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Ty Gibbs Scores Clean Sweep with Dominant Victory in ARCA Menards Series Kentuckiana Ford Dealers Fall Classic 200 at Salem Speedway

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Krall, Charles <ckrall@arcaracing.com>

To:Krall, Charles

Sep 14 at 9:53 PM

Ty Gibbs (No. 18 Monster Energy/ORCA Coolers/Terrible Herbst/Advance Auto Parts Toyota) scored a dominant victory in Saturday night's ARCA Menards Series Kentuckiana Ford Dealers Fall Classic 200 at Salem Speedway. Gibbs thoroughly dominated the entire day as he led the day's practice session, set the fast time in General Tire Pole Qualifying, and led every green flag lap to score his second career series victory.

"That's all due to my right foot, the guys who build these great racecars and the man upstairs," Gibbs said in victory lane. "It's great to come out here and get our second win of the season. We aren't racing for the championship so it's all about wins for us."

Gibbs finished two seconds ahead of Christian Eckes (No. 15 JBL Audio Toyota), who moved to within five points of championship leader Michael Self (No. 25 Sinclair Lubricants Toyota), who suffered a mechanical problem and finished 14th.

"It's great to have Salem behind us," Eckes said. "This isn't my favorite track and to come out of here with that big of a gain on Michael is huge for us. It sucks we couldn't get up there and race Ty for the win but we'll take second and head to Indianapolis and go race for the win there."

Self was dejected after giving up 65 of his 70-point lead over Eckes.

"We've had too many mechanical problems this season," Self said. "All we want to go is come out here and race for wins. We're going to put tonight behind us and go to Indy and Kansas to go win some races."

Corey Heim (No. 22 Speedway Children's Charities Ford) finished third, Bret Holmes (No. 23 Holmes II Excavation Toyota) was fourth and Sam Mayer (No. 21 Chevy Accessories Chevrolet) finished fifth.

Just as Chandler Smith (No. 20 Craftsman/828 Logistics Toyota) did in a dominant performance to win last fall at Salem, Gibbs led every green flag lap. He led from the initial start through lap 172 when he was beat off pit road by Eckes. Gibbs retook the lead on the restart at lap 176 and we never headed.

The race was slowed five times by cautions. The first, at lap 23, was for debris, while the second, at lap 75, was for Gavin Harlein (No. 55 Autism Awareness #4Presley Toyota), who experienced mechanical issues and stopped at the entrance to pit road. The third caution of the night was for engine issues for Tim Richmond (No. 06 GreatRailing.com Dodge), and Ed Pompa (No. 11 Milwaukee Crusher/Double H Ranch Toyota) - whose Darrell Waltrip-themed throwback scheme earned him the first Jack Harrison Trophy in a fan vote during pre-race festivities - spun on lap 170 to set up the final round of pit stops that allowed Eckes to assume the lead. The fifth and final caution, again for debris, was displayed on lap 186 and set up a nine-lap dash to the checkered for Gibbs.

There were two lead changes among Gibbs and Eckes, and the race was completed in one hour, 26 minutes, and 54 seconds at an average speed of 76.640 miles per hour.

The ARCA Menards Series will take two weekends off before returning to action on Saturday October 5 with the Herr's Potato Chips 200 at Lucas Oil Raceway. Practice starts the day's activities at 2 pm ET, with General Tire Pole Qualifying at 5 pm ET. The 200-lap main event, scheduled for live broadcast MAVTV, will go green shortly after 8 pm ET. ARCA for Me members can access live timing & scoring, live chat, and live track updates at ARCARacing.com. New users can register for free with a valid email address at ARCARacing.com/login. Discounted adult general admission tickets are available through October 4 at Indianapolis-area Menards locations for just $20. For more information, please visit TrackEnterprises.com.

