For the fourth week in a row, rain played a major roll in this weekend’s ARCA/ Remax race at Michigan International Speedway. Beginning early Thursday morning a steady rain turned the two mile Michigan Speedway into a quagmire, canceling Thursday mornings scheduled practice and eventually wiping out the Menard’s Pole Qualifying for the fourth week in a row. Yet again, this put Jeremy Petty in the Crosson Farms number 23 entry rolling off twelfth on the starting grid for the Racing for Wildlife 200.
With only a short practice session Friday morning, Petty struggled with handling issues all day long. When asked about the weekend, Petty stated, “The rain really did hurt us this weekend. Getting our two hour practice canceled was a big hurdle for us to overcome, especially since I had never driven at this track before. More lap time would have really helped us get a handle on the car better and faster. We were just loose for the entire race and it took us most of the race to get the car dialed in better.” For the drop of the green flag, Petty dropped towards the back of the pack early with an ill-handling race car. Coming to pit road during the first caution for adjustments became tradition, as Petty came down pit road for adjustments on nearly every caution to work on adjustments for the car. “All the guys on the pit crew did a fantastic job on Friday. We made way more pit stops than we normally make in order to work on the car. Every time we came in and made an adjustment the car got a little bit better and a little faster, and picked up a few more positions on the track. We just kept doing that all race long and ended up with another top 20 finish.” The number 23 car took the checkered flag in the 19th position, the third consecutive top
20 finish for Petty.
Petty and the crew are at the shop making preparations for the short track at Mansfield, Ohio. The race will take place Saturday, June 20.
For updates on
the current ARCA RE/MAX points standings and
more stories from the series, please check
out
www.ARCARacing.com.
