| Patrick Sheltra Drives To Top-10 Practice Effort
At Daytona
DAYTONA BEACH, Florida (February 4, 2010) - - Patrick Sheltra
steered his No. 60 PowerTrac Machinery Dodge Charger to
the sixth fastest time overall during Thursday’s four
hour and fifty minute practice session giving his Mooresville
North Carolina-based team high hopes for Saturday’s
Lucas Oil Slick Mist 200 at Daytona (Fla.) International
Speedway.
In the same Dodge Charger that Sheltra piloted last April
at Talladega (Ala.) Speedway, the Indiantown, Florida native
whipped his Grace Sheltra owned machine around the 2.5-mile
superspeedway to a time of 49.612 seconds at 181.408 miles
per hour.
In session one which was concluded about half-way during
the lengthy practice effort, Sheltra clocked his neon green
and camouflage machine into the ninth position.
"Our PowerTrac Dodge is really good. We didn't have
to play with it a whole today. The car handles real well
all by itself and the little drafting we did today, I didn't
have one complaint,” Sheltra said. “We're going
to qualify somewhere between eighth and 12th, I think tomorrow
(Friday) but come race day, we're going to have a shot at
winning this thing. I just have to thank Jon (Wolfe, crew
chief) and all of the guys for working real hard. I'm really
looking forward to the rest of the weekend."
The 23-year old phenom drew the 15th position for Friday’s
Menards pole qualifying presented by Ansell session. Last
year, Sheltra qualified his Dodge 16th but was entangled
in a late race incident during last season’s season
opener which nearly cost the ARCA veteran his racing career.
Despite the innocent, he finished 14th.
“I try not and think about what happened last year,”
Sheltra added. “Sure it was a bad deal but I think
everyone learned from it. I know it made me more attentive
as a racecar driver though. These ARCA cars are incredibly
safe and I know my guys work extremely hard to keep me safe.
I don’t think or hope we won’t see a race like
we did last year on Saturday.”
After climbing out of his car Thursday evening, Sheltra
was interviewed by Steven Smith of the Orlando Sentinel.
The twenty minute interview ranged from Sheltra’s
entrance into Motorsports, his off-track life, the ARCA
Racing Series as a whole and his thoughts on the addition
of IZOD IndyCar Series star Danica Patrick and Formula One
driver Nelson Piquet Jr. participating in the ARCA race
at Daytona. The commentary article is scheduled to run this
Saturday (February 6).
On Saturday, Sheltra Motorsports will also pay tribute
to six-year old Nicholas Batchelor who perished in an off-road
utility accident in January.
American Concrete, Buffalo Wings & Rings, BuckedUpApparel.com,
CAM 2 Blue Blood Racing Oil, Ferguson Pipe Enterprises,
Indiantown Marina and Pardo Trucking join the team as associate
marketing partners in Sheltra third career start at Daytona
(Fla.) International Speedway this weekend.
Entering Daytona, Sheltra has 67 ARCA Racing Series presented
by RE/MAX and Menards starts to his credit with one career
victory at Salem Speedway (April 2009). During his ARCA
tenure, Sheltra has accumulated 10 top-fives and posted
22 top-10 finishes. A third place qualifying effort at Rockingham
Speedway (April 2009) is Sheltra’s best time trials
efforts to date. He has controlled the ARCA field five times
for 109 laps.
The Lucas Oil Slick Mist 200 at Daytona (80 laps / 200
miles) is the first of 20 events on the 2010 ARCA Racing
Series presented by RE/MAX and Menards schedule. The 47th
ARCA race held at Daytona is a three-day show. Menards pole
qualifying presented by Ansell is set for Friday, February
5 slated to begin at 11:00 a.m. A fifty minute final practice
session is etched in on Friday evening from 5:40pm-6:30
p.m. The event will take the green flag on Saturday, February
6 shortly after 4:30 p.m. The race will be televised live
on SPEED with additional race coverage including live timing
and scoring and radio broadcast through the ARCA Racing
Network (ARN) online at arcaracing.com. All times are local.
Stay tuned for a revamped web site and several social networking
opportunities to connect with Patrick Sheltra and the Sheltra
Motorsports team but in the mean time for the latest and
marketing partnership opportunities please visit PatrickSheltra.com.
About Sheltra Motorsports:
Sheltra Motorsports (sheltramotorsports.com) is a three-tier
Motorsports operation consisting of dirt and asphalt competition.
Patrick Sheltra, a 23-year old native of Indiantown, Florida
competes in the UMP and WoO (Dirt) Series; while also running
a full schedule in the ARCA Racing Series presented by RE/MAX
and Menards (No. 60) and a limited schedule in the NASCAR
Nationwide Series. Sheltra Motorsports ownership is combined
of Richard, Grace and Patrick Sheltra. The team is headquartered
in Indiantown, Florida with additional operations in Richmond,
Indiana and Mooresville, North Carolina.
TEAM COMMUNICATIONS CONTACT:
Chris Knight, Sheltra Motorsports
P: 239.834.9797
E: chris@patricksheltra.com |
