| Patrick Sheltra Racks Up Another
Top-Five At Kansas Speedway; Takes Championship Lead To
Rockingham
"Sheltra Motorsports Wins ARCA's Speedway Challenge
With Fifth Place Run"
KANSAS CITY, Kansas (September 30, 2010) - - ARCA Racing
Series presented by RE/MAX and Menards (ARS) driver Patrick
Sheltra had his sights set on his third victory of the season
Thursday afternoon at Kansas Speedway but a late race caution
spoiled Sheltra's parade and instead the Sheltra Motorsports
team had to settle for a fifth place finish in the Kansas
Lottery 150.
While the finish was bittersweet for the driver of the
No. 60 Tequesta Road and Bridge of Florida / Jones Group
International Toyota Camry, another impressive effort by
the 24-year old rising star allowed Sheltra to keep control
of the ARCA Racing Series championship standings with just
one event remaining next Saturday afternoon at Rockingham
(N.C.) Speedway.
After practicing seventh earlier in the day, Sheltra and
crew chief Jon Wolfe consulted and made some changes to
their Japanese nameplate looking for the ultimate package
that could result in an edge over the rest of the competition.
Darting out 32nd in Menards Pole by Ansell qualifying,
Sheltra was able to best his fastest practice time by a
tenth of a second lining the green and orange Toyota Camry
10th on the starting grid.
At the waive of the green flag, Sheltra cleared the machines
of Chad Hackenbracht and Dakoda Armstrong to settle in eighth
before the first yellow flag of the day waived on lap three.
Unable to gather a firm assessment of the handling of his
automobile, Sheltra would wait for the first long-green
flag run to evaluate his No. 60 Tequesta Road and Bridge
of Florida / Jones Group International Toyota Camry.
Under the stretching green-flag run, Sheltra keyed his
radio and informed Wolfe that his car was "tight."
Wolfe acknowledged Sheltra's concern and advised his pilot
that the team would make an adjustment during the first
pit stop. Despite Sheltra's tight condition, the Indiantown,
Florida native would continue to inch up the leader board
and found himself fourth when the caution flag waived on
lap 47.
The yellow flag brought the perfect opportunity for Sheltra
to make a trip to pit road for four tires, fuel and a chassis
adjustment. The Sheltra Motorsports pit crew performed well
and was able to keep their driver in the mix by exiting
pit road in the fourth position.
When racing resumed, Sheltra's car would take a few laps
to dial-in before the No. 60 Tequesta Road and Bridge of
Florida / Jones Group International Toyota Camry would become
the fastest machine on the race track.
Passing the No. 41 of Ty Dillon shortly after half-way,
Sheltra set his sights on the Venturini Motorsports pair
of Mikey Kile and Steve Arpin. Sheltra would considerably
close the gap on the No. 25 of Mikey Kile and made the move
into second by lap 72. With encouragement from his team,
Sheltra would set his target on race leader Arpin. The Floridian
would find himself on the back bumper of Arpin's No. 55
machine and preparing to make the move into the race lead,
only to have the yellow flag reappear on lap 87.
Under the caution, the team decided to follow the leader
down pit road for four tires and a splash of fuel. Unfortunately,
a jumble of the field by virtue of pit strategy would line
Sheltra up sixth on the restart.
Restarting the race inside the final 10 laps of the event
on lap 93, Sheltra was able to pass fellow championship
contender Tom Hessert for fifth but ran out of laps to make
a dent in the rest of the lead group and claimed the checkered
flag in the fifth position, his best finish in four starts
at Kansas Speedway.
"The last caution really hurt us," said a disappointed
Sheltra after the race. "I feel like we had the best
car there at the end of the race but it just didn't work
out. It's hard to be disappointed with a fifth place finish
but I really wanted to take my guys and our marketing partners
to victory lane. I have to thank the team though for giving
me a good race car. We were able to make some vast improvements
from when we unloaded to where we finished today and I'm
proud of that. We'll take the championship lead to Rockingham
next weekend and look to close out a great season with the
championship trophy."
