Michael Self with Sinclair Oil Ready for Season Debut at Daytona
Concord, NC (February 7, 2018) – Coming off a breakout season, driver Michael Self looks for continued success starting with the ARCA Racing Series presented by Menards season-opening Lucas Oil 200 Driven by General Tire event this coming Saturday at Daytona International Speedway.
Self, 27, made offseason news by aligning with Venturini Motorsports (VMS) for the upcoming season. After months of anticipation, the pair is set to unveil the team’s No. 15 Sinclair Oil Toyota Camry.
“I’m very excited to finally get behind the wheel of the No. 15 Toyota Camry with the Sinclair colors on board, but would be lying if I said I wasn’t a little nervous as well. I only have one superspeedway start, which was Daytona last year, and even though I feel like I learned a ton, I’m definitely still learning and building my confidence with this kind of racing,” said Self.
“I’m looking forward to utilizing all the knowledge that Venturini Motorsports brings with them to this track. I’ll be leaning heavily on my crew chief, Kevin Reed, my teammate Tom Hessert, and my spotter Mike Herman Jr. to learn as much as I can before, and during the race.”
Self, who made his ARCA Series debut with VMS in 2014, participated in the last month’s open test session in preparation for this weekend’s highly anticipated event.
“We had a good test a few weeks ago and brought home a car we felt good about but knew we could be a little better with, so I’m anxious to get back and try a few things out to see if we’ve found some speed. The VMS guys have built beautiful new racecars over the offseason, and the Sinclair colors have never looked better on a car. I’m hoping we can kick things off strong this weekend and put on a good showing for all the fans of the Dino car.”
With nine career ARCA starts, Self made his mark in 2017 by earning his first series victory during the season finale at Kansas Speedway. In nine series attempts, Self has posted one victory, five top-fives and five top-10 finishes.
Selected to pilot the team’s Toyota Camry for a partial series schedule, the Park City, Utah native will also compete at Fairgrounds Speedway Nashville (April 7), Talladega Superspeedway (April 27), Charlotte Motor Speedway (May 24), Michigan International Speedway (June 8), Chicagoland Speedway (June 28), Iowa Speedway (July 7), Lucas Oil Raceway (Sept. 7), Salem Speedway (Sept. 15) and Kansas Speedway (Oct. 19).
The Lucas Oil 200 Driven by General Tire is the first of 20 races on the 2018 ARCA Racing Series presented by Menards schedule. Practice begins Thurs., Feb. 8 from 4 – 6 p.m. ET. Final practice is Friday morning, Feb. 9 from 9:30 a.m. – 10:30 a.m. and group qualifying is set for 3:30 p.m. Friday afternoon. The Lucas Oil 200, which begins the 66th consecutive season for ARCA, is set to get the green flag at about 4:50 p.m. ET on Saturday, Feb. 10. The race is live on FS1 beginning at 4:30. ARCARacing.com will stream live timing and scoring and chat throughout the entire weekend festivities.
To keep up-to-date with the latest news, information and exclusive content, follow Self on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.
SINCLAIR OIL CORPORATION
Sinclair is a privately held Wyoming company with executive offices in Salt Lake City and more than 1,200 employees across several states. Sinclair owns and operates two refineries in Wyoming along with a network of both crude oil and finished-product pipelines and terminals in the Rocky Mountain and midcontinent regions. The company markets fuel in 24 states, supplying high-quality fuels to more than 1,300 branded stations, featuring DINOCARE™ TOP TIER™ Gasoline. Sinclair Oil and Gas Company manages its exploration and production portfolios by only participating in major oil and gas development projects in the United States. Sinclair also owns and operates The Grand America Hotel in Salt Lake City, the Little America hotel chain, The Westgate Hotel in San Diego, Sun Valley Resort in Idaho, and Snowbasin Resort in Utah. For more information, visit SinclairOil.com and follow the brand on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.
ABOUT VENTURINI MOTORSPORTS:
Over the last 35-years, Venturini Motorsports (VMS) has evolved into one of the most recognizable names in professional motorsports. Known for long-time dominance in the ARCA Racing Series presented by Menards, Venturini Motorsports is held in high regard as one of the premier NASCAR driver development programs in the county. Since 2007, VMS has specialized in the career development of some of today’s top racing talent including current NASCAR “Stars” – Joey Logano, Erik Jones, William Byron, Alex Bowman, Ryan Blaney, Darryl ‘Bubba’ Wallace Jr., Daniel Suarez, Christopher Bell, Justin Allgaier, Noah Gragson, Ben Rhoads, Ryan Reed, Brandon Jones, Matt Tifft, Brennan Poole, Dalton Sargeant, Justin Haley and Todd Gilliland. Integrity, dedication and continuous innovation paired with years of on-track success has helped define Venturini Motorsports as one of the longest tenured teams in all of modern day racing. In 2012, the Venturini racing family was recognized for their collective achievements and inducted into the National Italian American Sports Hall of Fame (www.NIASHF.org) – now finding themselves enshrined with such sports icons as Joe DiMaggio, Mario Andretti, Chip Ganassi, Andy Granatelli, Vince Lombardi, Tommy Lasorda and Rocky Marciano.
Official: www.VenturiniMotorsports.com | Twitter: @VenturiniMotor | Facebook: Venturini Motorsports
Venturini Motorsports
571 Pitts School Rd NW, Concord, NC 28027
Shop: 704.784.2500
Twitter: @VenturiniMotor
Marketing Director: Tommy Venturini
Cell: 847.652.0067
Email: tommy@venturinimotorsports.com
Twitter: @TVenturini25
Sources: Tommy Venturini/Venturini Motorsports PR