NEWTON IA (7-10-09) - RCR's Austin Dillon was fastest among 37 cars in ARCA RE/MAX Series practice Friday at Iowa Speedway in preparation for Saturday's Prairie Meadows 200.

Dillon, in the no. 31 Richard Childress Racing Chevrolet, circled the .875-mile Newton, Iowa oval in 23.370 seconds, for an average speed of 134.788 mph.

Dillon, the grandson of Richard Childress, finished a career-best second at Michigan Int'l Speedway back in mid-June.

Joey Coulter, in the Darrell Gwynn Foundation-Tempest Cycles Chevrolet, was second fastest overall at 134.638 mph. Coulter is also coming off a career-best second place run at Mansfield Motorsports Park.

Eddie Sharp Racing's Justin Lofton, in the Lofton Cattle-JD Heiskell & Company Toyota, was third fastest overall at 133.826 mph.

Sixteen-year-old Chris Buescher, in the David Ragan Fan Club Ford, was fourth at 133.764 mph.

Current ARCA RE/MAX Series point leader Parker Kligerman ended up fifth fastest at 133.333 mph in the Cunningham Motorsports Dodge.

Three drivers made contact with the wall during the one and a half practice session including Tom Hessert whose right-side made contact with the turn 4 wall early in the session the no. 09 Cherry Hill Classic Cars Ford. As a result, the RAB Racing team had to roll out a backup car for the Cherry Hill, New Jersey driver.

In addition, Tim George Jr. made contact with the turn 2 wall in the No. 2 Ruby Tuesday Toyota forcing his Eddie Sharp Racing team to bring out a backup car.

Barry Fitzgerald, in Wayne Peterson's no. 06 Ford, also made contact with the wall between turns three and four. There were no injuries.

Following the practice session, as many as 30 ARCA RE/MAX Series drivers participated in an autograph session at Prairie Meadows Racetrack and Casino, which also serves as the title sponsor of Saturday's race.

The Prairie Meadows 200 at Iowa Speedway is scheduled to go off Saturday, July 11 at 8:00 PM local time. Menards Pole Qualifying presented by Ansell precedes the race at 4:00 PM. The ARCA Lincoln Welders Truck Series will join the ARCA RE/MAX Series for an ARCA double-header with the IMTA 50 scheduled to go at 6:00 PM.

All on-track activity for the ARCA RE/MAX Series and the ARCA Lincoln Welders Truck Series will feature live timing and scoring at ARCAracing.com as well as live streaming audio and video.

CONTACTS:
ARCA PR/Media, office (734) 847-6726
Don Radebaugh, cell (419) 450-0611
Jackie L. Franzil, cell (419) 574-2685