Kyle Weatherman at 9 pm ET on Monday, July 20, 2015 Photo – Courtesy of Cunningham Motorsports.
Kyle Weatherman is our guest on Fan4Racing Fan2Fan NASCAR & Race Talk on Monday, July 20, 2015 at 9 pm ET. Call 714-202-9918 or tweet @Fan4RacingSite @Sal_Sigala or @ZRoethlisberger with any questions or comments during the LIVE broadcast.
With temperatures approaching 100 degrees, Cunningham Motorsports had a banner day with all three ARCA Racing Series teams finishing in the top-four spots of the #Thisismyspeedway 150 at Iowa Speedway on Friday night.
Kyle Weatherman came ‘oh so close’ to a victory after losing the lead on the last lap and challenging to retake the lead on the last turn, Weatherman came home with a runner-up finish with his teammates closing in behind. Veteran, Tom Hessert finished third with Austin Cindric finishing fourth in his ARCA Racing Series début.
After earning the second pole of his career, Roush Fenway Racing development driver, Weatherman fell back early in the race before settling in third. The only time the 17-year-old driver fell out of the top-five was after a slow pit stop that caused him to restart in ninth on lap 106. With a racer’s determination, he moved up to fifth in four laps. Weatherman continued to push his car, taking the lead on lap 135 of the 150 lap event.
Restarts at the end of the race due to the ARCA rule stating races must finish under a green flag, were for Weatherman and his team the biggest challenge of the night. Those last laps were high-octane competition as Weatherman had a jump on the other cars during the first two restarts, but he lost the lead on the last one.
In post race interviews a disappointed Weatherman talked about his teammates success and moving forward.
“They obviously knew that Cunningham Motorsports was here. It’s unfortunate that one of us didn’t take the trophy home. My team worked really hard to give me this fast race car. I obviously wanted the win, after finishing second here in ARCA’s last visit in 2013.”
The SCOTT rookie of the race continued, “We will take the second place finish and look on towards Lucas Oil Raceway next week, where we tested really well last week.”
Referring to ARCA’s green flag rule, Weatherman has an all around point of view with a positive spin.
“Right now I don’t like it; but I honestly think it (ARCA) needs it,” Weatherman said. “It’s cool to finish under green. I don’t like the rule right now, but hopefully it will one day play in our favor.”
In the end, Weatherman’s success and that of his teammates were an accomplishment to celebrate.
“It was fun,” Weatherman added. “We put up a good show for the fans…a lot of green-white-checkered at the end. To have all three in the top-five was really cool. It shows what our organization is made of. It was a really good day for us.”
Weatherman has a string of consecutive top-five finishes, including Iowa’s runner-up finish marking his seventh race of 2015, all with Cunningham Motorsports. He goes on to Lucas Oil Raceway this weekend with some momentum on his side and hopes of a better finish.
The Sioux Chief PowerPEX® 200 is broadcast on FOX Sports 1 on Friday, July 24th at 8:30 pm ET with ARCAracing.com featuring live timing and scoring of all ARCA Racing Series on-track activities, starting with the first of two practice sessions at 1:35 pm ET.