Catchfence

Millville, NJ. (July 1, 2012) – Over the course of 67 laps, and 150 miles, Frank Kimmel and the Ansell/Menards Toyota team earned a 7th place finish overcoming numerous challenges throughout the season’s lone road course event. Kimmel’s finish marked his fifth top ten at NJMP in as many races and vaulted him to third in the ARCA Racing Series presented by Menards standings.

Following last week’s disappointing result at Winchester, Kimmel and the Thorsport team showcased the resiliency and determination it takes to win races and championships by battling to a solid finish at a challenging racetrack. After practicing 10th and 15th in the two sessions on Saturday afternoon, Kimmel qualified 15th and started from the rear of the field due to pitting prior to the green flag. Crew chief Jeriod Prince elected to make adjustments to the Ansell/Menards Camry during the pace laps to improve the handling from the two practice sessions.

The fifth ARCA Racing Series event at NJMP started with a 23 lap green flag run, during which Kimmel advanced through the field and into the top 15 by lap 8. Kimmel’s Toyota showed muscle throughout the initial green run and worked his way to 11th by the first pit stop. As the #16 slid off course on lap 23, Kimmel was strategically called down pit road before the full course yellow flew, and made it to pit road to change left side tires. After beating the leader off pit road, Kimmel returned to pit road with the race leaders to get right side tires and top off with fuel under the caution period.

Kimmel restarted in 4th at lap 28 and raced in the top ten until lap 33 when he was briefly shoved off course in turn 4. By entering turn 5, Kimmel had recovered and caught a caution the following lap while running 10th. While battling for the 10th position at lap 50, a stalled car brought out the second to last caution, allowing Kimmel to pit for four fresh Hoosier tires.

Starting 7th on the ensuing lap 53 restart, contact with the #81 for the second time during the weekend forced Kimmel off track in turn 2 prompting Kimmel’s late race charge. In the final eight laps, the nine-time ARCA Champion regained the lost positions and fought back to a 7th place finish while Andrew Ranger scored his second career win.

“We did everything we could to make the car better”, Kimmel said. “The guys worked so hard on it all weekend. It seemed like we made it better in the race, and the more laps we ran, the better we got. We probably would have come out with a top five and got run off course near the end and lost a ton of track position. It was a hot day and we made up as much as we could and come home with another solid finish.”

Race Recap:

Date: July 1st, 2012

Track: New Jersey Motorsports Park

Race: 10 of 20

Started: 15th

Finished: 7th

Driver Championship Points Standings: 3rd

NEXT ON THE SCHEDULE:

Iowa Speedway will host the 11th stop on the ARCA Racing Series presented by Menards circuit on Friday, July 13th. The Prairie Meadows 200 will mark the seventh ARCA Racing Series event at the tri-oval in Newton, IA. All on-track activity will take place on Friday the 13th with the green flag scheduled to drop at 8 pmCT. Timing and scoring will be available on ARCAracing.com beginning with the opening practice at 10:30 am. SPEED Channel will have live coverage of the 200 lap event beginning at 8 pmCT (9 pmET).

2012 is the ARCA Racing Series presented by Menards’ 60th Anniversary Season, featuring 20 races at 18 tracks. The complete 2012 event schedule is available at ARCARacing.com.

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