When Matt Carter won the Hooter's Pro Cup race last season at Iowa Speedway, his only win in that series last season, he had no way of knowing how big that win was or how his career would change for 2008. Matt is the son of well known and long time NASCAR team owner, Travis Carter.

I spoke with Matt recently to congratulate him on landing what was the most coveted ride in the ARCA REMAX Series for 2008 and to find out just exactly how this came about.

"Wow, Matt," I began. "What an amazing opportunity and season you have ahead of you."

"Yes, I guess we do. Yes, ma'am. Yeah, it's a good opportunity. I was kind of surprised when Larry called and asked if I wanted to drive for him," explained Carter.

That is one of those "no brainer" questions. Team owner Larry Clement has 9 ARCA REMAX Championships to his credit and all were with Frank Kimmel as the driver. But, 2008 is bringing BIG changes for Kimmel and Clement Racing. When Frank Kimmel announced he would be forming his own ARCA REMAX team in 2008, Clement's phone was ringing off the wall with inquiries from drivers who wanted to be the driver to pilot the championship #46 Ford.

"In the past," continued young Carter, "we had been racing the Late Models in Hooter's Pro Cup the last couple of years and Frank actually drove a few races for my Dad back when K Mart went bankrupt and Frank brought the Pork sponsorship for those races. Another time Jimmy Spencer got hurt and Frank filled in for him. We had been trying to get the Pork sponsorship to help us out a little in the Hooter's Series, so, we've known Larry for awhile. Larry owns part of Iowa Speedway and when we went to Iowa this past year and won the race, Larry called me up and said I didn't know you could drive like that. I told him, man, I've been trying to tell you and that's kind of how it came about. He did say he had a ton of people calling him up and even guys who had something to bring to the table, but, he decided to pick me. That was pretty cool."

"So far the only place we have tested is Daytona. I thought it went well. We didn't really do much to this car. This is the same car Frank ran well with last year at Daytona and at Talladega. We got it down here to our shop, unloaded it, went over a few things and made a few minor changes here and there. We took it to Daytona, unloaded it and were fast right off the trailer. That was kind of an easy test, really."

"We brought 2 guys that helped me on our Hooter's team and a guy that's been around NASCAR Cup and Busch for forever who has worked for Dad on different occasions and he's over here helping us out. We really don't have a named crew chief, but, we're doing O.K. with these 3 guys, Darrell Dodson, Garrett Lambert and Jimmy King."

This season will be a season of many firsts for Carter. The REMAX cars are heavier than the Pro Cup cars. He has never raced at Daytona. In fact the largest track he has raced on is Iowa which is not even a one mile track. He didn't get to actually draft much or race side by side during the Daytona test session. Additionally there are quite a few tracks on the ARCA REMAX schedule that Carter hasn't raced on or even seen.

Yet, with all of this Matt says he is not worried or nervous. Not yet, anyway. Hooter's Pro Cup offered tough and closely matched competition, so, that is something he is used to.

"The toughest thing for me, I think, will be getting the feel of the bigger tracks, the different tracks, getting the feel of what I need the car to do," he added.

Additional test sessions are in the works later in the season. Salem, which is the second race of the season, is one where Carter has experience, so he is looking forward to that. Iowa is the 3rd race for this series, and, as mentioned earlier, Carter has a recent win there, so, all in all this young driver and team are optimistic. I think they have a right to be.

"I try not to come across as being cocky," concluded Carter. " I'm confident in what I think I can do and guys that I've raced against that have moved on to other series, I have beaten and out ran, so, with the guys I have working with me and everything we've got behind us, I'm confident we can go out and run good and be strong. My expectations are to come out and be strong right off the truck. I don't expect to do what Frank Kimmel did because he's raced a lot longer than I have and has got a lot more experience than I have which is a big part of racing. I do expect to win some races and be a contender for the championship. I'm not going to say we will win the championship, but, I hope we will be in the top 3 or 4 cars all year long. With the Cup teams going to the COT a lot of the ARCA guys have been able to pick up some really good cars from the Cup teams, so, that's going to make the competition stiffer, so, we'll just have to see.

We will have to wait to see, indeed. It will be interesting to see how this all turns out. Larry Clement has wracked up 9 championships with Kimmel. It's impossible to think there are not more in the future for that team. It could be exciting to see the #46 Ford give Frank a run for the money.

Tune in to Speed to watch the live coverage of The ARCA 200, Saturday, February 9th at 4 PM EST. It's going to be EXCITING!!!!!

Questions? Comments? Contact Marty Tyler at MTyler@Catchfence.com