Michael Self Hunting Wins Not Points – Yet – Through Second Half of ARCA Menards Series Season

With twelve races in the books so far, the ARCA Menards Series season has been one of the more unpredictable in recent memory. Sure, there has been domination by Venturini Motorsports and teams like Joe Gibbs Racing and Chad Bryant Racing have had starring turns up front, but there has been a relentless changing of the script from week to week.

The season started at Daytona and most predicted Michael Self (No. 25 Sinclair Lubricants Toyota) would be a factor to win that race, contend for wins on the superspeedways, and battle for the championship. Self would be involved in an early-race crash not of his making at Daytona, and he has indeed challenged for wins but he has found most of his success on the short tracks. He’s leading the points, which some expected, but he’s traded the lead several times, first with Venturini teammate Christian Eckes (No. 15 JBL Audio Toyota) and then underdog challenger Travis Braden (No. 27 MatrixCare/Consonus Health Care/Liberty Village Ford). Headed into the off weekend before the Menards 250 at Elko Speedway, Self has a slim 30-point advantage over Bret Holmes (No. 23 Holmes II Excavation Chevrolet) with eight races remaining. The battle at the front is so tight that only 85 points separate the top four drivers.

Self is making his first run for the ARCA Menards Series championship which means he’s visiting several tracks for the first time. He’s proven to be a quick study, winning at Five Flags and scoring top five finishes at Toledo and Madison. He’s also faced some bad luck with four finishes outside of the top ten.

His performance to start the season is something he credits to the team, led by crew chief Shannon Rursch.

“The team has been awesome. They have been rock solid,” Self said. “I feel like I have been decent. We have just had a couple of races that cost us way too much. Nashville, Daytona, and Pocono. Those races really hurt us. Pocono was because of mechanical issues. Daytona and Nashville was being in the wrong place at the wrong time. We have had fast cars every week. We’ve never showed up and been out to lunch. Madison was about as lost as we’ve ever been and we were still able to figure it out and load up with a P2 finish. We have a lot of confidence in the cars these guys are putting together.”

The tracks on the schedule that Self has still yet to go for the first time are still a concern as the championship battle stays close. But like he has at the other tracks he had not been to, Self has a plan.

“Going to places I have never been like Elko, Springfield, DuQuoin is going to be a challenge for sure,” he said. “I plan on getting as much video as I can and gathering as much information as I can. I have been to Kansas, Pocono, Salem, those are the ones I have circled as tracks I like and I know I can just jump in the car and go. Those other tracks it’s going to have to be more studying and more talking with my teammates and trying to figure out how we can figure out these tracks quicker.”

Self’s big-picture plan for the remaining eight races on the schedule is to do exactly what got them to this point.

“I think just me maintaining confidence in the guys in the shop and the guys keep doing what they’re doing,” he said. “We come to the track every week with a good car and good equipment. We can’t let our guard down and we have to keep going. The points lead is so tight and so slim we have to focus on building cars that can go win races every week and that’s what we’ve been doing.”

Self is leading the championship standings but hasn’t transitioned from racing for wins to racing for points. It’s not on the front burner any time soon, either.

“I’ll let you know when we get into that mindset,” he joked. “It’s something in the back of my mind now. We want to go win races. We want to stay up front and fight for wins and we’ll see how the points shake out.”

Self and the rest of the ARCA Menards Series returns to action on Saturday July 13 in the Menards 250 at Elko Speedway. Practice at Elko Speedway is set for 2:15 pm ET/1:15 pm CT, General Tire Pole Qualifying is scheduled for 6:15 pm ET/5:15 pm CT, and the 250-lap feature event will go green shortly after 10 pm ET/9 pm CT. The race will be televised live on MAVTV, and ARCA for Me members can follow every lap made by every car entered throughout every on-track session with free live timing & scoring at ARCARacing.com. Discounted tickets to the Menards 250 are available at nearly 40 Minneapolis-St. Paul Menards locations for just $20. For more information, please visit TrackEnterprises.com or call 217-764-3200.