Tom Hessert’s Second Half Surge Sets Table for Career Best Finish in ARCA’s Championship Point Standings; Kansas Finale Awaits
Concord, North Carolina (October 13, 2016) – Poised to earn his career-best season finish in the ARCA Racing Series presented by Menards’ championship driver point standings, veteran driver Tom Hessert takes to the trackFriday night aiming to solidify his current campaign in the ARCA Series Kansas 150 season finale at Kansas Speedway.
In his first season driving for Venturini Motorsports, Hessert has relied on a strong second half surge to put himself in position for a career best second-place season-ending finish in the series’ overall driver point standings.
Hessert, a 10-year series veteran who finished a career-best third in ARCA’s point standings in 2010 and 2014, currently finds himself 475 points behind series leader Chase Briscoe for top spot and stands alone in second with a 185-point advantage over third place driver Matt Kurzejewski.
“After starting the season in a bit of a hole we’ve made some huge gains on Briscoe and other drivers over the last eight or nine races,” said Hessert. “I’m really proud of this team and our ability to stick in there. Although we’re going to come up short for the championship our perseverance never wavered and got us to this point now. It’s been a solid season.”
After starting the season with misfortune at Daytona and finishing deep in the pack at Pocono and Michigan, Hessert and his VMS team rebounded during the second half of the season. Highlighted by his sixth career victory at the DuQuoin State Fairground’s dirt mile in early September, Hessert currently rides a string of eight consecutive top-10 finishes going into the final race of the year.
“I’m definitely a racing purist and like how ARCA’s championship format rewards each driver based on the entirety of a driver’s season performance. We had a dominant car at Daytona and if we don’t cut a tire late in the race or have axel issues at Michigan who knows how everything from there plays out, we could easily be having a completely different conversation.”
Piloting Venturini Motorsports’ No.25 3M-Cometic Gasket Toyota in the season finale, Hessert is focused on adding to his solid season resume. Hessert enters Kansas with one season victory, two runner-up finishes, seven top-five and 14 top-10 finishes to go along with two Menard Pole by Ansell awards at Talladega Superspeedway and Berlin Raceway.
Hessert’s Kansas finale will mark his eight career start on the 1.5-mile oval – his career best finish on the Kansas track came in 2010 with a sixth place finish.
The Kansas 150 marks the 16th consecutive ARCA race at Kansas since the series debuted on the 1.5-mile superspeedway in 2001.
Practice for the Kansas 150 is Friday, October 14 from 9:30 to 10:25 a.m., with final practice following from 10:35 to 11:30. Menards Pole Qualifying presented by Ansell is slotted in for 2:30 p.m. The 16th Kansas ARCA 150 is scheduled to start at 7:30, with live coverage on FS1. ARCAracing.com will also feature Live Timing and Scoring and Live Chat of all on-track activities.
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