RacingNation.com
Home / ARCA / McDowell Dominates Toledo; Kimmel Clinches 9th Series Title

McDowell Dominates Toledo; Kimmel Clinches 9th Series Title

TOLEDO OH (10-14-07) ? Michael McDowell made his grand exit from the ARCA RE/MAX Series stage in grand style. The Phoenix, Arizona rookie, on his way to the NASCAR Nextel Cup Series in 2008, won the SIM Factory Pole, led the most laps and passed James Buescher with two laps to go to win the thrilling Hantz Group 200 by Belle Tire Sunday afternoon at Toledo Speedway.

McDowell, in Eddie Sharp?s Z Line-Make A Wish-Beck Dodge, lost the lead in lapped traffic on the 172nd circuit of the 200 lap race, and took it back just in time to earn his fourth career RE/MAX Series victory.

?I made a mistake there, got trapped down on the bottom and let James get away from me and I didn?t want to end the race that way,? said McDowell. ?When I cut down on the bottom (pass for the lead) I clipped him a little bit. I didn?t mean to do that but that?s how short track racing goes. I?m glad to be able to end my season with a win. It?s just a testament to how great Eddie Sharp Racing is. Running the whole ARCA season has prepared me for my next endeavor in racing.?

McDowell also sewed up Rookie of the Year honors and second place in national championship points.

Buescher settled for second two lengths away in the Mercedes Homes-Red Line Oil Dodge.

?We were just kind of buying time making laps there at the beginning of the race, riding around the top-five,? said Buescher. ?We were leading the lap before the last lap so wish we could have won it. We started off our ARCA season with a win and I wish we could have ended it with a win but I?m happy with second place.?

Frank Kimmel, who finished fifth, secured his ninth ARCA RE/MAX Series championship and eighth consecutive just by virtue of rolling off the grid.

?It?s just real cool and very rewarding,? said Kimmel. ?To be able to win this championship despite all of the competitive teams in ARCA this year. Michael [McDowell] and Eddie Sharp Racing put a lot of pressure on us and they made us want to run well. We struggled this year with all kinds of adversity. We didn?t have a sponsor and despite the problems we had the team stuck together and it was good to be able to win a ninth championship.?

In all, McDowell dominated the race leading 166 laps with Buescher next on the lap-leader board with 27 laps led. Justin Allgaier was the only other driver to lead with seven laps led.

Second-generation ARCA racer Michael Simko charged from the 19th starting position to finish third.

?This was absolutely the most fun I?ve had all year,? said Simko. ?To run with a different series all year and then come to Salem and finish sixth and to finish third at Toledo after starting 19th is just really rewarding. We knew we had a car better than where we qualified and we proved that here today.?

Marc Davis, a development driver for Joe Gibbs Racing, finished fourth in a Venturini Motorsports Chevrolet in his career-first series start.

Todd Bowsher, who started 23rd, finished sixth in the AmericanConsumerCables.com Ford, earning the Hoosier Tire Hard Charger honors for advancing the most positions.

Justin Marks finished seventh in the Construct Corps Dodge with Patrick Sheltra trailing in eighth in the US Construction-CP Concrete Products Chevrolet. Rookie Ray Mooi finished ninth in the Dodge Motorsports Dodge, the last car on the lead lap. Phillip McGilton finished 10th in the SI Performance Ford, one lap down.

There were 13 cautions for 72 laps for a variety of typical short-track scuffles. There were no injuries.

The next event for the ARCA RE/MAX Series is the national championship awards banquet at the Northern Kentucky Convention Center in Covington, Kentucky on Saturday, December 8th.

FINAL ARCA RE/MAX SERIES POINTS AFTER TOLEDO SPEEDWAY (10-14-07)

1) Frank Kimmel 5705; 2) Michael McDowell 5455; 3) Dexter Bean 4890; 4) Justin Allgaier 4850; 5) Justin Marks 4795; 6) Phillip McGilton 4745; 7) Patrick Sheltra 4615; 8) Justin South 4380; 9) Bryan Silas 4135; 10) Josh Krug 4080.