1 1 18 Ty Gibbs/Huntersville NC Monster-Terrible Herbst-ORCA-Advance Toyota 200 Running 2 6 15 Christian Eckes/Middletown NY JBL Audio Toyota 200 Running 3 3 22 Corey Heim/Marietta GA Speedway Children's Charities Ford 200 Running 4 5 23 Bret Holmes/Munford AL Holmes II Excavation Toyota 200 Running 5 2 21 Sam Mayer/Franklin WI Chevy Accessories Chevrolet 200 Running 6 10 77 Joe Graf Jr./Mahwah NJ Eat Sleep Race Ford 200 Running 7 8 28 Carson Hocevar/Portage MI GMPartsNow.com-Scotts Chevrolet 200 Running 8 9 20 Chandler Smith/Talking Rock GA Craftsman Tools Toyota 199 Running 9 7 27 Travis Braden/Wheeling WV MatrixCare-Consonus Healthcare-Liberty Vlg Ford 199 Running 10 11 32 Colby Howard/Simpsonville SC Win Tron Chevrolet 199 Running 11 15 11 Ed Pompa/Ballston Spa NY Milwaukee Crusher Co-Double H Ranch Toyota 190 Running 12 14 69 Scott Melton/Rockford MI Melton McFadden Insurance Agency Ford 190 Running 13 17 34 Mike Basham/Henryville IN Darrell Basham Racing Chevrolet 184 Running 14 4 25 Michael Self/Salt Lake City UT Sinclair Lubricants Toyota 134 Running 15 19 06 Tim Richmond/Aurora IL GreatRailing.com Dodge 91 Overheating 16 12 55 Gavin Harlien/Mesa AZ Autism Awareness #4Presley Toyota 74 Engine 17 13 80 Brian Finney/Merritt Island FL Finney Racing Chevrolet 49 Vibration 18 21 48 Brad Smith/Shelby Township MI Copraya.com Ford 40 Oil Pressure 19 18 10 Tommy Vigh Jr./Parsippany NJ Extreme Kleaner-Thomas Coffee Ford 11 Brakes 20 16 1 Dick Doheny/Ballston Spa NY Thomas Coffee Chevrolet 3 Transmission 21 20 0 Benjamin Peterson/Birmingham AL GreatRailing.com Ford 3 Clutch General Tire Pole Award: Ty Gibbs - 17.145 (116.535 mph) Margin of Victory: 2.03 seconds Cautions: 5 for 34 laps Time of Race: 1:26:54 Average Speed: 76.640 mph Lap Leaders: Ty Gibbs 1-172, 177-200 (196); Christian Eckes 173-176 (4) Richmond Water Heaters Halfway Leader: Ty Gibbs Fastest Lap of the Race: Ty Gibbs 17.634 (113.304 mph)

Ty Gibbs Wins General Tire Pole Award for ARCA Menards Series Kentuckiana Ford Dealers Fall Classic 200 at Salem Speedway

Ty Gibbs (No. 18 Monster Energy/ORCA Coolers/Terrible Herbst/Advance Auto Parts Toyota) led this afternoon's practice and backed it up with the General Tire Pole Award for this evening's ARCA Menards Series Kentuckiana Ford Dealers Fall Classic 200 at Salem Speedway. It's the first career pole award for the 16-year-old grandson of legendary NFL coach and NASCAR team owner Joe Gibbs.

Gibbs' fast lap was 17.145 seconds/116.535 miles per hour.

"This is a really tough race track but it doesn't intimidate me at all," Gibbs said. "I believe if you're intimidated by a racetrack it already has you beat.

"We were fast by ourselves for one lap but I think we have a lot left over for the race too," he continued. "As fast as we were, we actually spent most of the time working on long run speed and I think we're going to be pretty good."

Sam Mayer (No. 21 Chevy Accessories Chevrolet), runner-up at Salem in the spring, qualified second at 17.255 seconds/115.793 miles per hour, Corey Heim (No. 22 Speedway Children's Charities Ford), championship points leader Michael Self (No. 25 Sinclair Lubricants Toyota), and Bret Holmes (No. 23 Holmes II Excavation Toyota) rounded out the top five.

