in the same order as before to fill out the top 10 are Spencer Gallagher (No. 23 Allegiant Air Chevrolet), Ryan Reed (No. 15 RaceHard.com/Renton Coil Springs Toyota), and Nelson Canache (No. 66 Venezuela Tourism Chevrolet). The full and official ARCA Racing Series standings will be released Tuesday. Enfinger Looking Forward to Indianapolis: More so than many competitors in the ARCA Racing Series, Grant Enfinger (No. 36 Breland Homes Dodge) knows how to come close without wrapping up a drive to Victory Lane. In his first 40 career starts, Enfinger has led nearly 300 laps in all and earned 16 top-five finishes. Of those top-fives, he has finished third nine times, and his runner-up finish in Friday's Prairie Meadows 200 was his fourth such result. Enfinger has never won, but remained appreciative and optimistic after Friday's 202 laps. "We put a whole lot of effort into this and I appreciate Mike Allgaier for letting us do this," said Enfinger, who made his third start of the year but first in an Allgaier Motorsports entry. "I feel like we had a really, really good race car. We struggled on short runs. We struggled in sheer speed in practice and in the race. The first five or 10 laps, we didn't have the overall grip to run like we needed. But this team really showed what it's made of and made up a lot of ground in the long run. I appreciate (crew chief) Kelly Kovski making some great calls and doing everything he could on the box to help us seal the deal. We just came up a bit short." Dodge Fills Top Two for First Time Since 2010: July has recently been a good month for Dodge entries. Since 2009, the manufacturer has won seven of 12 races in the year's seventh month, far ahead of three for Toyota and two for Chevrolet. The maker is two-for-two this July with wins by Andrew Ranger at New Jersey and Alex Bowman at Iowa on Friday. Like Bowman, runner-up Grant Enfinger drives a Dodge, so Dodges filled the top two positions in an ARCA Racing Series finish for the first time since July 31, 2010, when Robb Brent won over Dakoda Armstrong at Pocono Raceway. Adding Bowman's wins at Salem and Winchester earlier in the year, Dodge has four wins in 2012, just as many as Chevrolet. Chevrolet continues to lead the manufacturer standings over Dodge, Ford, and Toyota, respectively, but Dodge trimmed the deficit Friday from 11 points to eight, 72-64. Ford is third with 55 and Toyota fourth with 48. Boat Happy with Strong Finish in ARCA Debut: Alex Bowman was not the only Arizonan making waves in the Prairie Meadows 200. Two spots behind the winner from Tucson was Phoenix's Chad Boat (No. 98 Curb Records/Celebrity Fight Night Chevrolet), who finished third in his ARCA Racing Series debut. "Any time you begin in a series, you expect to just go out there and complete all the laps," said the 20-year-old. "You try to get a strong finish, so we'll take the third, definitely, for our first run. We've been running in the K&N Pro Series East, which is a similar car, but obviously there's more horsepower here and it's a little bit heavier. We'll take the third. It's definitely a good showing and shows what our team is capable of, and we'll go on to (Lucas Oil Raceway)." Indeed, Boat plans to enter the July 27 Messina Wildlife Animal Stopper 200 at Lucas Oil Raceway at Indianapolis. He spent a portion of his childhood in Indianapolis while his father, Billy Boat, competed in the Indy Racing League's IndyCar Series. The elder Boat, now 46, won the USAC Western States Midget championship in 1995 before embarking on 75 career starts in the IndyCar Series. Billy Boat won one race, at Texas in 1998, and finished a career-high fourth in points in 2001. In 1998, he won the pole for the 82nd Indianapolis 500 just miles away from the spot where his son will make his next ARCA Racing Series start. "I had to make it through this race to go there as well, and it's unscathed, so we'll go up to Lucas Oil and try to put on a good show," Boat said. "I ran a USAC Midget there. I love that track and I spent some time in Indy racing USAC. It's kind of like going home, where I see my old friends from the open-wheel ranks. It'll be fun, for sure." Bowman Takes Race Awards, Closes on Poole Overall: Brennan Poole seemed like a runaway winner of the Aaron's Lap Leader Award for Friday's race, if not the race itself, through the first 74 laps. A cut right front tire on Lap 75, though, ended his run in contention. Instead, Alex Bowman led 93 laps overall, including the last 51, to take the Aaron's Lap Leader Award for Friday's race and close in on Poole's lead in the year-long category. Poole now leads by just 24 laps, 430-406. Bowman has led in a series-high eight