(TOLEDO, Ohio - July 16, 2012) - Friday's Prairie Meadows 200 was Chris Buescher's 45th race in the ARCA Racing Series presented by Menards, but the first after which he has led the point standings.

Buescher (No. 17 BeavEx/Reliance Tool Ford) had a rough day by his own standards, finishing as the last car on the lead lap in 13th place. He had earned six consecutive top-five finishes before racing at Iowa.

Buescher's below-average finish, though, did not keep him from making up what was a 25-point deficit to Brennan Poole (No. 25 The Ad Man/Midas Chevrolet) at the green flag. Poole crashed while leading just over 70 laps into the race and eventually finished 28th. He lost substantial ground in the standings and now trails Buescher by 45 points, 2695-2650.

Alex Bowman's win vaulted him back to third place. He trails Buescher by 75 points and Poole by 30, and leads Frank Kimmel (No. 44 Ansell/Menards Toyota) by 30, 2620-2590.

Chad Hackenbracht (No. 58 Tastee Apple Chevrolet) kept fifth in the standings with a sixth-place finish, and remains ahead of Matt Lofton (No. 16 Strutmasters.com Chevrolet) and Tom Hessert (No. 52 Federated Auto Parts Chevrolet), who traded positions. Just behind Hessert and in the same order as before to fill out the top 10 are Spencer Gallagher (No. 23 Allegiant Air Chevrolet), Ryan Reed (No. 15 RaceHard.com/Renton Coil Springs Toyota), and Nelson Canache (No. 66 Venezuela Tourism Chevrolet).

The full and official ARCA Racing Series standings will be released Tuesday.