Michael Self and Sinclair Oil Put ARCA Menards Series Championship Dreams on the Line in Kansas Finale
October 16, 20191.jpeg)
Eight months in the making
and the ARCA Menards Series championship title fight between Michael Self and
Christian Eckes comes down to the final race of the season Friday night at
Kansas Speedway.
Self, a four time winner on tour in 2019, held
the top spot in the standings throughout the summer schedule until recently
relinquishing the position two weeks ago to teammate Christian Eckes at Lucas
Oil Raceway.
"On one hand it was definitely disappointing
to lose the points lead after LOR, especially having led since the early part
of the season, but on the other, we're now headed to Kansas with nothing to
lose on our end." Self says. "Kansas is one of my favorite tracks, and knowing
that we're going in without having to be conservative or playing it safe at all
kind of eases my mind. We can take risks and gamble this weekend and not have
to worry about the outcome, and if that's what it comes down to then we'll see
if we can make it pan out."
With the shift at the top of the board Self now
finds himself entering the final race trailing Eckes by a mere 15-points
(equivalent to three positions on the track). Down but not out, Self is set to
slide back into the seat of his Sinclair Oil Toyota and tug on his belts one
last time in search overtaking Eckes for the Championship title.
If there's an advantage heading into the
head-to-head battle it swings back to Self, who's been masterful on the larger
tracks throughout his career. A former winner at Kansas (2017), the
28-year-old from Salt Lake City, Utah has earned four of his seven career
victories on tracks larger than 1.5-mile in length.
"I think it's fairly widely known that I'm
much more partial to the intermediate tracks than the short tracks," says Self.
"I always look forward to these races no matter what's on the line. Frankly, I
wasn't all that excited about the last part of the season schedule because
there were a couple tracks that were unknowns for me and other tracks that I
don't really like, but Kansas has been circled on my calendar all year. I've
always really enjoyed racing there, especially under the lights at this time of
year. Sinclair has always had a huge support section at this race as it's a
pretty strong market for them, so it always makes it fun."
Seeking his first ARCA national championship
Self enters Kansas with one goal - winning the race outright and securing the
title. In 19-season starts leading up to the finale Self is determined to add
his fifth victory and improve on his 13 top-five and 14 top-10 finishes.
Throughout the season he's scored five General Tire Pole Awards and has led 480
of 2,282 laps on the season.
The ARCA Kansas 150 at the 1.5-mile Kansas
Speedway will close the 2019 ARCA Menards Season on Friday, October 18. The
100-lap/150-mile feature event will go green at 8:30pm ET and will be shown
live on FOX SPORTS 2 with an immediate replay on FOX SPORTS 1.
