Catchfence

Dakoda Armstrong, the driver of the #22 Ferrellgas Dodge finished fifth in the Tim Richmond Memorial ARCA 200 at the Mansfield Motorsports Park. After testing at the facility prior to the last ARCA Racing Series event at the Iowa Speedway, the team practiced 7th fastest and qualified 9th. Prior to the 200 lap event Armstrong stated, “Our practice runs were not quite as good as the test session we had here. We will be better on race runs. We got a little free during qualifying, so I didn’t get as good of a starting spot as I was hoping to have.”

Starting from the inside of row 5, Armstrong moved to the 7th spot in the first five laps and had progressed to 4th by the second caution on lap 36. Under this caution, Armstrong told crew chief, Paul Andrews that his car was tight. The decision was made to wait a little bit to make the mandatory pit stop. Andrews called Dakoda into the pits, to the crew’s attention on the next caution on lap 66.

After getting four tires, fuel and a track bar adjustment, Dakoda re-started in 7th. In 35 laps, Armstrong had cracked the top 5. By lap 107 he was running 4th. With only 6 cars remaining on the lead lap by lap 144, Armstrong radioed to Andrews that he was, “real tight.” The final pit stop for the #22 crew came on lap 145, when Dakoda came in for right side tires and a wedge adjustment. Armstrong remained in the top 5 positions for the rest of the race, finishing in 5th. After the race, an exhausted Armstrong said, “We were tight most of the night. We were better at the last, but it was still a handful. I am glad to hold on at the end and keep the car up here for another top-5 finish.” Mansfield marks Armstrong’s 2nd consecutive top-5 finish.

The top 5 finishers were Max Gresham, Craig Goess, Frank Kimmel, Tim George, Jr. and Armstrong. The next event for the team is the Weis Market 125 at the Pocono Raceway, Saturday, July 31. Practice is scheduled from 10:15-11:55 on Friday, with qualifying at 1:40. Racing begins Saturday at 3:00pm EST, with live coverage on SPEED. Live timing and scoring will also be available at www.arcaracing.com for all of the ARCA Racing Series events at Pocono Raceway.

- Cunningham Motorsports Press Release