Christian Eckes (No. 15 JBL Audio Toyota), who sits 70 points behind Self in the battle for the series championship, qualified sixth. Travis Braden (No. 27 MatrixCare/Consonus Health Care/Liberty Village Ford), Carson Hocevar (No. 28 GMPartsNow.com/Scott's Coins/KBR Development Chevrolet), defending race winner Chandler Smith (No. 20 Craftsman Toyota), and Joe Graf, Jr. (No. 77 EAT SLEEP RACE Ford) rounded out the top ten qualifiers.

The Kentuckiana Ford Dealers Fall Classic 200 will go green live on MAVTV at 7:15 pm ET. ARCA for Me members can follow along with live timing & scoring at ARCARacing.com.

2019 ARCA Menards Series Event #18 Salem Speedway, Salem Indiana, 9-14-19 Kentuckiana Ford Dealers Fall Classic 200 POS NO DRIVER/HOMETOWN TEAM & CAR TIME SPEED 1 18 Ty Gibbs/Huntersville NC Monster-Terrible Herbst-ORCA-Advance Toyota 17.145 116.535 2 21 Sam Mayer/Franklin WI Chevy Accessories Chevrolet 17.255 115.793 3 22 Corey Heim/Marietta GA Speedway Children's Charities Ford 17.322 115.345 4 25 Michael Self/Salt Lake City UT Sinclair Lubricants Toyota 17.396 114.854 5 23 Bret Holmes/Munford AL Holmes II Excavation Toyota 17.398 114.841 6 15 Christian Eckes/Middletown NY JBL Audio Toyota 17.406 114.788 7 27 Travis Braden/Wheeling WV MatrixCare-Consonus Healthcare-Liberty Vlg Ford 17.419 114.702 8 28 Carson Hocevar/Portage MI GMPartsNow.com-Scotts Chevrolet 17.446 114.525 9 20 Chandler Smith/Talking Rock GA Craftsman Tools Toyota 17.491 114.230 10 77 Joe Graf Jr./Mahwah NJ Eat Sleep Race Ford 17.530 113.976 11 32 Colby Howard/Simpsonville SC Win Tron Chevrolet 17.550 113.846 12 55 Gavin Harlien/Mesa AZ Autism Awareness #4Presley Toyota 18.063 110.613 13 80 Brian Finney/Merritt Island FL Finney Racing Chevrolet 18.137 110.162 14 69 Scott Melton/Rockford MI Melton McFadden Insurance Agency Ford 18.639 107.195 15 11 Ed Pompa/Ballston Spa NY Milwaukee Crusher Co-Double H Ranch Toyota 18.751 106.554 16 1 Dick Doheny/Ballston Spa NY Thomas Coffee Chevrolet 19.136 104.411 17 34 Mike Basham/Henryville IN Darrell Basham Racing Chevrolet 19.146 104.356 18 10 Tommy Vigh Jr./Parsippany NJ Extreme Kleaner-Thomas Coffee Ford 19.237 103.862 19 06 Tim Richmond/Aurora IL GreatRailing.com Dodge 19.457 102.688 20 0 Benjamin Peterson/Birmingham AL GreatRailing.com Ford 23.327 85.652 21 48 Brad Smith/Shelby Township MI Copraya.com Ford Provisional

Ty Gibbs Leads ARCA Menards Series Kentuckiana Ford Dealers Fall Classic 200 at Salem Speedway

FAST FACTS: Kentuckiana Ford Dealers Fall Classic 200

Where: Salem Speedway, Salem, Indiana

When: 7 pm ET, Saturday, September 14, 2019

Television: MAVTV, Live

Track Length: 0.555-miles

Most Recent Winner: Michael Self, April 14, 2019, 89.887 miles per hour

Most Recent Pole Winner: Carson Hocevar, April 13, 2019, 117.027 miles per hour

Track Qualifying Record: Zane Smith, April 22, 2018, 118.618 miles per hour

The Kentuckiana Ford Dealers Fall Classic 200 will be the second visit the ARCA Menards Series will make at Salem Speedway in 2019, and the 106th time in series history dating back to Jack Harrison’s win on October 9, 1955.

Jack Harrison won three of the first four ARCA Menards Series races at Salem. He won eleven times overall before losing his life to persistent health issues late in 1957.

