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LONG POND, Pa. (June 8, 2013) —Â Frank Kimmel survived a mid-race wall-banging in the Pocono ARCA 200 Saturday at Pocono Raceway and finished a come-backing third in his No. 44 Ansell / Menards Toyota, to a pair of the ARCA Racing Series presented by Menards’ rising stars.
In the process, Kimmel extended his championship lead over teenager Mason Mingus, who finished sixth, to 75 points as the series heads to Michigan International Speedway this week for a Friday afternoon race.
“That was a pretty good day, to come back from that mistake I made on that restart with new tires,” Kimmel said afterward. “I went down into Turn 1 and the car just took off on me and bounced off the wall.
“Jeriod (Prince, crew chief) and the guys did a good job of putting it back together but in the end, the car was a little too banged-up for me to be able to run with those two kids out front.”
Chase Elliott won the race in his Hendrick Motorsports Chevrolet, becoming ARCA’s youngest superspeedway winner. Erik Jones, 17, finished second, which means the first two finishers’ combined ages is still a teenager short of Kimmel’s 51 years. But the mutual respect among racers is good to see.
“These kids do a good job,” Kimmel said. “It’s really a lot of fun racing with them every week.”
Kimmel was awarded the pole when Friday’s practice and qualifying was rained-out. Kimmel was quickest in the half-hour practice ARCA added to the schedule on Saturday morning.
When the race began, Kimmel easily led the first 22 laps until Jones ran him down and passed him. On the car’s first pit stop, a long stop caused by a dropped lug nut dropped Kimmel back in the order for the restart.
Though he hit the wall on that restart, he had a lucky escape on a three-car pileup in Turn 1 on a subsequent restart and when his team bolted on two new tires for a late restart, Kimmel took advantage to race from 10th to third, where he finished. |
| ABOUT MENARDS:
With 280 stores in 14 Midwestern states, Menards has the tools, materials and supplies for all your home improvement needs whether just needing a light bulb or can of paint to building a deck or new home. Menards is known throughout the home improvement industry as the low price leader; it’s no wonder their famous slogan – “SAVE BIG MONEY” – is so widely known and easy to remember. Menards does things right – the company’s strength and success can be seen in the well-stocked and maintained stores, the lowest prices in town and the way guests are always treated like family in a hometown hardware store atmosphere.
ABOUT ANSELL: Ansell is a global leader in protection solutions, with operations in North America, LAC, EMEA and Asia-Pacific. Ansell designs, develops, manufactures and markets a wide range of surgical, examination, industrial and household gloves, protective clothing and condoms. People in over 100 countries around the world put their trust in Ansell’s innovative, high-quality solutions to offer superior protection, combined with high levels of comfort and performance. Ansell holds its operational headquarters in Iselin, NJ, USA and its parent, Ansell Limited, is registered in Melbourne, Australia. Worldwide, the group employs over 10,000 people in 33 countries. |
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ABOUT THORSPORT RACING:
ThorSport Racing, based in a state-of-the-art 100,000-square-foot facility in Sandusky, Ohio, is the longest-tenured active NASCAR Camping World Truck Series team. Thorsport, which has run full-season Truck Series schedules annually beginning in 1998, in 2013 will run the No. 88 Menards Toyota Tundra driven by Matt Crafton, the No. 98 Carolina Nut Co./Curb Records Toyota Tundra driven by Johnny Sauter and the No. 13 SealMaster Toyota Tundra driven by Todd Bodine in the Truck Series and the No. 44 Ansell/Menards Toyota Camry driven by Frank Kimmel in the ARCA Racing Series presented by Menards.
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