Patrick Sheltra Leads First Day, Tim George Jr. Tops Opening Session of ARCA Racing Series Testing at Talladega
Last Year's Champion Hops In Car and Speeds at 'Dega
ARCA PR
Patrick Sheltra, the 2010 ARCA Racing Series presented by Menards champion, finished atop today's open testing chart at Talladega Superspeedway with a best lap of 50.575 seconds (189.343 mph) in the No. 63 Sheltra Motorsports Toyota.
Sheltra, who drove 28 laps, was at the test to assist Milka Duno, who plans to make her first Talladega Superspeedway start on Friday, April 15 in the ARCA Racing Series 250. Sheltra owns the No. 63 Sheltra Motorsports entry and also secured the owner championship in the series last season.
Dakoda Armstrong, last season's winner at Talladega, finished the day second after a lap of 50.589 seconds (189.29 mph) in the No. 22 Cunningham Motorsports Dodge. Tim George Jr., who led the three-hour morning session, was third for the day in 50.732 seconds (188.757 mph). Kyle Fowler and Hal Martin, teammates at Venturini Motorsports, rounded out the top five.
Ty Dillon, Max Gresham, Pierre Bourque, Tom Hessert, and Maryeve Dufault comprised the remainder of the top 10 in a session which saw nine drivers top George's leading time of 51.936 seconds from the morning. The four-hour afternoon test session was the first to allow drafting practice on the 2.66-mile Alabama oval. In all, 18 drivers charted a lap on the first day. The full list of speeds from the afternoon session is below.
ARCA Racing Series presented by Menards


Talladega Superspeedway, 3-29-11


Open Test Afternoon Session Results


POS
CAR
DRIVER/HOMETOWN
TEAM AND CAR
TIME
SPEED
1
63a
Patrick Sheltra/Indiantown FL
Sheltra Motorsports Toyota
50.575
189.343
2
22
Dakoda Armstrong/New Castle IN
Ferrellgas-Syngenta Dodge
50.589
189.290
3
31a
Tim George Jr./New York NY
RCR Development Chevrolet
50.732
188.757
4
15
Kyle Fowler/Smyrna GA
Venturini Motorsports Chevrolet
50.747
188.701
5
55
Hal Martin/Galliano LA
Venturini Motorsports Toyota
50.757
188.664
6
41
Ty Dillon/Lewisville NC
UNOH Chevrolet
50.758
188.660
7
25
Max Gresham/Griffin GA
Venturini Motorsports Toyota
50.850
188.319
8
6
Pierre Bourque/Ottawa Ontario
ESR Toyota
51.460
186.086
9
52
Tom Hessert/Cherry Hill NJ
Federated Auto Parts Toyota
51.617
185.520
10
12
Maryeve Dufault/Sorel Quebec
TMR Dodge
52.115
183.748
11
5a
Bobby Gerhart/Lebanon PA
Lucas Oil Chevrolet
52.959
180.819
12
31b
Tim George Jr./New York NY
RCR Development Chevrolet
53.011
180.642
13
17a
Chris Buescher/Prosper TX
David Ragan Fan Club Ford
53.124
180.258
14
63
Milka Duno/Caracas Venezuela
Citgo Lubricants Toyota
53.319
179.598
15
44
Frank Kimmel/Clarksville IN
Ansell-Menards Ford
53.774
178.079
16
82a
Sean Corr/Goshen NY
Empire Racing Ford
53.924
177.583
17
5b
Damon Lusk/Kennewick WA
Bobby Gerhart Racing Chevrolet
53.991
177.363
18
82b
Sean Corr/Goshen NY
Empire Racing Ford
54.108
176.979
19
7
Drew Charlson/New Bremen OH
Aluma Aluminum Trailers Chevrolet
54.263
176.474
20
23
Nick Igdalsky/Long Pond PA
Fox Realty Chevrolet
54.556
175.526


Last year's ARCA champ Patrick Sheltra was quickest in ARCA Talladega testing.