Venturini Motorsports with Dominant First Half of ARCA Season Looks for Continued Success
Set to kick-off the second half of the 2019 ARCA Menards Series schedule tomorrow night at World Wide Technology Raceway at Gateway near St. Louis, Mo, Venturini Motorsports (VMS) remains focused on continuing their winning ways over the final ten races of the season.
Looking to close out what can already be described as a dream season, VMS, racing under the Toyota Racing Development (TRD) banner, has dominated the first half of the ARCA season winning seven out of the first ten series events. During this time VMS’ drivers have led 73% of all series laps completed (949 of 1,304) in 2019.
Primarily fielding three full-time Toyota teams, VMS has gone to victory lane with four drivers; Harrison Burton (Daytona Int’l Speedway), Michael Self (Five Flags Speedway, Salem Speedway & Michigan Int’l Speedway), Christian Eckes (Fairgrounds Speedway Nashville) and Chandler Smith (Toledo Speedway & Madison Int’l Speedway).
Reaching 59 all-time ARCA wins, the longtime series team has claimed nine General Tire Pole Awards (Michael Self-3, Chandler Smith-3, Christian Eckes-1, Harrison Burton-1, and Brandon Lynn-1) – only missing out on the Salem Speedway pole award during the third event of the year.
ARCA Menards Series Championship contender Michael Self, driver of VMS’ No.25 Sinclair Oil Toyota currently leads the series’ driver points battle with a 30-point advantage over Brett Holmes, while the team’s No.20 Toyota team sits atop ARCA’s owner points standings due to the strong multi-driver effort delivered by Chandler Smith, Harrison Burton, Brandon Lynn, and Myatt Snider.
Christian Eckes (No.15 JBL Audio Toyota) is currently fourth in the driver standings while holding top spot in the 2019 Bounty Rookie of the Year chase. Eckes, who earned his fourth career ARCA victory in Nashville earlier in the year looks to continue his climb after withdrawing from the Salem event due to illness.
Chandler Smith (No.20 Craftsman Toyota) with two victories and 423 laps led in just five ARCA starts leads the Sioux Chief Short Challenge, a special short track championship designation for drivers competing in non-superspeedway events.
The second half of the season begins Saturday, June 22 at World Wide Technology Raceway at Gateway. Practice for the ARCA Menards Series Day to Day Coffee 150 is scheduled from 12:35 pm ET/11:35 pm CT and 2:30 pm ET/1:30 pm CT; General Tire Pole Qualifying is set for 5:30 pm ET/4:30 pm CT, and the green flag will fall on the 120 lap/150-mile race at 7:30 pm ET/6:30 pm CT. The race will be televised live on MAVTV.
Sources: Venturini Motorsports