ARCA teams likely have a better handle of what to expect for next month’s season opener after two days of testing this weekend at Daytona International Speedway.
Day 2 of the test was Saturday, with three of the five fastest drivers from the Cunningham Motorsports stable. The fastest Cunningham driver was Shane Lee, who was fastest of the 52 drivers in the test, with a speed of 188.608 mph. Third-fastest was Dalton Sargeant (188.111 mph) and fifth-fastest was Ty Majeski (188.013 mph).
Given how his car performed Saturday, Lee is ready to start the season, which begins at Daytona on Feb. 18 for the 54th Lucas Oil Complete Engine Treatment 200.
“We’re confident about our chances coming back in February,” Lee told ARCARacing.com. “This car was strong from the get-go. We put well over 100 laps down in testing. We were doing 15 to 20 laps at a time in the draft today. It’s a nice feeling knowing you’re with a winning team, and all I have to do is drive.”
In-between Lee and Sargeant with the second-fastest speed (188.363 mph) was Austin Theriault, driving the No. 52 Toyota for Ken Schrader Racing.
“I might have been able to do a faster lap, but we were being cautious,” Theriault told ARCARacing.com. “We want to bring this car back for the race. I learned a little more about how these cars draft. We’ll go over the changes we made back at the shop, and decide what package to come back with.”
Rounding out the top-five cars was fourth-fastest Kaz Grala (188.103 mph) of Mason Mitchell Motorsports.
Just one female took part in the two-day test, Leilani Munter, who recorded the 16th fastest speed of the field (186.100 mph) in her Toyota on Saturday.
“It was good to knock the cobwebs out this weekend, and be back in a car before the race,” Munter said. “I’ll be in driving shape, 100 percent focused on racing for the next month and I’m looking forward to February.”
While Lee was fastest Saturday, overall he was the third-fastest of the two-day test. Venturini Motorsports rookies Noah Gragson (189.143 mph) and Spencer Davis (189.092 mph) were fastest with their speeds from Friday’a first day of the test.
Saturday’s overall session was both shortened and its start delayed due to the track having to be dried following early morning showers. Still, teams managed to get a full five hours of track time in before the test concluded.
| ARCA Racing Series presented by Menards | |||||
| Daytona Int’l Speedway (Day 2) | |||||
| Open Testing, Overall Speeds (1-14-17) | |||||
| POS | NO | DRIVER/HOMETOWN | CAR | TIME | SPEED |
| 1 | 22 | Shane Lee/Newton NC | Ford | 47.718 | 188.608 |
| 2 | 52 | Austin Theriault/Fort Kent ME | Chevrolet | 47.780 | 188.363 |
| 3 | 77 s | Dalton Sargeant/Boca Raton FL | Ford | 47.844 | 188.111 |
| 4 | 78 g | Kaz Grala/Westborough MA | Chevrolet | 47.846 | 188.103 |
| 5 | 77 m | Ty Majeski/Seymour WI | Ford | 47.869 | 188.013 |
| 6 | 23 | Bret Holmes/Munford AL | Chevrolet | 47.884 | 187.954 |
| 7 | 83 | Derrick Lancaster/Christiansburg VA | Dodge | 48.047 | 187.317 |
| 8 | 25 | Spencer Davis/Dawsonville GA | Toyota | 48.142 | 186.947 |
| 9 | 32 | Gus Dean/Bluffton SC | Toyota | 48.155 | 186.896 |
