Venturini Motorsports’ Drivers Delivers Another Solid Effort at Nashville
Concord, North Carolina (April 9, 2018) – The ARCA Racing Series presented by Menards returned to the track this past weekend for the running of the Music City 200 at the Fairgrounds Speedway Nashville.
Despite unseasonably cold temperatures, it was business as usual for Venturini Motorsports which returned to racing action turning in a solid overall team performance.
Michael Self and Chandler Smith, both leading laps, finished in the top-5 taking the checkered flag fourth and fifth respectively. Christian Eckes finished eighth and Natalie Decker rounded out the team effort in 11th place.
Daytona winner Michael Self, driving the No.55 Sinclair Oil Toyota, led seven laps but came up a few spots short of winning his third consecutive ARCA race. Self’s fourth-place finish kept the Utah born driver atop of the series points standings.
“It’s a fun place to race; that’s for sure,” said Self. “You really have to adapt a lot. This place changes all night. Overall, a really good night. Although short-lived, I’m especially proud coming out of the race maintaining the points lead. Unfortunately, the way my schedule lines up this year I won’t be running the full schedule. It sure would be nice to take this momentum to Salem but it just wasn’t in the cards this year. We’ll continue to race for trophies; I’ll be back again at Talladega at the end of the month.”
15-year old Chandler Smith, the latest teenage sensation to jump onto the scene, came out of the gate strong in his ARCA debut earning General Tire’s Pole Award and finishing fifth for the Toyota aligned Venturini Motorsports.
Smith, a standout late model driver, set a new track record (18.768 seconds / 114.332 mph) with his ARCA qualifying effort and led the first 51-laps behind the wheel of his No.20 Smith General Contracting Camry. Relinquishing his lead during the first round of pit stops, Smith stayed in contention never straying outside the top-8 cars before finishing with a solid top-5.
“It was a great night and huge learning experience,” said Smith. “As a driver, I’m disappointed I couldn’t finish it off but winning the pole and finishing fifth in my first ARCA start is something I’m really proud of and can build on for the future. I can’t thank Toyota and Venturini Motorsports enough for giving me the opportunity and the chance to make my first start here on my home track.”
Christian Eckes making his first start of the 2018 season finished eighth driving his freshly painted orange and white No.15 JBL Audio Toyota Camry. Eckes, 17, who made his first career ARCA start two years ago in Nashville was disappointed with the results of his homecoming.
“We unloaded a really fast race car earlier today but just missed it as a whole during the race,” said Eckes. “We had a strong practice finishing near the top of the board but qualified back further than we wanted. Once the race started we just couldn’t get things rolling. We were hoping for better results but I’ll take the top-10.”
Eckes with 15 series starts (four top-5’s and 11 top-10’s) looks ahead to his next event on the schedule; Salem Speedway on April 22.
Natalie Decker, making her first start since earning the pole award and finishing a career-best fifth at Daytona, made her Nashville debut Saturday night. The 20-year-old Wisconsin native finished 11th behind the wheel of her No.25 Capital Partners – Yamaha Power Products Toyota.
After qualifying 12th for the 200-lap event, Decker, was scored as high as sixth place but fell back after late-race pit stops. Nearly missing out on a top-10 finish, the optimistic Decker has plenty of positives to take away.
“It was definitely good to get back in the car again,” said Decker. “I feel I made a lot of gains overall this weekend. We were right in the middle of things for a while but the car got throttle tight coming off the corners late in the race. It was tough race but I’m happy with everything I learned. We’ve got a great team behind us and I feel really good about going to Salem.
The next event for the ARCA Racing Series is the Kentuckiana Ford Dealers 200 at Salem Speedway coming April 22.
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
Sources: Venturini Motorsports PR