Solid Performance At Talladega Vaults Levine To Second In ARCA Points

It was a learning experience with a positive outcome for David Levine at Talladega Superspeedway, as his 11th place finish with a clean race car was enough to move him from fourth to second place in the ARCA Racing Series presented by Menards driver points standings. Education was the theme of the weekend for the 21-year old Highland Park, IL driver, with the race falling during his final weeks of college as he prepares to graduate from Furman University.

 

Competing in only his second superspeedway race, the Scott Rookie Challenge contender’s goal was to not cause, or be involved in, any on track incidents. He not only achieved that goal, but was also the only driver who entered the race in the top five in points to not have any on-track issues during the race.

 

The one-day International Motorsports Hall of Fame 200 event started with a strong performance in the 110 minute practice session for Levine. His fastest lap was 10th quickest at 51.199 seconds, less than three-tenths of a second outside of the top five.

 

Despite being one of the faster cars in his qualifying group of seven cars, positioning of the cars throughout the eight minute session never gave him the opportunity to get a good run. His qualifying speed was more than a full second slower that he practiced, placing him at 19th on the starting grid.

 

The race saw four caution periods, with three of them for accidents on the track. David managed to avoid all three, commenting after the race, “All three of those happened within a few feet of me. The great handling of my Gary Yeomans Ford / TraqGear / AttorneyAtLaw.com Fusion was key today in making it to the checkered flag.”

 

David raced his way inside the top ten early in the race before dropping back, but never falling outside of the top 20. He was in 13th place when the field took the green and white flags together on the final restart, grabbing two spots in the final lap to finish in 11th, one spot short of his third straight top ten finish.

 

Although frustrated with not being able to run closer to the front at the finish, David’s mood improved upon learning that he moved up in the standings.” Unofficially P2 in overall points and within striking distance at Toledo! I don’t know what to say. I can’t thank everyone at Lira Motorsports enough for all their hard work! Came home 11th after an up and down day, but it was just enough to move us up. This is incredible! Bring on Toledo!”

 

Unofficially, David will enter the May 17th Menards 200 presented by Federated Car Care at Toledo Speedway tied for the lead in the Scott Rookie Challenge standings, and just 100 points behind overall leader Grant Enfinger in the national drivers points standings. The racing weekend in Toledo kicks off with practice on Saturday, May 16th at 11:45am.

Lira Motorsports PR