Bret Holmes driver of the #23 Holmes II Excavation Chevrolet looks on before the ARCA Menards Series General Tire 100 at the Daytona International Speedway Road Course in Daytona Beach, Florida on August 14, 2020. (James Gilbert/ARCA Racing)
Bret Holmes, driver of the #23 Holmes II Excavation Chevrolet, looks on before the ARCA Menards Series General Tire 100 at the Daytona International Speedway Road Course in Daytona Beach, Florida on August 14, 2020. (James Gilbert/ARCA Racing)

NOTEBOOK: Bret Holmes Hunting For A Short-Track Win

www.arcaracing.com September 3, 2020

Bret Holmes got that elusive ARCA Menards Series win – at Kansas Speedway earlier this summer.

But the 23-year-old from Munford, Alabama, isn’t getting complacent. After all, he’s got a series championship to chase.

With that speedway victory checked off, Holmes’ hopes his short-track program can keep him in the hunt not only for the ARCA Menards Series title, but the Sioux Chief Showdown crown. Saturday’s Zinsser SmartCoat 200 at Lebanon I-44 Speedway in Missouri is the next test.

“A top-three would be a good run but a win is where this team is at right now,” said Holmes in a video conference call with media this week.

RELATED: Bret Holmes Career Stats

Holmes sits just seven points behind Self in the ARCA Menards Series standings. He’s only 16 points back of Chandler Smith after seven of 10 Sioux Chief Showdown events, but also has Sam Mayer, Ty Gibbs and Self in front of him.

Holmes, who will be making his 75th career start, has excelled at the big tracks this year in the No. 23 Holmes II Excavation Chevrolet. In addition to Kansas, he was second at Kentucky and Michigan, and third at Talladega SuperSpeedway.

He’s done well at the shorter tracks, but even with back-to-back top fives at Ohio’s Toledo Speedway last month, there’s still room for improvement.

“I don’t save tires very well,” Holmes said. “I go 100% all of the time. I need to work on my restarts but we’re pretty good on the long-run stuff. We’re pretty typically a third or fourth-place car so we need to do some work to make us a first or second-place car. I just don’t want to do anything that will hurt us in the points.

“We are using the same cars for all of these races. We haven’t had any bad accidents so that’s allowed us to keep using the same cars. We only have a handful of races left so we just want to finish up strong.”

And that takes him to  this weekend, for . The race will not only air live on MAVTV and TrackPass on NBC Gold, but fans will be in the stands as well for the race weekend that includes the ARCA/CRA Super Series and JEGS/CRA All-Stars Tour on Sunday.

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It was on JEGS/CRA All Star Tour that Holmes ran Lebanon I-44 in 2016, finishing 14th in a race won by John Hunter Nemecheck.

“It’s a progressively banked track. I like the turns there,” Holmes said. “You can move around a little bit and help the handling of your car. I think it’s a lot more like a normal short track.

“I’ll let you know how much I like this place early next week, it will depend a lot how well we do there.”

Hailie Deegan Looking To Turn The Corner

Short tracks have been a strong suit for Hailie Deegan, who scored three wins in the West Series. She had her best ARCA Menards Series short-track finish with a third at Indiana’s Lucas Oil Raceway, and was running second at Iowa Speedway before mechanical issues.

“It looks like a fun track,” Deegan said. “I really enjoy racing on the short tracks. We won’t have any notes to go off of from previous races, but my DGR-Crosley team always brings fast Monster Energy Fords to the track, so we should be good.”

Her teammate, 15-year-old Taylor Gray has proved to be a quick study on the ARCA Menards Series. He has five top-five finishes in 10 starts in the ARCA Menards, East and West series, and is seventh in the Sioux Chief Showdown despite missing the opening race in February because he hadn’t turned 15 yet at the time.

“Coming off our strong run at Gateway, I am ready to get back to the track at I-44,” said Gray. “I have never raced there, so I think preparing as much as possible this week is going to be important.

“I am excited to get out there and see what we can do.”

Together Again

ARCA Menards Series Rookie Kris Wright and Chad Bryant Racing have paired together again for Saturday night’s Zinsser SmartCoat 200.

Kris Wright
Kris Wright will drive the #22 for Chad Bryant Racing Saturday night at Lebanon I-44 Speedway. (ARCA Racing)

The sports car standout and Chad Bryant Racing, led by NASCAR championship crew chief Paul Andrews, plan to bounce back from transmission problems last weekend at at Gateway that hindered Wright the opportunity to net his first career ARCA top-10 finish.

“Looking forward to this chance and getting back into an ARCA car for a second consecutive week,” said Wright. “Of course, we didn’t have the finish we were hoping for at Gateway, but it was a situation that was out of everyone’s hands.

“We’ll go to I-44 Speedway this weekend and look for an impressive rebound.”

The 25-year-old will drive a Chad Bryant Racing car in the upcoming ARCA Menards Series races at Tennesse’s Bristol Motor Speedway and Memphis International Raceway, and the season-finale at Kansas.

He will also compete in the last race of the ARCA Menards Series West season at Arizona’s Phoenix Raceway in November.

Notes

– Lebanon I-44 Speedway will be the 179th different venue to host an ARCA Menards Series race. It is the third new venue in 2020, joining Phoenix Raceway and the DAYTONA Road Course. The race at I-44 will be the 1488th in series history.

– Adding two new venues over the space of three series races hasn’t happened since the end of the 2006 and start of the 2007 ARCA Menards Series season. In 2006, the series closed the year at Iowa Speedway. In 2007, the season opened at Daytona, and was followed by an event at USA International Speedway in Lakeland, Florida.

– Check another race track (and state) off for Brad Smith. The 51-year-old from Shelby Township, Michigan, will be making his 360th career ARCA Menards Series start Saturday.

Don’t forget: Sunday