The battle for the lead in the ARCA Menards Series season-opening Lucas Oil 200 driven by General Tire is always intense. Leading a race at Daytona is its own reward, but being up front not only increases your chances of getting some television time, it keeps you ahead of the pack and decreases your chances of being swept into another driver’s mistake.
That battle for the lead becomes more intense near the halfway point, when the Richmond Water Heaters Halfway Challenge and its $250 bonus is on the line.
Three drivers swapped the lead five times throughout the Lucas Oil 200 at Daytona, but it was Bluffton, South Carolina’s Gus Dean (No. 32 CAB Installers/Baker Distributing Chevrolet) who was at the front of the lead pack when ARCA Menards Series chief starter Denise Engle displayed the crossed flags at halfway.
Dean led a total of 29 laps and was fighting for the win among the lead draft with two laps to go when he was swept into a crash not of his making. Despite the stellar performance, Dean was relegated to 26th at the finish. Harrison Burton (No. 20 DEX Imaging Toyota) chased Dean across the stripe at the halfway point in the race; he went on to score his first career win at Daytona.
The ARCA Menards Series heads to its next event, the ARCA Pensacola at the half-mile Five Flags Speedway in Pensacola, Florida on Saturday, March 9. Practice starts at 1 pm ET/12 pm CT; General Tire Pole Qualifying is set for 4:30 pm ET/3:30 pm CT; and the ARCA Pensacola 200 is set to go green at 8 pm ET/7 pm CT and will be televised live on MAVTV. ARCARacing.com will have live timing & scoring, live chat, and live track updates throughout all on track sessions free for ARCA for Me members. New members may register for free at ARCARacing.com/login.
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