Austin Theriault on Fan4Racing Radio Monday, June 26, 2017 at 9 pm ET. Photo – ARS
Austin Theriault is our guest on Fan4Racing NASCAR & Race Talk, Monday, June 26, 2017 at 9 pm ET. Call 929-477-1790 or tweet @Fan4RacingSite or @Sal_Sigala with any questions or comments during our LIVE broadcast.
The fastest car doesn’t always win and Austin Theriault is proving that point throughout the 2017 ARCA Racing Series season. His crew works hard throughout the race to get their Ken Schrader Racing No. 52 in the right position at the right time and once again, Theriault had the right car to hold off a hard charging Zane Smith in the closing laps to win the Montgomery Ward 200 at Madison International Speedway on Saturday night.
“We don’t always have the fastest car at the beginning, but this team races smart,” said Theriault. “We were good when it counted.”
This is Theriault’s fourth career victory and his third this season, expanding his championship points lead over second-place Dalton Sargeant by 175 markers.
Although Theriault ran in the top-five for most of the race, it was the last 35 laps that he led and was able to defend his position from any competitors challenging for the lead.
“You gotta take what the car gives you,” said Theriault. “We lost positions in the beginning but we stayed consistent and we didn’t drive over our heads. We kept ourselves in position the whole race and went when we could. Whoever had the track position was going to win this. Really proud of all these guys on this Ken Schrader Racing team…they race really smart.”
Besides fending off Smith in the closing laps, Christian Eckes also challenged Theriault for the top-spot, but a restart with 25 laps to go didn’t go well for Eckes forcing him to fall back to a fifth-place finish.
“I think that last caution saved us,” Theriault said. “The 15 caught us and I missed my line a couple times. I’m not sure if we could have held him off. But the caution allowed our tires to cool down and we got going again.”
Smith came home second, followed by Riley Herbst in third and Shane Lee finishing in fourth-place.
Next up for the ARCA Racing Series is Iowa Speedway for the Fans With Benefits 150 Saturday night, July 8th.