Brandon Jones Wins ARCA Debut at Winchester

Photo - Turner Scott Motorsports on Twitter

Photo – Turner Scott Motorsports on Twitter


Rookie Brandon Jones made a last-lap pass on Mason Mitchell to win in his ARCA début at Winchester Speedway Sunday. The two drivers beat and bang until Jones came out on top with the checkered flag in sight.

Turner Scott Motorsports originally planned to put Jones in an ARCA car at Salem Speedway earlier this season, but a scheduling conflict postponed his début until Sunday. The 17-year-old driver competes full-time on the NASCAR K&N Pro Series East circuit and is still looking for his first win in that series.

Mitchell once again came up short in his quest for his first ARCA win. This is his fourth runner-up finish in the last six races.

59-year-old Ken Schrader started on the pole and led most of the first half of the race. A caution bunched up the field and Schrader allowing Mitchell to pass him on lap 186. Schrader will look to break his own record as the oldest ARCA winner sometime later this season.

There were a few incidents on the day, including a first-lap crash that took out Anderson Bowen and Kyle Weatherman. Josh Williams also found the same bad luck with a wreck around the half-way mark.

On the flip side, Justin Boston found some good luck and finished third, while Schrader and Grant Enfinger round out the top-five. 

All four Venturini Motorsports entries placed inside the top-eight, while the top-two finishers from last year’s race at Winchester, Frank Kimmel and Austin Wayne Self, finished ninth and tenth.

The battle for the points lead between Mitchell and Enfinger will shift to the 1.5 mile Chicagoland Speedway in two weeks.

Herr’s Chase the Taste 200 Top-Ten

#4 Brandon Jones
#98 Mason Mitchell
#25 Justin Boston
#52 Ken Schrader
#90 Grant Enfinger
#66 J.J. Haley
#55 Cody Coughlin
#15 John Wes Townley
#44 Frank Kimmel
#22 Austin Wayne Self

ARCA Herr’s Chase the Taste 200 at Winchester Preview

Herr's Chase the Taste 200 logo

The ARCA Racing Series presented by Menards heads to the high banks of the half-mile Winchester Speedway in Indiana. ARCA cars travel around the track in 15-16 seconds a lap, making it one of the fastest half-mile tracks in the country.

In last year’s race, ARCA veteran Frank Kimmel held off a hard-charging Austin Wayne Self to score his 79th career win and tie Iggy Katona for the all-time record. Kimmel has always been good on the Winchester track with six wins with his first coming in 1996.  The defending ARCA champ is still looking for his first win of 2014. Continue reading

Erik Jones Set to Make Superspeedway Debut in the Pocono ARCA 200

Photo - ErikJonesRacing.com

Photo – ErikJonesRacing.com

On Saturday June 8, one week after celebrating his 17th birthday, Erik Jones will be making his superspeedway début on the 2.5 mile triangular course found at Pocono (PA.) Raceway with the ARCA Racing Series presented by Menards.

Teaming with Venturini Motorsports, Jones will first take part in an ARCA sanctioned test on Wednesday, June 5 in hopes of gaining some valuable experience on the “Tricky Triangle”.

“I’m really looking forward to getting on a bigger race track like Pocono,” stated Jones. “The ARCA cars are fun to drive and I’m excited to be teamed up with Kevin Reed (Crew Chief) in the Venturini Motorsports car. I’ve talked to a few people about Pocono and it’s a track that is like no other. From what I have heard it’s like running three different race tracks in one, which from a driver standpoint means a lot of fun!” Continue reading