TOLEDO, Ohio (July 18, 2016) – With momentum on his side and a ton of fans along for the ride, current ARCA Racing Series presented by Menards championship leader Chase Briscoe will be a crowd favorite at Lucas Oil Raceway (LOR) when the Sioux Chief PowerPEX® 200 presented by Jive rolls off Friday night, July 22.
Coming off backs-to-back ARCA Racing Series wins at Winchester Speedway and Iowa Speedway, Briscoe will also have another feather in his cap at LOR – he’s actually raced on the track before, which is a bit of an anomaly for the Mitchell, Indiana rookie. Most of the tracks on the ARCA tour are new to Briscoe, whose experience prior to ARCA has been in sprint cars on dirt tracks. LOR, however, will be a rare return trip for Briscoe who made his ARCA debut with his Cunningham Motorsports team last year at LOR, finishing 10th.
“We didn’t run really great last year (at LOR), but it definitely helps to have that seat-time,” Briscoe said. “I have an idea of how the race plays out.”
Briscoe also learned some of the characteristics of the track.
“The track’s relatively flat so you tend to run right up by the fence. The car feels so tight because the corners are long and flat. If we can loosen up the car more than what we had last year, we can put ourselves in a position to win.”
Briscoe’s hometown of Mitchell is about a hundred miles away from the track. His sponsor, Big Tine, is located just west of Indianapolis in Rockville, Indiana, near Terre Haute.
“We’re going to have a ton of family and friends at the race to help cheer us on. I went to a corporate function over the July 4 holiday at Big Tine. I had a really good time. They had over a thousand people there for their fireworks display…it was a lot of fun. The President/CEO Mike Bassett made up about 500 t-shirts with the car and Big Tine. He was just giving them away and I was signing them. We’re going to have a lot of people come out and watch.”
Briscoe has literally taken the series by storm. In 13 ARCA Racing Series starts (including two last year), he has two wins and eight top-five finishes (62%), with only one finish outside of the top-10. Briscoe not only leads the championship driver standings, his Cunningham Motorsports team leads the car owner points. In Special Award categories, Briscoe is dominating several categories including SCOTT Rookie Challenge, Valvoline Lap Leader Award, Menards Pole presented by Ansell Award, S&S Volvo Laps Completed, Fast Track Award and R.E. Lightning Challenge. Briscoe is also tied for the lead in the Short Track Challenge Championship by Protect Plus.
If that's not enough, Briscoe's crew chief Chad Bryant leads the Cometic Crew Chief of the Year through 11 of 20 races. Bryant is already a two-time winner of the year-end award.
Briscoe drives the No. 77 Big Tine Ford for Cunningham Motorsports. Outside of the victories at Winchester and Iowa, he also finished second at Michigan, third at Talladega, and fourth at Daytona, Toledo and New Jersey (road course).
Cunningham teammate Snider looking for second ARCA win at LOR Myatt Snider, Briscoe’s teammate at Lucas Oil Raceway, is looking forward to grabbing another Series victory, after claiming the checkered flag in his ARCA debut in May at Toledo Speedway. Snider has competed four times this season in The Original Louisiana Hot Sauce No. 22, with four races remaining on his 2016 calendar following Lucas Oil. Snider has three top-10 finishes, including the win at Toledo.
Snider also recently tested at Lucas Oil in preparation for this Friday night's race at Lucas Oil.
“I’ve raced flat tracks for a large part of my racing career. Being in Legends cars and Bandoleros really taught me about flat track racing," Snider said. "That knowledge definitely helped me out at the test, so I'm confident about the race. Cunningham Motorsports has really given me a good piece and I feel good about the race," added the 21-year-old rookie.”
The son of well-known NBC-TV broadcaster Marty Snider, he is guided by veteran crew chief Paul Andrews, who was the NASCAR Cup championship crew chief for Alan Kulwicki in 1992. Jeff Caudill also works alongside the Cunningham 22 team. Caudill has worked with Snider throughout the last three seasons, competing in Late Models, NASCAR Whelen All-American and CARS Tour competition.
The Sioux Chief PowerPEX® 200 presented by Jive marks the 12th ARCA appearance at Lucas Oil Raceway since its debut there in 1971. Former ARCA winners at LOR include Ramo Stott, Bob Schacht, Davey Allison, Ty Dillon, Frank Kimmel, Brandon Jones and last year’s winner Travis Braden.
Discounted tickets for the Sioux Chief PowerPEX® 200 are on sale now at several Menards stores in Indiana. The tickets are being offered at $10 off the gate price, and can be purchased up through July 21.
Indiana stores slated to sell the discount tickets include locations in Anderson, Avon, Bloomington, Camby, Carmel, Columbus, Fishers, Fort Wayne East, Fort Wayne South, Fort Wayne West, Greenwood, Indy East, Indy South, Kokomo, Lafayette South, Lebanon, Muncie, Richmond, Terre Haute and West Lafayette.
There are two practice sessions for the Sioux Chief PowerPEX® 200 from 1:35 – 2:20, followed by final practice from 3:00 – 3:45. Menards Pole Qualifying presented by Ansell is at 5:30. Pre-race ceremonies and driver introductions begin at 8:30 with the green flag waving just after 9:00.
Media Coverage
The Sioux Chief PowerPEX® 200 is live on FS1. ARCAracing.com will feature live timing and scoring and live chat of all ARCA Racing Series on-track activities.