Dalton Sargeant led the way for Venturini Motorsports by turning in another impressive outing this weekend earning a career best second-place finish in Sunday’s Menards 200 presented by Federated Car Care at Toledo Speedway.
Sargeant, who made his ARCA Racing Series presented by Menards debut with Venturini Motorsports less than a month ago, has now claimed two top-5 and three top-10 finishes in his first-ever series attempts.
“Great race today,” said Sargeant. “It’s always a bit frustrating when you finish second but I can’t complain, it’s another solid finish. We definitely had a car capable of winning…we just ran out of time…we were coming.”
Starting eighth at Toledo, Sargeant moved his No.55 Toyota Racing Development-Windows 10 Toyota inside the top-5 running order where he would stay until the final stages of the 200-lap event.
Playing pit strategy, Sargeant and crew chief Billy Venturini pitted twice throughout the day, electing to take 2 tires on the first pit stop on lap-84, while saving four General Tires for an anticipated late race caution– which would come as debris on the track brought out the final caution flag on lap-157.
With pit stop strategy falling into place Sargeant would finally have his chance to move up further inside the top-5 to third position, which he had maintained for the majority of the race, and begin his ascent on the leaders. During the final 39-laps of the race he slowly picked off positions one-by-one until overcoming Kyle Weatherman for second-place on lap-190. Finding himself over 20 car lengths behind Myatt Snider, the race leader, with ten laps remaining, Sargeant inched closer and closer but would ultimately fall short finishing in the second spot – just three car lengths behind Snider.
“There’s no question our Toyota was hooked up there at the end. We made all the right calls and stayed patient, unfortunately we needed a few more to pull it off,” added Sargeant. “We’re off to a great start. Billy (Venturini) has been really good on the pit box and we’re learning more and getting better each week as a team.”
Sargeant, hoping to continue his hot streak goes into next weekend’s road course race as a legitimate contender for Saturday’s ARCA 150 presented by Unique Pretzels event at New Jersey Motorsports Park.
Hessert Finishes Eighth at Toledo
Tom Hessert in his familiar No.25 Venturini Motorsports Toyota earned his third top-10 of the season by finishing eighth in Sunday’s Menards 200 at Toledo Speedway.
Although not the finish Hessert was expecting, his effort was good enough to move into the third position in the ARCA Series championship point standing.
“I really thought we’d be better today,” said Hessert. “We had a solid day of testing on Saturday but it didn’t translate the way we wanted to come race day. We struggled to find the right adjustments, the car was loose early in the runs then would get good for about ten laps and then it would just tighten up too much in the center.”
Hessert turning his attention to New Jersey Motorsports Park is ready to compete on the road course at his home track.
“New Jersey has always been good to me, it’s our home track so showing up and competing for our first win of the season and first at a road course would really be special to me and my family.”
Cole Williams’ Misfortunes Continue Settles for 16th Place Finish at Toledo
Cole Williams suffered another disappointing day behind the wheel of his No.15 Cardinal Services Toyota finishing 16th. Williams who qualified a team best seventh, was plagued again with bad luck resulting in the less than satisfying finish.
“Not a lot I can say, we had a really good car but the throttle linkage came undone and turned our day upside down,” said Williams. “It’s really unfortunate. We put a lot of effort into these races and for the second consecutive race we come out with finishes underserving of our effort.”
Prior to the start of Sunday’s Menards 200 at Toledo the team had to replace William’s motor after finding trouble during pre-race final adjustments. Starting from the rear of the field because of the unapproved motor change, Williams would quickly work his way inside the top-10.
However, just after the halfway point William’s bad luck continued as his car slowed. Forced to pit under green flag conditions, Williams would lose 7-laps as the team diagnosed the problem before getting him back on track for the final laps.
Up Next; New Jersey Motorsports Park
With a quick turnaround for the ARCA Racing Series, Venturini Motorsports will shift attention to this weekend’s Unique Pretzels 150 at New Jersey Motorsports Park on Saturday, May 28, marking ARCA’s ninth consecutive trip to the 2.3 mile road course located in Millville, N.J.
The Unique Pretzels 150 will also mark the first leg of ARCA’s prestigious Bill France 4 Crown championship, which represents ARCA’s diverse schedule of events. The NJMP road course joins Lucas Oil Raceway (paved short track), the DuQuoin State Fairgrounds dirt-mile and Chicagoland Speedway as part of the Bill France 4 Crown in 2016.
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