Catchfence

(June 26, 2011-Mooresville, NC) Dakoda Armstrong, who teamed up with Cunningham Motorsports in the 2010 season for two wins and Rookie of the Year honors, reunited to race in his home state of Indiana at Winchester Speedway Saturday. The homecoming was twofold. The soon-to-be 20 year old (his birthday is in July), from nearby New Castle, Indiana had moved to the NASCAR capital, Mooresville, North Carolina, after the 2010 season and was returning to race 35 miles from home. He was also running with his 2010 team, after running the first 4 races of the 2011 ARCA season with them and sitting out the last 3 in preparation for his debut in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series in July at Iowa. The plan to race at the .5 mile track came to fruition Wednesday of this week when Cardinal Ethanol, ICM Inc. and Murex came on board to sponsor the Armstrong/Cunningham effort.

For Armstrong, the Winchester ARCA 200 presented by Federated Auto Parts would mark the first time he had a chance to race at Winchester in the ARCA Series. The last time that ARCA ran at the high-banked track was in 2007. Armstrong has run three Sprint car races within the last three years at the short track, with three top-10 finishes, including one front row start. Practice was a frustrating time for Armstrong and crew chief Paul Andrews. The #22 was hoping to pick up on the speeds that they ran when they tested at the track, but disappointingly posted the 11th quickest speed on the practice charts. The adjustments that Andrews made before qualifying helped Armstrong qualify 5th, starting the race on the inside of row 3.

As the green flag flew for the 200 lap event, Armstrong moved into the 4th spot by turn 2. He maintained 4th through the first 44 laps, which included four caution flags and a red flag for multiple spins. On the green flag to restart the race on lap 45, Armstrong got passed by Frank Kimmel, dropping the #22 Cardinal Ethanol/ICM/Murex Dodge to 5th. He retook the position on lap 81, with 10 cars on the lead lap. As the caution came out on lap 93, Andrews called Armstrong to the pits for 4 tires, fuel, a track bar adjustment, and to remove tape from the grill. With some of the teams bolting on only 2 tires, the pit crew sent Armstrong back on track in 6th. During the long green flag run, which ran from lap 97-168, the Dodge came to life, as the #22 picked off one position after the other. When the caution out for a spin in turn 1 on lap 168, Armstrong was in 3rd.

After telling Andrews, “The car is getting a little tight,” Andrews brought his driver in for right side tires only, making no other adjustments. With 5 cars on the lead lap when the green flew with 27 laps to go, Armstrong set sail for the 2nd spot. Four laps later he passed Tom Hessert on lap 177 and trained his eye on leader, Ty Dillon. Lap by lap Armstrong inched closer to Dillon, running lap times that were two to three tenths of a second quicker than Dillon. As fans in the “Dakoda Armstrong section” of the grandstand (many family and friends from his hometown) stood to cheer Armstrong on, he got to Dillon’s bumper and made the pass for the lead on lap 190. After taking the lead, Armstrong built up a .9-second lead when he took the checkered flag, capturing his third win in 32 ARCA Series races.

An elated Armstrong commented in victory lane, “I have to thank these guys. We didn’t know we were going to run until Monday. They struggled to get this car together. Gotta thank Cardinal Ethanol, Murex and ICM Inc. We wouldn’t have been here without them. Thanks to Paul Andrews-he gave me a great car. It came alive on that last run. It couldn’t have been better. This is a huge win for us.”

A great way to complete the homecoming—with a win!

- Cunningham Motorsports Press Release