of 11 races this year, including each of the last four. Bowman also earned his sixth 30-point score in the Team Messina Rookie Challenge, defeating all registered rookies in the race. More importantly, his success - matched against Poole's struggles - now draws him ahead of Poole in the overall rookie standings, 276-274. Bowman had trailed Poole by 16 points entering Friday. Six Match or Make Career Highs: Outside of Grant Enfinger and Chad Boat, four other drivers earned or tied career-best finishes Friday at Iowa Speedway. Clay Rogers (No. 42 Beard Oil Chevrolet) has made 13 ARCA Racing Series starts since 2003, but until Friday had only finished in the top five one time - at Rockingham in 2009. He finished fourth Friday after leading six laps in the first half of the race. Ryan Reed finished ninth for the second time in his career, edging by one position Mason Mitchell. Mitchell (No. 6 J&S Ag Services/Make-A-Wish Foundation Chevrolet) earned a top-10 in his first career start, a special moment for the West Des Moines, Iowa driver competing at his home track. He will make his second ARCA start in the Messina Wildlife Animal Stopper 200 at Lucas Oil Raceway at Indianapolis on Friday, July 27. Michael Leavine scored his first top-15 in six career starts, finishing 15th in the No. 95 WRL General Contractors Ford. Basham the Hard Charger for Second Time in Three Races: Darrell Basham (No. 34 Darrell Basham Racing Chevrolet) qualified 32nd for Friday's Prairie Meadows 200; he was the final driver to qualify on speed, meaning that he did not have to use a provisional to start. Basham improved 10 spots by the checkered flag, coming home 22nd. His 10-spot gain was more than any other driver in the field who raced with a CGS Imaging decal. Therefore, Basham won the CGS Imaging Hard Charger Award for Friday's race, his second such award in the last three races; he also won at Winchester. Now, Basham is tied for third with Chris Buescher in the year-long standings. Buster Graham leads Will Kimmel above Basham and Buescher. Kimmel Earns Sixth Iowa Top-10, Now Looking at 75...or 75: Frank Kimmel finished fifth in the Prairie Meadows 200, and in just five days will hit the number 75 in the ARCA Racing Series. In what manner he will hit 75 is now the question; Kimmel has 74 career wins in the ARCA Racing Series but has not won since September 13, 2008, a stretch of - you guessed it - 74 races. Kimmel will either win his 75th career race in the Ansell ActivArmr® 150 or see his winless streak pushed to 75 races. He credited crew chief Jeriod Prince's call for track position the key in earning a top-five at Iowa Friday. "The Ansell/Menards Toyota ran pretty decent all night," he said. "We were on a tightrope with the balance. If we tried to tighten it up off, it'd get so tight to turn in the middle and we struggled with that all day. It's frustrating, because we work on it every week. One of these days, we're going to figure it out. I'm really proud of the effort and the call to get the track position that allowed us to get up toward the front and get another top-five finish." Chicagoland Speedway is the next stop for the ARCA Racing Series presented by Menards, with the green flag just five days from today. The 1.5-mile oval will host ARCA for the 12th time since 2001 in the Ansell ActivArmr® 150. Practice will open Friday, July 20, from 7:05-8:35 p.m. Menards Pole Qualifying presented by Ansell will take place at 10:30 a.m. on Saturday, July 21, with the 100-lap, 150-mile race set to air live on SPEED at 5 p.m. All listed times are Eastern, one hour ahead of Chicagoland Speedway and Central Daylight Time. The race will be the 12th of 20 in 2012, and the fifth of seven in the Hoosier Tire Superspeedway Challenge. 2012 is the ARCA Racing Series presented by Menards' 60th Anniversary Season, featuring 20 races at 18 tracks. The complete 2012 event schedule is available at ARCARacing.com. 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 26 states since its inception. The series has tested the abilities of drivers and race teams over the most diverse schedule of stock car racing events in the world, visiting tracks ranging from 0.375 mile to 2.66 miles in length, on both paved and dirt surfaces as well as a left- and right-turn road course in its most recent season. This year, the series visited Alabama's Mobile International Speedway and Minnesota's Elko Speedway for the first time. Founded by John and Mildred 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 three professional touring series and local weekly events. CONTACT: Griffin Hickman, ARCA Don Radebaugh, ARCA |
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