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 ATLANTA,
GA (March 9) -- In the closest finish in the history of ARCA
competition, Damon Lusk narrowly beat Chad Blount in a race to the
line in the Pork The Other White Meat 400, as rain shortened the
second consecutive ARCA RE/MAX event of the season. Lusk led what
turned out to be the final 30 laps en route to the historic win for
the Kennewick, WA driver. The rain began falling with the race well
past the official half-way point allowing ARCA officials to declare
the race complete. The margin of victory was the narrowest in the 50-year history of the ARCA series--a scant .001 of a second. The
victory was Lusk's first in just 19 attempts.
A forty-car field took the green flag Saturday afternoon at
Atlanta Motor Speedway with rookie Chad Blount on the pole. The
Walkerton, IN driver set a new track record in qualifying of 29.345
seconds (188.925 mph) on the 1.54-mile oval. Defending Series
Champion Frank Kimmel used his outside pole position to get the jump
at the drop of the green over young Blount. Kimmel looked to be in
control of the race when a cut tire sent the veteran driver into the
wall in turns one and two. Thankfully Kimmel was uninjured but the
accident ended any hopes for a win for the Jeffersonville, IN driver. Chad
Blount took over the race lead on lap 52 before giving way to young
Jason Jarrett two laps later. Jarrett led the next 28 laps before
Damon Lusk took over the race lead after starting eighth. Lusk was
leading when the rain came prompting a race to the stripe between
himself and a hard charging Chad Blount. When the two crossed the
finish line on lap 118, it was Damon Lusk by literally a nose over
Blount in a photo finish ending to the Pork The Other White Meat 400
event. Finishing third behind Blount was another rookie hot shoe,
Cam Strader. Strader started the race 16th. Rounding out the list of
finishers on the lead lap were: Michael Vergers, fourth; Jason
Jarrett, fifth; Andy Belmont, sixth; Billy Venturini, seventh; Tina
Gordon, eighth. Gordon was making just her third ARCA RE/MAX
start. Ron Cox won the Hoosier Performance Tire Hard Charger
Award for advancing the most positions. Cox finished in 12th place
after starting 29th. Hoosier ARCA Product Manager Jeff Speer
attended the rain shortened event and commented, "We have used this tire
set-up at Atlanta since the November 2000 race and it has proven very successful
since then. Normally, the Atlanta race is in November. This year it
was moved to March." Speer continued, "The track was
green (no rubber on the track) since there had been no racing since last November.
We were pleased to see the normal 'graining' on the tires,
and the more practice and qualifying that took place, we realized that
tire wear would not be a factor in the race." Speer concluded,
"The first pit stop came on lap 51 for gas and tires. After
inspecting the leader's tires, we observed that the wear on the top four
drivers was so good they could have gone another 25 laps. So at this
point, we don't plan to change a thing for next time." After
his runner-up finish, and on the heals of a 4th place finish at
Daytona, rookie Chad Blount takes over the ARCA points lead with 460
points. In second place is Damon Lusk with 440 points. Jason Jarrett
resides in third place with 375 points. The 3rd race on
the ARCA schedule is April 12, at Nashville Superspeedway where
hopefully, Mother Nature won't have a say in the outcome. Hoosier
Racing Tire Corp. is proud to be the exclusive tire supplier to the
ARCA RE/MAX series. |