Official Results

FIN STR NO DRIVER/HOMETOWN TEAM & CAR LAPS STATUS
1 1 2 Michael McDowell/Phoenix AZ Lotame-Make A Wish-Beck Dodge 200 Running
2 3 32 James Buescher/Plano TX Mercedes Homes-Red Line Oil Dodge 200 Running
3 19 75 Michael Simko/Clarkston MI Bob Schacht Motorsports Ford 200 Running
4 5 25 Marc Davis/Silver Spring MD Howard University Radio WHUR Chevrolet 200 Running
5 7 46 Frank Kimmel/Clarksville IN Hantz Group-Pork-Ft. Dodge Animal Health Ford 200 Running
6 23 21 Todd Bowsher/Springfield OH AmericanConsumerCables.com Ford 200 Running
7 20 65 Justin Marks/Rocklin CA Construct Corps Dodge 200 Running
8 21 60 Patrick Sheltra/Indiantown FL US Construction-CP Concrete Products Chevrolet 200 Running
9 30 4 Ray Mooi/New Lenox IL Dodge Motorsports Dodge 200 Running
10 15 47 Phillip McGilton/Marion IL SI Performance Ford 199 Running
11 24 37 Michelle Theriault/Bristol CT Glock Chevrolet 199 Running
12 14 66 Bob Strait/Manteno IL RaceTeamGear.com Chevrolet 199 Running
13 25 76 Gary Sherman/Holt MI Cleary Motorsports Chevrolet 199 Running
14 2 22 Ken Butler III/Sherrills Ford NC ESR Development Dodge 199 Running
15 11 30 Terry Jones/Amherstburg ON Jones Group Dodge 199 Running
16 29 5 Kory Rabenold/Slatington PA Interstate Batteries Chevrolet 198 Running
17 34 38 Mike Harmon/Birmingport AL Richardson-Netzloff-Harmon Racing Chevrolet 198 Running
18 27 41 Josh Clemons/New Albany IN Premier Mortgage Ford 198 Running
19 35 34 Darrell Basham/Henryville IN Darrell Basham Racing Chevrolet 198 Running
20 26 12 Michael Phelps/Suwanee GA Copper Creek Hardware Chevrolet 198 Running
21 31 1 Dominick Casola/Holmdel NJ A. Casola Farms Ford 197 Running
22 28 90 Gabi DiCarlo/Phoenix AZ Great Clips Chevrolet 196 Running
23 33 84 Norm Benning/Pittsburgh PA Norm Benning Racing Chevrolet 194 Running
24 16 94 Dan Brode/Mocksville NC Just1Shirt.com-US Screen Print & Ink Jet Chevy 191 Running
25 18 18 Billy Leslie/Algonac MI Titan Tire Ford 185 Running
26 4 16 Justin Allgaier/Springfield IL AG Tech-Schluckebier Farms Chevrolet 181 Running
27 10 59 Justin South/Hueytown AL HD Supply Dodge 161 Accident
28 32 11 Bryan Silas/Stuart FL Nortrax-Holland Pump Chevrolet 149 Accident
29 22 39 Brett Butler/Sherrills Ford NC Aaron’s Dream Machine Dodge 132 Accident
30 6 23 Josh Krug/Omaha NE Bigford Enterprises-ARCASimRacing.com Chevy 123 Accident
31 9 29 Brian Keselowski/Rochester Hills MI Holloway-Dusty’s Collision Dodge 117 Running
32 12 0 Jesse Smith/Wildwood MO Lloyd’s Barbeque Company Chevrolet 111 Rear End
33 8 56 Tayler Malsam/Sammanish WA Fire Down Graphics Dodge 109 Accident
34 17 6 Dexter Bean/Westby WI Cycle Country-Five Star Telecom Chevrolet 83 Accident
35 13 00 Robb Brent/Shelby Township MI Orchard Chrysler Dodge Jeep Ford 59 Transmssn

SIM Factory Pole Award: Michael McDowell 16.469 (109.296 mph)
MRGN OF VICT: .307 seconds CAUTIONS: 13 for 72 laps
TIME OF RACE: 1:39:26 AVG SPEED: 60.341 mph
LAP LEADERS: McDowell 1-109, 117-171, 199-200 (166); Allgaier 110-116 (7); Buescher 172-198 (27)

Share Button