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 SPARTA,
KY (July 12) -- Walkerton, Indiana rookie Chad Blount won his second
ARCA RE/MAX Series race of the 2002 season on Friday. Blount won
the Blue Grass Quality Meats 200 at Kentucky Speedway. The 22-year-old
driver elected not to pit under caution with less than 25 laps
remaining in the 134-lap race which proved to be the difference for
the young hot-shoe. Blount's second win comes in just his 19th series
start. The win also moved the young rookie back into second place in
the series standings behind defending series champion Frank Kimmel.
Forty cars made up the starting grid for the Blue
Grass Quality Meats 200 on the 1.5-mile Kentucky Speedway Tri-Oval.
Frank Kimmel took the lead at the drop of the green flag. Kimmel led
the next 106 of 109 laps before electing to pit on lap 109. Blount
however, opted to remain out gambling that his tires and fuel would
hold out the final 25 circuits.
The bet paid off for the young driver. He had just
enough fuel and the tires went the distance after having last pit for
tires on lap 70 in the 134-lap race.
The jubilant Blount commented from the winner's
circle, "The more we raced on the Hoosiers, the better they got;
so I knew if we could stretch the fuel, we’d be good to go."
Blount's 121.348 mph average speed also broke the previous best speed
(120.060 mph) set by Frank Kimmel in last year's event.
Finishing in second place was Frank Kimmel followed by
NASCAR Winston West Series regular Austin Cameron in third. Just six
cars managed to finish the 134-lap race on the lead lap. Jason
Jarrett, Mark Gibson and Jerry Glanville completed the list of lead
lap finishers. Glanville, the former NFL coach and commentator, also
won the Hoosier Performance Tire Hard Charger Award for advancing the
most positions after starting 33rd in the field.
Jeff Speer, Hoosier's ARCA Product Manager said, "This is Hoosier Tire's second race on the newly repaved
racetrack and the tires worked great all night." Speer added,
"We brought a tough compound here to resist the extreme heat that
normally comes with new asphalt. The tires do take some getting use to.
But most of the teams were able to drive competitively after warming the tires up for a few laps."
Speer concluded, "Tire wear was not an issue for the teams so it
came down to how long they could go on fuel."
Frank Kimmel leads the ARCA standings with 3060
points. Chad Blount is in second place with 2930 points. Damon Lusk
(2765), Jason Jarrett (2575) and Chase Montgomery (2395) round out the
top five.
The series resumes action this Saturday, July 20th, at
Berlin Speedway in Marne, MI.
Hoosier Racing Tire Corp. is proud to be the exclusive
tire supplier to the ARCA RE/MAX Series.
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