Even though Sheltra did not win the Kansas Lottery 150,
the team was officially crowned the winner of the Hoosier
Tire Superspeedway Challenge Award for the best collection
of performances on the series' eight speedway races this
season. In all, Sheltra racked up one win, six top-five
finishes and eight top-seven finishes.
"The Sheltra Motorsports team really gave me some
excellent cars on the bigger tracks this year," sounded
Sheltra. "We really went to work this year on improving
our performance on the intermediate and superspeedway tracks
and because of the team's effort we were able to win this
title. I'm super proud of them and can't thank them enough
for all of their hard work."
With his performance on Thursday afternoon, Sheltra maintains
control of the championship standings unofficially 10 markers
(4495 -to- 4485) ahead of second place competitor Craig
Goess. Cunningham Motorsports' Tom Hessert slipped to third
in the championship race but remains just 20 markers from
the top-spot. Nine-time ARCA champion Frank Kimmel remains
in fourth 160 tallies behind. Justin Marks creeps up into
fifth, trailing the top-spot by 190 points.
In 19 races this season, Sheltra has accumulated two wins,
11 top-fives and 16 top-10 finishes.
Next up for the ARCA Racing Series presented by RE/MAX
and Menards is the 2010 season finale at Rockingham (N.C.)
Speedway. The American 200 presented by Black's Tire and
Auto Service is set for Saturday October 9th. On Thursday,
October 7, the Automobile Racing Club of America (ARCA)
will host an open-test at the legendary one-mile oval to
prepare the teams for round number 20 of the year. Sheltra
Motorsports will participate in the test in their No. 60
Tequesta Road and Bridge of Florida / Jones Group International
Toyota Camry.
In his previous three Rockingham starts, Sheltra has a
best finish of second in April 2009 after starting third.
Sheltra also controlled the ARCA field for eight laps in
the Spring event last year. The concluding race of the season
will be televised live on SPEED beginning at 1:00 p.m. (EST.)
with additional race coverage including live timing and
scoring throughout the day available through the ARCA Racing
Network (ARN) online at arcaracing.com presented by ARCANation.com.
All times are local.
Multiple cost-effective marketing partnership packages
are still available for the remainder of the 2010 ARCA Racing
Series and NASCAR seasons for Patrick Sheltra. Let Sheltra
Motorsports show you how to find victory lane in more ways
than one! For additional information on how to be apart
of our winning organization, please contact Brandon Hinson
(brandon@patricksheltra.com) or email marketing@patricksheltra.com.
Exiting Kansas, Sheltra has 86 ARCA Racing Series presented
by RE/MAX and Menards starts to his credit with three career
victories at Salem (Ind.) Speedway (April 2009), the Illinois
State Fairgrounds (August 2010) and Chicagoland Speedway
(August 2010). During his ARCA tenure, Sheltra has accumulated
21 top-fives and posted 38 top-10 finishes. A second place
qualifying effort at Chicagoland Speedway (August 2010)
is Sheltra's best time trials effort to date. He has controlled
the ARCA field 10 times for 276 laps.
For the latest on Patrick Sheltra, Sheltra Motorsports
and marketing partnership opportunities please visit PatrickSheltra.com.
Join the official Patrick Sheltra fan page on Facebook (Official
Patrick Sheltra Fan Page) by clicking here. Tweet with Patrick
Sheltra on Twitter (@patricksheltra) at twitter.com/patricksheltra.
About Sheltra Motorsports:
Sheltra Motorsports (sheltramotorsports.com) is a three-tier
professional Motorsports organization consisting of dirt
and asphalt competition. Patrick Sheltra, a 24-year old
native of Indiantown, Florida competes in the UMP and WoO
(Dirt) Series; while also running a full schedule in the
Automobile Racing Club of America (ARCA) Racing Series presented
by RE/MAX and Menards (No. 60) and a limited schedule in
the National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing (NASCAR).
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
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