(BROOKLYN, Mich. - June 14, 2012) - For the second consecutive week, Frank Kimmel and fellow ARCA Racing Series presented by Menards competitors will tackle a newly repaved race track at Michigan International Speedway.
After battling back from tire woes last week at Pocono Raceway to finish sixth, Kimmel and the Ansell/Menards team enter Michigan continuing to carry momentum after seeing their streak of top-10 finishes extended.
The ARCA Racing Series was the first series to host a race on Pocono's new pavement, and will do the same this weekend at MIS. With the asphalt similarities, Kimmel and the ThorSport Racing team hope to have their No. 44 Ansell/Menards Toyota perform similarly to last week's event in Long Pond, Pa. With five consecutive top-10s leading into this weekend's RainEater Wiper Blades 200, Kimmel is poised to take another step toward his 10th series crown.
The nine-time series champion has made more starts at MIS than any other driver in the ARCA Racing Series with, 23. Kimmel has also shown the way to Victory Lane twice, in 1998 and 2005. With finishes in the top 10 in the last two events at MIS, Kimmel has also been known to start toward the front in his career, combining strong qualifying efforts as well as high points positions. Kimmel has started in the top 10 in five of the last seven MIS events, and has nine top-fives and 13 top-10s.
In a team release, Kimmel answered a pair of questions about racing at Michigan International Speedway.
What changes do you anticipate after the re-paving at MIS?
"It will be similar to Pocono, but different as well. The majority of the lap at MIS, you're in the turn. We're going to have the same issues trying to get the car to turn, and have to be on the throttle a lot. I think we'll be wide open the whole lap, especially for qualifying, and probably even in the race at times. You're going to need a car that turns good, but stays wide open a lot too."
How vital is an intermediate and speedway program to competing in the ARCA Racing Series?
"You have to have a good program at every place we go. Five years ago, we had more intermediate tracks than anything else. It's switched to where we have a lot of short tracks now. It's all important with two races at superspeedways, two on dirt, a road course, and these intermediates. They guy that wins the championship is going to be good everywhere we go, no matter what type of track we race on."
Practice for tomorrow's RainEater Wiper Blades 200 at Michigan International Speedway will start at 4:05 p.m, with live timing and scoring coverage at ARCARacing.com.
