ARCA Menards Series
General Tire 100
Talladega Superspeedway
June 20, 2020
Race Highlights:
· The General Tire 200 was the third event of the 20-race season and the first since March due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
· Venturini Motorsports (VMS) fielded three Toyota Camry’s: No. 15 Drew Dollar, No. 20 Ryan Repko and No. 25 Michael Self.
· With a condensed at-track schedule, officials held a 30-minite practice session Saturday morning, allowing cars to hit the track for five-minutes in groups of five. At the end of their session Self, Repko and Dollar lined up third through five respectively.
· Qualifying was set off 2019 owner’s points. Repko would lead the field, followed by Dollar in second and Self in fifth.
· Dollar made quick work at the start of the race, taking over the lead from his teammate Repko, where he settled into third. Self, caught on the high-side, was able to get in-line in 6th. In a relatively uneventful first half of the race, the teammates wound down the laps until the lap-38 caution for the midway break.
· During the midway break everyone came to pit road, where their crews performed minor adjustments, checked over everything and filled up their Toyota Camry’s with fuel.
· Working together to take over the lead, all three drivers found themselves in line charging past the leaders. In a wild turn of events, Self was sent sideways by the leader, but through some masterful driving, saved the car and kept it under its own power.
· Dollar sped off with the lead, while Repko chased him down through the tri-ova. Dollar would ultimately cross the start/finish line victorious, in only his fifth ARCA Menards Series start and giving the team their first Talladega Superspeedway victory. Repko would finish second and Self battled back to fifth.
· On deck next for VMS is the ARCA Menards Series race at Pocono Raceway on Friday, June 26th. The team will field Toyota entries for: No. 15 Drew Dollar, No. 20 Chandler Smith and No. 25 Michael Self
Drew Dollar No. 15 Lynx Capital, Dollar Concrete Construction Company Toyota Camry
“It feels really good to get our first ARCA win out of the way early this season. Talladega Superspeedway is about the coolest place I could have hoped to win at, it’s really a dream come true. I’m also really proud to get the Venturini Motorsports team their first win at Talladega. We had a really good Toyota Camry all day and put ourselves in the right position at the end to bring home the win. Focus is now all to Pocono Raceway next week.”
Start – 2 Finish – 1 Laps Led – 37
Ryan Repko No. 20 Craftsman Toyota Camry
“We had a great Toyota Camry this weekend at Talladega (Superspeedway). I’m thankful to be able to finally get a good run and we are looking forward to carrying that momentum to my next race.”
Start – 1 Finish – 2
Michael Self No. 25 Sinclair Oil, Champion Power Equipment Toyota Camry
“What a wild finish to an otherwise calm day. I figured the race was going to go one of two ways with people getting single file for lots of laps, or lots of really aggressive racing towards the front, and frankly we ended up getting a bit of both at the end. Our No. 25 Sinclair Oil, Champion Power Equipment Toyota Camry worked better with some cars than with others and unfortunately during the first half I just couldn’t get lined up with someone that worked well with us and we lost the draft. After making a few small changes and trying some different things for the second half that kept us up there and put us in a really good position to contend for the win at the end. That was some extremely hard racing the last few laps and it was a lot of fun. We timed things perfect as a team to make a run for the lead and even though it didn’t work out for me, I’m glad VMS was able to get their first checkered flag at Talladega Superspeedway.”
Start – 5 Finish – 5 Points – 1st