Throwback Thursday – Cup Series Makes First Visit to Sonoma

Photo - Robert Laberge/Getty Images

Photo – Robert Laberge/Getty Images

The NASCAR Winston Cup Series made a visit to a California road course every year from 1958 to 1988.

Drivers weaved left and right around Riverside International Raceway.  Greats such as Richard Petty, Bobby Allison, Darrell Waltrip and even road-course greats like Dan Gurney and Mark Donohue all won at the track. Continue reading

Ben Rhodes Continues to Roll in K&N East

Photo - Getty Images

Photo – Getty Images

Ben Rhodes is our next guest on Fan4Racing Fan2Fan NASCAR & Race Talk on Monday, June 16, 2014 at 8:45 pm ET.  Call 347-996-5176 during the LIVE broadcast to interact with Ben Rhodes and our Fan4Racing panel.

Ben Rhodes found himself in a very familiar place at Five Flags Speedway Friday night, once again in victory lane.

Rhodes passed his Turner Scott Motorsports (TSM) teammate Cameron Hayley with 17 laps to go for his third straight victory in K&N East. The rookie driver hung around the top-five all night and made his late race charge to the front for his fourth win in the last five races. Continue reading

Austin Theriault Wins in ARCA Debut at Michigan

Photo - Matt Sullivan/Getty Images

Photo – Matt Sullivan/Getty Images


Austin Theriault muscled his way past Mason Mitchell with 17 laps to go to win at Michigan International Speedway.

The 20-year-old became the first driver in win in his ARCA début since Alex Bowman at Madison International Speedway in August 2011. Bowman also drove for Venturini Motorsports at the time.

“This race and the way I approached this race was very different,” Theriault said after the race. “I had never raced at a track bigger than a mile before. I was very conservative, yet we still finished second in qualifying. That told me we would be okay for the race.”

Theriault tried to side-draft Mitchell as the two made slight contact, the 66 car drove away to score the second win of the year for Venturini Motorsports.

“Once his (Theriault) car hit mine, my day was finished,” he said. “It caved in the whole right side. I felt like we had the car to beat. We had the dominant car all day.”

Mitchell led 65 of the 100 laps before the No. 98 faded late to settle for a runner-up finish. It was Mitchell’s second runner-up finish in as many weeks and his fifth in the last ten ARCA races.

“We have to look at the big picture,” he said. “I am coming out of here with the point lead. We are just going to stay positive. That first win will come.”

The Iowa driver set a blistering pace early on by jumping out to a 5.6 second lead over Theriault by lap 36. Both drivers came down pit road around lap 50 and the No. 98 team had trouble jacking up the one side of the car. After the cycle of green-flag pit stops, Theriault found himself in the lead by four seconds over Mitchell.

With his second-place finish, Mitchell unofficially leads the points by 30 over Grant Enfinger, who finished eighth in the race.

Justin Allison grabbed a career-best third place finish as John Wes Townley and Spencer Gallagher rounded out the top-five.

Corrigan Oil 200 Top-Ten

#66 Austin Theriault
#98 Mason Mitchell
#88 Justin Allison
#15 John Wes Townley
#23 Spencer Gallagher
#69 Will Kimmel
#44 Frank Kimmel
#90 Grant Enfinger
#22 Austin Wayne Self
#6 Josh Williams

 

ARCA Corrigan Oil 200 Michigan Preview

Photo - Chris Graythen/Getty Images

Photo – Chris Graythen/Getty Images

The ARCA Series presented by Menards heads to the Michigan International Speedway this weekend for their annual visit.  It is also the second straight week the series will run on a superspeedway.

Last week, Sprint Cup Series rookie Kyle Larson stole the show by dominating at Pocono.  It could be Mason Mitchell’s week at Michigan. Continue reading

Remembering Jason Leffler

Photo - Getty Images

Photo – Getty Images

I woke up on the morning of June 13, 2013 to learn about the devastating news of Jason Leffler. Leffler did what he loved to do, and that was race.

It was bittersweet because I talked with one of my friends the week before about how great it was seeing him back in a Cup car at Pocono Raceway. It was a start-and-park deal in the No. 19 car for Humphrey-Smith Racing, and was Leffler’s first Cup start since Phoenix in November 2012.                Continue reading