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 DAYTONA
BEACH, FL (February 7) -- Eighteen-year-old Kyle Busch came from a lap
down to win the season-opening ARCA RE/MAX Series "Advance
Discount Auto Parts 200" race at Daytona on Saturday. For Busch,
it was his third win in just eight starts in the series as the
talented hot shoe will move on to a full-time ride the NASCAR Busch
Series out of the Rick Hendrick stable. Busch narrowly beat defending
ARCA Series champion Frank Kimmel to the finish line. The Las Vegas,
NV, native bested Kimmel, winner of seven ARCA races last season, by
just .128 seconds. The race's final lap had 21 drivers battling for
the win with 21 of the 41 race starters finishing the exciting race on
the lead lap. Hoosier Racing Tire Corp. is the exclusive tire provider
to the ARCA RE/MAX Series which has a 22-race schedule. The series
tests the skills of its competitors on both dirt and asphalt surfaces
ranging from tracks as small as 4/10ths of a mile to tracks as large
as Talladega's massive 2.66-mile track.
The race began with Pork Pole Award winner Bobby
Gerhart taking the lead at the drop of the green flag. Gerhart, who
was the fastest all week in practice, led the race's first four
circuits before giving way to outside pole sitter and teenage racing
phenom, Kyle Busch.
For Busch, it would be the first of two times leading
the 80-lap race. Busch maintained the race lead until lap 19, when
17th starting Greg Sacks took over at the point. Sacks led through lap
30, when Jeff Kendall took a turn leading the prestigious race. The
25th starting Kendall then turned over the race lead five laps later
to Frank Kimmel.
From there, the fourth starting Kimmel led the next 25
laps, before young Busch took back the lead for good on lap 61, after
going a lap down after a pit road violation. Despite the setback,
Busch passed 20 cars en route to retaking the lead from Kimmel. Busch
led the remaining 20 laps to take the win by .128 seconds over the
charging Kimmel. The pair were followed by Billy Venturini, Shane
Hmiel, and Ryan Hemphill to round out the top five. Venturini charged
from his 35th starting spot to claim the final podium position.
Rounding out the list of top ten finishers were Bobby
Gerhart in sixth followed by Chad Blount, Clint Bowyer, Mike Langston
and Jeff Kendall. Blount, from Walkerton, IN, replaced Deborah Renshaw
in one of the two Braun Racing cars en route to his seventh place
finish. The other Braun car was driven by fifth place finisher Ryan
Hemphill.
The race, which had five cautions for a total of 32
laps, was completed in 1:39:40. The five caution periods slowed the
average speed of the race to just 121.131 mph. Bobby Gerhart won the
Pork Pole Award as the fastest race qualifier circled the track in
48.309 seconds or 184.309 mph. Kyle Busch won $33,385 for the top
finish, while Jason Jarrett won the Hoosier Tire Hard Charger Award
for advancing the most positions from a non-provisional starting spot.
Jarrett finished 14th after starting 32nd.
Hoosier's ARCA Series Track Service Manager Doug
Barnes commented after the event, "I have never had an ARCA event
with more compliments from the teams and drivers about our
(Hoosier) tires than I did after Daytona. Almost every competing team
took the time to compliment us (Hoosier) on the tires used during the
event." Barnes noted that the tire set-up was the same that was
used last season at Daytona.
The next event on the ARCA Series schedule is the
"PFG Lester 150" at Nashville Superspeedway on April 9th.
Ironically, that was one of Kyle Busch's three ARCA wins and came in
last season's second event.
Hoosier Racing Tire Corp. is proud to be the exclusive
tire provider to the ARCA RE/MAX Series during the 2004 racing season.
For more information on the ARCA RE/MAX Series and the
Daytona race results visit www.arcaracing.com.
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