Catchfence

Concord, NC (July 26, 2011) - Just miles away from the Indianapolis Motor Speedway sits the unique short track better known as the Lucas Oil Raceway (LOR). A track that the ARCA Racing Series presented by Menards has yet to visit since 1985, which means one thing for the Venturini Motorsports – an even playing field. This week the development team brings three drivers that have all proven to be quick in their early ARCA careers.

Ryan Blaney, son of World of Outlaws Sprint Champion and NASCAR driver Dave Blaney, will make his second appearance this season for Venturini Motorsports. In his first start, Blaney sat on the pole and earned a sixth place finish in the ARCA 200 presented by Federated Auto Parts at the Winchester Speedway.

“Racing with Venturini Motorsports has been unbelievable,” said Blaney. “Their racecars are always super fast, which makes me very excited about racing the Ansell Protective Gloves 200. A lot of great racers will be there and the Lucas Oil Raceway always puts on a good show.”

Piloting the No. 15 Toyota, the 16-year-old has one previous experience on the .686-mile track in the Championship Racing Association (CRA) where he finished ninth last month.

To prepare for the one of a kind track, Venturini Motorsports participated in an open test session earlier last month. Kenzie Ruston, who also has a previous start at the track in a Super Late Model car, topped the charts in her No. 55 Toyota.

The 19-year-old is making her fourth ARCA start of the season with three top-15 finishes, two of them in the top-10, placing her in the record books. Ruston became only the second female in ARCA Racing Series history to earn back-to-back top-10 finishes in her first two starts. The Oklahoma native hopes to keep her streak alive at LOR.

“I am very excited to get to Lucas Oil Raceway,” said the Venturini Motorsports driver. “I’ve had this event circled on my calendar all year and to be able to finally race at a track that I’ve previous raced at is going to help a ton. We qualified second out of 38 cars here in June and ran inside the top five for most of the event before falling to a sixth-place finish, so I’m looking to use that experience to help run up front during the ARCA Racing Series event.”

Venturini Motorsports third car this week will be piloted by current points leader in the NASCAR K&N Pro Series East, Max Gresham. The Georgia native, who is high on momentum from his win at New Hampshire Motor Speedway three weeks ago in the K&N Series, will be making his fourth start in the ARCA series this season. His best finish to date came at Michigan International Speedway, where he finished a close second.

While he has had success on the larger Speedway’s, the 18-year-old quickly got a handle on the short, yet fast, track of LOR during the test session. By the end of practice, Gresham was running competitive lap times on old tires.

“I always look forward to going to the racetrack with Venturini Motorsports,” stated the 18-year-old Griffin, GA native. “That’s especially true going to a place like Indy where there are a lot of eyes watching what you are doing. It really helps to put your best foot forward and do the best you can. Racing with the Venturini’s gives me the opportunity to do that.”

The Ansell Protective Glove 200 (200 laps / 137 miles) at LOR will air live on SPEED at 7:00 pm ET. Follow the team on Twitter @Venturinimotor for live updates. Additional race coverage, including live timing, scoring and radio broadcast, can be viewed through the ARCA Racing Network at arcaracing.com

- Venturini Motorsports Press Release