Theriault Visits Victory Lane in ARCA Opener at Daytona

DAYTONA BEACH, FL – Multi-car wrecks, red flags and six cautions could not keep ARCA Racing Series presented by Menards championship contender Austin Theriault from finding his way to victory lane at Daytona Int’l Speedway.

Theriault, in Ken Schrader’s No. 52 Orlando Longwood Auto Auction Chevrolet, kept himself up front most of the way and, as a result, out of harm’s way to win the action-packed Lucas Oil Complete Engine Treatment 200 Driven by General Tire Saturday afternoon.

Theriault, who led just four laps, drove around the outside of Terry Jones on lap 73, and then held on up through lap 75, which ended up being long enough to win when the race officially ended five laps shy of the intended distance.

“Just an amazing effort from my guys…Ken Schrader Racing brought a great Orlando Longwood Auto Auction Chevrolet,” said Theriault. “I think we would have won even if we would have gone back to green…our car was that strong.”

However, the race didn’t go back to green as a result of damage to the safer barrier that required repairs that would have taken longer to fix than the series’ allotted time.

With sprinkles in the air, Jones, in the No. 30 NORTRAX Toyota, finished second after leading 25 laps, more laps than anyone else.

“I was praying for rain late in the race,” said Jones. “This was my best superspeedway finish. We had a good clean run…stayed up front all day and out of trouble. It would have been so cool to bring the trophy back to Canada. We were just a few laps from winning. We’re not done trying, I’ll tell you that.”

As a single car team, Theriault, who started ninth, had to rely on help from some of his fiercest competitors.

“The Cunningham cars (Shane Lee and Dalton Armstrong) helped a lot today and played a strong part in getting us to the front. I thought the 25 (Tom Hessert) did a great job…he pushed us along on the outside. We just had a really strong car all day, especially with good cars behind us. Gained a couple spots on pit road…had a lot of help on the track and we put ourselves in position to win. Me and Kenny (Schrader) are excited to get to the phones and see if we can make something happen. Our focus is to run for the ARCA championship and we made that clear tonight.”

Cunningham Motorsports teammates Shane Lee and Dalton Sargeant had a productive night, finishing third and fourth respectively.

“Overall, our car was really good,” said Lee, driver of the No. 22 Big Tine Ford. “It was really fast with the 25 and 30. We got stuck in a few lines that weren’t working so we had to side-draft a little more than usual but we can’t complain…this is a great way to start off the season. The General Tires were great and we didn’t slide ’em. This is a good night.”

Sargeant finished fourth in the No. 77 Phoenix Construction-Billy Ballew Ford.

“This is pretty special to come to Daytona with a new Cunningham Motorsports team and come out with a top-five,” said Sargeant. “This is my first Daytona race…you definitely side-draft a lot more than you do at Talladega. Had a lot of fun. Overall, a good night and a solid night for the championship. Fortunately, we were ahead of all those wrecks.”

General Tire polesitter Tom Hessert finished fifth in the No. 25 Andrews-Renton Coil Spring Toyota after leading the first 21 laps.

Justin Fontaine has been diagnosed with a compression fracture of his L1 vertebra following a crash in the closing laps of Saturday’s race. According to reports he will be in a back brace for the next three months.

Six caution periods and three multi-car crashes mixed up the order throughout the race, including one on lap 75 that resulted in Justin Fontaine getting upside on the frontstretch. Fontaine was transported to a local hospital for further evaluation. Despite nearly half the field sustaining some level of damage, all drivers were evaluated and released with the exception of Fontaine.

Bret Holmes finished sixth in the No. 23 Southern States Bank-Holmes II Excavation Chevrolet. Ricky Sanders was seventh in the No. 69 Kimmel Racing-Pitboxes.com Ford. Kyle Weatherman gave Mason Mitchell Motorsports its best finish among a three-car team with an eighth-place finish in the No. 78 St. Charles Glass-Turn One Condos Chevrolet. Rookie Clint King was ninth in the No. 58 Warehouse Design-Lira Racing Ford. Weatherman’s teammate Kaz Grala finished 10th in the No. 88 Kiklos Greek Extra Virgin Olive Oil Chevrolet.

