Dalton Sargeant Chasing History at Kansas Speedway
Concord, North Carolina (October 11, 2016) – After several weeks off from competition Dalton Sargeant and his Venturini Motorsports team roll into America’s heartland for the highly anticipated ARCA Racing Series presented by Menards season finale at Kansas Speedway on Friday, October 14.
Sargeant, hailing from Boca Raton, Florida, leaped onto the ARCA scene earlier this season with hopes of making the most of his limited series schedule. Now with one race remaining the 18-year old rookie is on the verge of making history.
Going into this week’s Kansas 150 Sargeant is poised to capture ARCA’s SCOTT Rookie of the Year honors as well as doing his part in helping Venturini Motorsports capture the General Tire Superspeedway Challenge Championship at the conclusion of Friday night’s finale.
“It’s been a great season behind the wheel of my Toyota Racing Development – Windows 10 Camry,” said Sargeant. “I knew we had a great opportunity with Venturini before the season started – Billy (Venturini) and all the guys just did an amazing job all season long and now we’re here ready to close out the season on a high note. Nothing is over until it’s over, but it will be a huge honor if we can get it done and lock up the Rookie of the Year and the General Tire Superspeedway Challenge.”
Sargeant, who’s piloted the No.55 Toyota Racing Development – Windows 10 Camry for much of the season, is now at the controls with a 165-point advantage in the General Tire Superspeedway Challenge Championship over Chase Briscoe and his No.77 Briggs Cunningham entry.
Briscoe, who leads in the overall series driver point standings will likely lock up his first championship before the green flag drops. However, with the General Tire Superspeedway Challenge Championship yet to be determined, Sargent is in the drivers’ seat. With everything coming down to the Kansas finale – If Briscoe wins the race, all Sargeant needs to finish is 31st or better to clinch the General Tire Superspeedway Challenge Championship for crew chief and team owner, Billy Venturini.
“The superspeedway championship is definitely on our radar…it’s been on the radar all year,” said Billy Venturini.
“There were three things that concerned us at the beginning of the year. First was the championship…second was the Speedway Challenge…and third was the Rookie of the Year. It looks like we’ll win the Speedway Challenge, and given the way everything’s turning out, looks like we’ll get Rookie of the Year with Dalton (Sargeant) too. Really good year for Venturini Motorsports.”
Sargeant, making the most of his abbreviated ARCA schedule, has inked an impressive stat sheet since making his series debut at Salem Speedway back in April. Capturing his first career ARCA Series victory at Berlin Raceway, Sargeant has gone on to earn 10 top-five (Seven top-3’s) and 12 top-ten finishes in just 14 series events.
With Briscoe’s overall ARCA driver championship imminent, Sargeant stands to inherit ARCA’s SCOTT Rookie of the Year honors should top competitor Briscoe indeed close out his series championship. Rookie of the Year is determined by taking each drivers top-15 of 20 finishes. ARCA rules state no single driver can win the series championship and SCOTT Rookie of the Year in the same season.
The Kansas 150 marks the 16th consecutive ARCA race at Kansas since the series debuted on the 1.5-mile superspeedway in 2001.
RaceDay Schedule – Friday, October 14
Practice for the Kansas 150 is Friday, October 14 from 9:30 a.m. to 10:25 a.m. with final practice following from10:35 a.m. to 11:30 a.m. Menards Pole Qualifying presented by Ansell is slotted in for 2:25 p.m. The 16th Kansas ARCA 150 is scheduled to start at 7:30 p.m., with live coverage on FS1. All times are local, central time. ARCAracing.com will also feature Live Timing and Scoring and Live Chat of all on-track activities.
Tickets are currently on sale for the full weekend of activities, which kicks off with the Kansas 150 show-openerFriday night, followed by the Kansas Lottery 300 NASCAR XFINITY Series race Saturday with their inaugural Chase for the Championship. The Hollywood Casino 400 grand finale, the fifth race in the Chase for the NASCAR Sprint Cup, takes center stage Sunday afternoon.
ABOUT VENTURINI MOTORSPORTS:
Venturini Motorsports (VMS), fielding cars for over 30-years in the ARCA Racing Series presented by Menards, is one of the premier NASCAR driver development programs in the country. Multiple team championships and consistent on-track success, VMS has evolved into one of the most recognizable names in motorsports. Since 2007, VMS has assisted in the career development of notable NASCAR drivers such as Joey Logano, Erik Jones, William Byron, Justin Allgaier, Alex Bowman, Brian Scott, Ryan Blaney, Brennan Poole, Daniel Suarez, Brandon Jones and John Wes Townley. Over the years the Venturini name has become synonymous with modern-day racing in America. In 2012, the Venturini family was inducted into the National Italian American Sports Hall of Fame (www.NIASHF.org) and now find themselves enshrined with such sports icons as Joe DiMaggio, Mario Andretti, Vince Lombardi, Tommy Lasorda and Rocky Marciano.
Official: www.VenturiniMotorsports.com | Twitter: @VenturiniMotor | Facebook: Venturini Motorsports
Sources: Tommy Venturini/Venturini Motorsports PR