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New Look Brings New Luck for Bret Holmes

www.arcaracing.com March 29, 2019

Since Bret Holmes (No. 23 Holmes II Excavation/Southern States Bank Chevrolet) joined the ARCA Menards Series in 2016, he’s had a very specific look to his racecars. His equipment was purchased from GMS Racing, and  Holmes left former owner’s number and predominantly-blue colors on the car.

When Holmes showed up at Five Flags, the number was the same but the blue was no where to be found. Instead, Holmes and team had shown up with a flashy new red livery on their racecar.

“We weren’t having much luck with the old look, so we figured why not make a change,” Holmes said prior to the race.

Holmes, a former pro late model champion at Five Flags Speedway, saw his luck from Daytona drastically improve. Despite running near the front throughout the season-opening Lucas Oil 200 he was caught in someone else’s mess while running third coming to the white flag for the second year in a row and was left 18th at the finish. At Five Flags, he was again near the front of the field all evening long. Although he was unhappy with himself on the final restart of the night, Holmes finished sixth for his first top ten run of the season.

He’s jumped to third in the standings, just 95 points behind leader Christian Eckes.

Holmes is no stranger to flashy looking racecars. His dirt cars have had striking graphics treatments for years, and he was excited to bring something similar – if not quite as loud – to his ARCA ride.

“We just needed a change,” he said. “We wanted something different and something people would see. I think we did a pretty nice job with it. I like it. But the great thing about it is if we get tired of it or we don’t get the kind of luck we’re looking for out of it, we can easily change it to something else.”

Holmes returns to action in the ARCA Menards Series in the Kentuckiana Ford Dealers ARCA 200 at Salem Speedway. Practice is set for 11 am ET on Saturday, April 13, followed by General Tire Pole Qualifying at 3 pm ET. The 200-lap race is slated for Sunday, April 14 and will go green shortly after 2 pm ET. It will be televised live on MAVTV. ARCA for Me members can follow live timing & scoring throughout all on-track sessions at ARCARacing.com. New members can register for free by providing a valid email address at ARCARacing.com/login.