The next race for the ARCA Racing Series presented by Menards is the Music City 200 at Fairgrounds Speedway Nashville April 8.

Results – Lucas Oil Complete Engine Treatment 200 Driven by General Tire

FIN STR NO DRIVER/HOMETOWN LAPS STATUS
1 9 52 Austin Theriault/Fort Kent ME 75 Running
2 12 30 Terry Jones/Amherstburg ON 75 Running
3 19 22 Shane Lee/Newton NC 75 Running
4 10 77 Dalton Sargeant/Boca Raton FL 75 Running
5 1 25 Tom Hessert/Cherry Hill NJ 75 Running
6 14 23 Bret Holmes/Munford AL 75 Running
7 20 69 Ricky Sanders/Stockbridge GA 75 Running
8 4 78 Kyle Weatherman/Wentzville MO 75 Running
9 29 58 Clint King/Denton NC 75 Running
10 6 88 Kaz Grala/Westboro MA 75 Running
11 22 46 Sean Corr/Goshen NY 75 Running
12 2 18 Matt Tifft/Hinckley OH 75 Running
13 32 33 Justin Fontaine/Fletcher NC 75 Running
14 18 7 Codie Rohrbaugh/Petersburg WV 75 Running
15 21 5 Bobby Gerhart/Lebanon PA 75 Running
16 13 83 Derrick Lancaster/Christiansburg VA 75 Running
17 35 48 Brad Smith/Shelby Township MI 75 Running
18 26 16 John Ferrier/Middletown NY 75 Running
19 17 15 Leilani Munter/Rochester MN 74 Running
20 39 02 Andy Seuss/Salisbury NC 73 Running
21 7 38 Ray Ciccarelli/Reistertown MD 73 Running
22 25 01 Travis Braden/Wheeling WV 73 Running
23 36 3 Mike Senica/Doylestown PA 71 Running
24 37 06 Scott Edwards/Norfolk England 70 Running
25 24 42 Bo LeMastus/Louisville KY 68 Out
26 33 55 Noah Gragson/Las Vegas NV 68 Running
27 8 28 Michael Self/Draper UT 67 Out
28 16 98 Quin Houff/Mt. Sidney VA 66 Out
29 23 9 Thomas Praytor/Mobile AL 65 Out
30 30 10 Ed Pompa/Ballston Spa NY 65 Out
31 15 66 Mark Thompson/Cartersville GA 49 Out
32 27 32 Gus Dean/Bluffton SC 49 Out
33 28 80 Caesar Bacarella/Parkland FL 49 Out
34 31 27 AJ Fike/Galesburg IL 49 Out
35 40 37 David LeBeau/Daytona Beach FL 49 Out
36 34 2 Eric Caudell/Piedmont OK 49 Out
37 11 6 Michael Lira/Port Orange FL 49 Out
38 3 11 Bryan Dauzat/Concord NC 44 Out
39 38 0 Con Nicolopoulos/Columbus MI 15 Out
40 5 34 Willie Mullins/Fredericksburg VA 13 Out
41 67 Cody Lane/Port Richey FL DNS
42 71 Gene Paul/Tarpon Springs FL DNS
43 20 Zane Smith/Huntington Beach CA DNS
44 81 Riley Herbst/Las Vegas NV DNS

General Tire Pole Award: Tom Hessert – 48.143 (186.943)
Margin of Victory: Caution
Time of Race: 1:51:14
Lap Leaders: Tom Hessert 1-21 (21); Quin Houff 22-44 (23); Terry Jones 45-47,49-64,66-70,72 (25)
Dalton Sargeant 48 (1); Shane Lee 65 (1); Austin Theriault 71, 73-75 (4)
Fastest Lap of the Race: Noah Gragson – 46.918 (191.824)

– series communications