DGR Crosley ARCA Menards Series Advance: Kentucky Speedway

Hailie Deegan, No. 4 Toter Ford Fusion
 
This Saturday Hailie Deegan will make her first ARCA Menards Series start at Kentucky Speedway in Sparta in her No. 4 Toter Ford Fusion. She earned another solid finish last weekend at Lucas Oil Raceway outside Indianapolis crossing the finish line third. It was her second top-five and fifth top-10 finish in five starts this season.
 
Saturday’s General Tire 150 will only be Deegan’s second start on a 1.5-mile track. Her other intermediate-track start was at Kansas Speedway last year when she finished eighth. She will be driving the same Ford Fusion she raced at Pocono two weeks ago when she finished seventh.
 
This race at Kentucky was not originally on the ARCA Menards Series schedule for 2020, but will take the place of Charlotte (N.C.) Motor Speedway’s event which was supposed to be in May. The Covid-19 pandemic has forced the rescheduling of many sports events. With both tracks being one-and-a-half miles in length, the teams already had cars prepared for an intermediate track.
 
The General Tire 150 will be live on FS1 at 2:30 p.m. ET on Saturday. The race will be 100 laps and 150 miles.
 
 
Deegan on Kentucky: “Since I’ve never raced at Kentucky, I’ve been on the simulator practicing as much as I can without actually being on the track. I’ve been racing dirt more, racing at Millbridge (N.C.) Speedway, I’ve been go-karting, pretty much just getting in the seat as much as I can. That’s really been important to me since we have such limited practice at the tracks now. We have an hour on Saturday, but still it’s not what we used to have. I’m still getting used to not having as many laps, which is what I need, I’m just trying to get practice anywhere I can. “
 
Tanner Gray, No. 17 Ford Performance Fusion
Tanner Gray will have a busy day on Saturday at Kentucky Speedway in Sparta. He’ll be running 100 laps in the ARCA Menards Series race at 2:30 p.m., and then climbing into his Ford F-150 to run another 150 laps in the NASCAR Gander RV & Outdoors Truck Series race at 6 p.m. that evening. Gray is hoping the laps he makes in the afternoon will carry over to the truck race in the evening.
 
This will be his first start at Kentucky in both series. With no practice or qualifying in the Truck Series, the ARCA race is a great opportunity for the rookie to get a feel for the track. When the season began, Gray was only scheduled to compete in four ARCA races, but he keeps adding to his schedule at tracks where the extra track time can help his performance in the Truck Series. So far this season he has made four starts in ARCA with one top-five and one top-10 finish, which came when he finished fourth at Phoenix (Ariz.) Raceway in March.
 
This weekend Gray’s No. 17 Ford Performance Fusion will be a car he has not raced yet this season. It was a new car in 2019, but was rebuilt as a Ford in the off season.
 
Gray on Kentucky: “I’m excited to run the ARCA race at Kentucky before the Truck Series race on Saturday. With no practice or qualifying on the truck side, having the extra seat time in the ARCA car is a huge help to me. Obviously, the truck races differently than the car, so not everything carries over, but getting to learn the track and the lines is a big help. There is only so much you can learn from watching film. You have to be able to feel it in the seat and the ARCA race will give me that experience. Plus if we can win, that would be pretty awesome too.”
 
Thad Moffitt, No. 46 Richard Petty Performance Plus Motor Oil Ford Fusion
Thad Moffitt will make his first start at Kentucky Speedway in Sparta on Saturday in the ARCA Menards Series. He is eager to get back on track coming off one of his best finishes last weekend at Lucas Oil Raceway outside of Indianapolis. Moffitt was fifth, which tied his best-career ARCA finish. He also finished fifth at Daytona (Fla.) International Speedway in the season opener in February.
 
Moffitt scored top-10 finishes in his two intermediate-track races last year. He was 10th at Charlotte (N.C) Motor Speedway and ninth at Chicagoland Speedway in Joliet. He hopes to improve on these finishes Saturday at Kentucky.
 
Moffitt will be driving the same No. 46 Richard Petty Performance Plus Oil Ford Fusion that the DGR-Crosley team took to Pocono (Pa.) Raceway in June. Unfortunately, Moffitt only raced it for about two laps before the engine blew following a missed shift at the start of the race.
 
 
Moffitt on Kentucky: “I think every mile-and-a-half is pretty unique. They all race kind of different, but I’ve been told it’s comparable to Chicago. I ran pretty well there last year. I think coming off of our top five at Lucas Oil we made positive changes all day, so I think if we just keep going in the right direction we’ll end up with another positive run here at Kentucky.”

DGR Crosley PR