| 10 | 34 m | Willie Mullins/Fredricksburg VA | Ford | 48.159 | 186.881 |
| 11 | 55 s | Zane Smith/Huntington Beach CA | Toyota | 48.167 | 186.850 |
| 12 | 33 | Justin Fontaine/Fletcher NC | Toyota | 48.214 | 186.668 |
| 13 | 8 h | Justin Haley/Winamac IN | Toyota | 48.255 | 186.509 |
| 14 | 01 | Travis Braden/Wheeling WV | Ford | 48.330 | 186.220 |
| 15 | 7 | Codie Rohrbaugh/Petersburg WV | Chevrolet | 48.358 | 186.112 |
| 16 | 15 | Leilani Munter/Rochester MN | Toyota | 48.361 | 186.100 |
| 17 | 80 b | Caesar Bacarella/Parklna FL | Chevrolet | 48.365 | 186.085 |
| 18 | 02 | Andy Seuss/Hampstead NH | Chevrolet | 48.440 | 185.797 |
| 19 | 16 | John Ferrier/Middletown NY | Chevrolet | 48.470 | 185.682 |
| 20 | 98 | Quin Houff/Mount Sidney VA | Chevrolet | 48.482 | 185.636 |
| 21 | 37 l | David LeBeau/Daytona Beach FL | Ford | 48.564 | 185.322 |
| 22 | 5 | Bobby Gerhart/Lebanon PA | Chevrolet | 48.655 | 184.976 |
| 23 | 72 h | Tyler Hill/Port Tobacco MD | Chevrolet | 48.707 | 184.778 |
| 24 | 42 | Bo LeMastus/Louisville KY | Dodge | 48.735 | 184.672 |
| 25 | 57 d | Bryan Dauzat/Concord NC | Chevrolet | 48.748 | 184.623 |
| 26 | 8 m | Travis Miller/Chesapeake VA | Toyota | 48.748 | 184.623 |
| 27 | 38 | Ray Cicarelli/Ellicott City MD | Chevrolet | 49.027 | 183.572 |
| 28 | 9 | Thomas Praytor/Mobile AL | Ford | 49.355 | 182.352 |
| 29 | 72 m | Tony Mrakovich/Elizabethtown PA | Chevrolet | 49.585 | 181.507 |
| 30 | 7 l | Verlin Larry Berg/Petersburg WV | Chevrolet | 49.587 | 181.499 |
| 31 | 34 b | Robert Bruce/Fredricksburg VA | Ford | 49.717 | 181.025 |
| 32 | 72 s | Stan Mullis/Las Vegas NV | Chevrolet | 49.780 | 180.796 |
| 33 | 16 f | Steve Fox/Hawley PA | Chevrolet | 49.784 | 180.781 |
| 34 | 37 c | Wendell Chavous/Hephzbah GA | Ford | 49.862 | 180.498 |
| 35 | 34 a | Wyatt Alexander/Ellsworth ME | Ford | 49.876 | 180.448 |
| 36 | 34 | Jeff MacZink/Rockwood MI | Ford | 49.926 | 180.267 |
| 37 | 0 h | Richard Hauck/Howell MI | Chevrolet | 49.985 | 180.054 |
| 38 | 0 n | Con Nicolopoulos/Columbus, MI | Chevrolet | 49.995 | 180.018 |
| 39 | 2 | Eric Caudell/ Piedmont OK | Chevrolet | 50.023 | 179.917 |
| 40 | 0 m | Dale Matchett/Cherry Hill NJ | Chevrolet | 50.265 | 179.051 |
| 41 | 10 r | Zach Ralston/Springville IA | Chevrolet | 50.333 | 178.809 |
| 42 | 10 p | Ed Pompa/Ballston Spa NY | Chevrolet | 50.431 | 178.462 |
| 43 | 10 b | Bryant Barnhill/Supply NC | Chevrolet | 50.780 | 177.235 |
| 44 | 0 t | Don Thompson/Carlisle PA | Chevrolet | 50.997 | 176.481 |
| 45 | 69 | Trey Hutchens/Lexington MC | Ford | 51.468 | 174.866 |
| 46 | 3 | Mike Senica/Doylestown PA | Chevrolet | 51.672 | 174.176 |
| 47 | 69 | Cody Lane/Port Richey FL | Ford | 51.799 | 173.749 |
| 48 | 3 e | Scott Edwards/Ormand Beach FL | Chevrolet | 52.333 | 171.976 |
| 49 | 11 | D.L. Wilson/Waco TX | Chevrolet | 53.713 | 167.557 |
| 50 | 3 | Mike Senica/Doylestown PA | Chevrolet | 52.123 | 172.668 |
| 51 | 0n | Con Nicolopoulos/Columbus, MI | Chevrolet | 53.951 | 166.818 |
| 52 | 37b | Mike Brown/Iuka MS | Ford | 60.540 | 148.662 |
Statistics courtesy ARCARacing.com
Follow @JerryBonkowski
