| Battle Lines Drawn; Championship
Leader Patrick Sheltra Leads Hoosier Superspeedway Challenge
Title
(TOLEDO, Ohio - June 15, 2010) - In addition to a national
championship at stake, the battle lines are clearly forming
for other prestigious titles here in the ARCA Racing Series
presented by RE/MAX and Menards.
One of those titles is the crowning of the Hoosier Tire
Superspeedway Challenge Champion, the official presentation
coming each season at the championship awards banquet in
Covington, Kentucky.
At present, Sheltra Motorsports - the combination of car
owner Grace Sheltra and driver Patrick Sheltra - lead the
superspeedway charge with 920 points.
"We've stepped it up this year," said Patrick
Sheltra. "There's no questioning that. Our restrictor
plate performances have been more successful this year than
in all my other years of competition. Not to mention our
strong run at Michigan last week. There's still a long road
ahead as far as the speedway challenge is concerned, but
to have everyone chasing us is a nice change instead of
the other way around."
The Hoosier Tire Superspeedway Challenge Championship is
a separate points title combining all the superspeedway
events on the annual ARCA Racing Series schedule. This year's
superspeedway schedule is made up of events at Daytona,
Texas, Talladega, Pocono, Michigan, Chicagoland and Kansas.
Car owner Grace Sheltra also credits the team effort.
"To be leading the speedway challenge in the ARCA
Racing Series is a testament to our race team," Grace
Sheltra said. "We've struggled more on the bigger tracks
in the past compared to this season. Previously, we've never
ever been close to contending for this honor. The dedication,
focus and "want" from the team and Patrick has
installed the drive to succeed on all of the tracks this
season. We cannot predict what may happen in upcoming races,
but we plan to be a threat nonetheless. It sure would be
nice to take home two trophies at year's end."
Sheltra, who also leads the overall championship points
battle, has been a model of consistency in 2010, and the
only driver on tour who has not finished out of the top-10.
His impeccable performance on the superspeedways this year
has a lot to do with his leading the points in both categories.
"I would say to post eight top-10 finishes in eight
races this season is pretty commendable," Patrick Sheltra
added. "We haven't been able to seal the deal with
a win yet but in time that will come. We just need to keep
doing what we've been doing and that is top-fiving and top-10ing
the field to death. Eventually, the door will open up and
we'll celebrate in victory lane again."
In fact, Sheltra has been the best of the best superspeedway-wise
this year with speedway finishes of second at Talladega,
third at Michigan, fourth at Pocono, fifth at Daytona and
seventh at Texas. Everything, seemingly, expect a win.
"It's not like we've gone to the races this year and
finished inside the top-10 but weren't a threat for the
win. We started off the season in championship mode and
really haven't looked back since. I know when Matt Kenseth
won the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series championship in 2003, he
only won one race. There is no doubt in my mind that our
team will win more than one race this season. We'll get
there; it's just taking a little longer than we all would
like. Until then, we'll keep running like we have been all
season long and keep turning some heads."
The No. 25 owner/driver combo of Cathy Venturini and Mikey
Kile, the most recent winners on tour from Michigan, are
currently second in the Hoosier Tire Superspeedway Challenge
points with 855, just five points ahead of the No. 32 Win
Tron Racing team (owner Nate Thiesse/driver Justin Marks)
at 850. The No. 81 of Eddie Sharp Racing (owner Eddie Sharp/driver
Craig Goess) is fourth with 790 ahead of the Kimmel Racing
team (owner & driver Frank Kimmel) in fifth with 765.
The award officially goes to the car owner and is officially
awarded in December at the annual championship awards banquet.
The late Davey Allison was the first recipient of ARCA's
superspeedway championship in 1984. Since then, the list
of past winners is tall and mighty. Past Hoosier Tire Superspeedway
Challenge Champions include Eddie Sharp (driver Justin Lofton),
Ray Evernham (driver Erin Crocker), Larry Clement (driver
Frank Kimmel), Ken Schrader (driver Bill Baird), Harold
Steele (driver Tim Steele), Kerry Scherer (driver Mark Gibson),
Barry Owen (driver Mike Wallace), James Finch (driver Jeff
Purvis), Ron Keselowski (driver Bob Keselowski), Cathy Venturini
(driver Bill Venturini) and Don Biederman (driver Tracy
Leslie) to name a few.
TEAM COMMUNICATIONS CONTACT:
Chris Knight, Sheltra Motorsports
P: 239.834.9797
E: chris@patricksheltra.com
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