Sunday
Max Gresham Exceeds Expectations With Runner-Up Finish In Michigan ARCA Event
Press Release
Little did he know he would almost be the first one to take it.
“Realistically, all I wanted to do is finish,” said Gresham of his inaugural career big track start. “I was just looking to bring the car home in one piece and get some good experience. To finish second far exceeded any expectations I had going into the race.”
That’s not to say Gresham wasn’t confident going into the 100-lap race on the 2.0-mile MIS oval after setting the top speeds in both ARCA pre-event testing on May 25 and again in Thursday’s practice session.
A low qualifying draw and a loose race car on Friday produced the seventh-fastest time of the session – a lap of 38.393 seconds (184.905 miles per hour average).
At the drop of the green flag late Friday afternoon, Gresham rocketed into the top five in the first 25 laps. By the halfway point at Lap 50, the 18-year-old driver had wheeled his way to the runner-up position.
“From the time we unloaded the car at the test to the time we finished the race, my Venturini Motorsports Toyota was awesome,” said Gresham. “Once we got to about the 30-lap mark and figured out the kind of tight quarters racing you have on a big track like Michigan, we were a rocket ship. I was able to give Billy (crew chief Billy Venturini) the right information to make the car even better. Once I worked it out, we came alive.”
A round of different pit stop cycles scrambled the field and left Gresham in the 12th position on a restart with just 27 circuits remaining. From there on, Gresham was the class of the field blasting into the third position on Lap 88 with a daring three-wide through the middle pass in Turn 1.
All along the way, Gresham was processing the experience.
“Feeling the side draft was the coolest thing ever,” said Gresham of his race through the field. “You’re just driving along and then another car comes down on you going into the corner. It feels like the nose of your car just goes down through the track. That was neat to experience. Someone suddenly takes a hammer to the front of your racecar. It’s a bizarre feeling, but it’s the kind of thing you have to experience as you learn.”
Gresham rolled by Ty Dillon for second with nine laps to go and set his sights on leader Cale Gale. Gale, who last week spotted Gresham to a win in a NASCAR K&N Pro Series East event, had been the class of the field throughout the Michigan ARCA race. Still, Gresham was able to quickly slice into the lead and may have caught him before the racing fates intervened as Gale pasted the Turn 1 wall after cutting down a tire just a handful of laps from the finish.
“If we had enough laps, I think we might have caught Cale,” said Gresham. “We were catching him really fast. Then he had his issue and everything changed. It was unfortunate that it upset his run. He had a great car.”
Now, Gresham was on the point for an unusual one-lap dash to the checkered flag. At the drop of the green, it was Gresham and Dillon staging a winner-take-all drag race with Dillon sliding up in front of Gresham’s Live Oak Plantation Toyota as they Turn 1.
Gresham closed to Dillon’s left rear fender coming off Turn 4, but at the finish, it was Dillon by a scant 0.118 seconds with Gresham second. Tim George, Jr., Chad Hackenbracht, and Chris Buescher completed the top-five finishers.
“I’m not sure what Ty did, but he really got a run on the restart when we shifted from second to third gear,” said Gresham. “I felt like I pulled him pretty strong on the initial go and he just rocketed by me. Our car was fast on the straightaways all day, he just got us there. I’m sure if we would have had one more lap, I’d have drove back around him and got the win. We just came up one lap short.”
Despite not taking home the top trophy, Gresham was more than happy with the outcome.
“I’m totally pleased with the way things went this weekend,” said Gresham. “To finish second with the Venturini’s in my first-ever superspeedway start is huge for me. I learned a ton and I can’t wait to do more speedway racing with them again at Pocono and Kansas later this season.”
Gresham and the No. 25 Venturini Motorsports Toyota Camry will next team up again on Saturday, July 9 in the Hantz Group 200 at Berlin Speedway in Marne, MI.
For more information about Max Gresham, please log on to www.MaxGresham.com.
You can follow Gresham on Twitter@MaxGresham and on Facebook at Max Gresham Fan Page.
- Max Gresham Motorsports Press Release
Article Tags: ARCA, Automobile Racing Club of America, Berlin (Mich.) Raceway, Billy Venturini, Cale Gale, Chad Hackenbracht, Chris Buescher, Hantz Group 200, Kansas Speedway, Max Gresham, Michigan International Speedway, MIS, No. 25 Venturini Motorsports Toyota Camry, Pocono (Pa.) Raceway, RainEater Wiper Blades 200, Tim George Jr, Ty Dillon, Venturini Motorsports