Sixty-three drivers have won ARCA Menards Series races at Salem. Frank Kimmel leads all drivers with nine, followed by Jack Bowsher with seven, Les Snow, Ramo Stott, and Tim Steele each have four, Jack Harrison, Andy Hampton, Bruce Gould, Dave Dayton, and Tom Hessert III each have three, Bobby Watson, Benny Parsons, Ron Hutcherson, Bob Strait, Ken Schrader, Justin Allgaier, Grant Enfinger, and Christopher Bell all have a pair of wins. Single-race winners at Salem include Herschel White, Troy Ruttman, Nelson Stacy, Don White, Dick Freeman, Earl Balmer, Jim Cushman, Butch Hartman, Elmer Davis, Roy Wathen, Iggy Katona, Bobby Allison, A. Arnold, Lamarr Marshall, Moose Myers, Brad Malcuit, Marvin Smith, Bob Keselowski, Larry Moore, Bob Brevak, Bob Schacht, Scott Neal, Tobey Butler, Bill Baird, Tracy Leslie, Jason Jarrett, Chad Blount, Joey Miller, Billy Venturini, Blake Bjorklund, Brian Keselowski, Patrick Sheltra, Justin Lofton, Steve Arpin, Dakoda Armstrong, Brennan Poole, Chris Buescher, Alex Bowman, Kyle Benjamin, Dalton Sargeant, Austin Theriault, Christian Eckes, Chandler Smith, and Michael Self.

Nineteen drivers have earned their first ARCA Menards Series victory at Salem: Bobby Allison, Steve Arpin, Earl Balmer, Christopher Bell, Blake Bjorklund, Tobey Butler, Jim Cushman, Elmer Davis, Dave Dayton, Christian Eckes, Butch Hartman, Shelby Howard, Ron Hutcherson, Larry Moore, Scott Neal, Brennan Poole, Patrick Sheltra, and Billy Venturini. For Allison, Bjorklund, Butler, Davis, Moore, Neal, and Venturini, it was their only career win.

Thirteen drivers earned their final, or most recent, career win at Salem: A. Arnold, Bruce Gould, Andy Hampton, Jack Harrison, Shelby Howard, Jason Jarrett, Tracy Leslie, Justin Lofton, Brad Malcuit, LaMarr Marshall, Joey Miller, Ken Schrader, and Roy Wathen.

Salem Speedway is the sister track to Winchester Speedway in Indiana, which although not a part of the ARCA Menards Series plays host to the ARCA/CRA Super Series twice each season. There was a third sister track as well, Dayton Speedway, which officially closed in 1981 and was eventually consumed by and now lays under a landfill on the outskirts of Dayton.

On the most recent census taken in 2010, there were no witches living in Salem, Indiana. Maybe a few mean old ladies, but no actual witches.

The record for the most cautions in an ARCA Menards Series race at Salem is 13, set in April 1998 and matched in April 2004, September 2004, and September 2005.

The record for most caution laps at Salem is 109, in a 500-lap race, set in October 1989 in a race won by Bob Schacht.

The record for fewest cautions in an ARCA Menards Series race at Salem is one, for eight laps, set in September 2014 in a race won by Tom Hessert III.

The record for the most lead changes in an ARCA Menards Series race at DuQuoin is 14 set in September, 1995 in a race won by Tim Steele.

Part-time Drivers Sam Mayer and Carson Hocevar Look to Take the Win - and Valuable Points - Away from ARCA Menards Series Regulars at Salem

The battle for the ARCA Menards Series championship has only three races to go, including Saturday night’s Kentuckiana Ford Dealers Fall Classic 200 at the legendary Salem Speedway. The ultra high-banked half-mile nestled in the hills of southern Indiana, about a half-hour north of Louisville, will be hosting its 106th ARCA race and for two drivers – championship leader Michael Self (No. 25 Sinclair Lubricants Toyota) and runner-up Christian Eckes (No. 15 JBL Audio Toyota) – the stakes have never been higher.

Every point will matter over the final three races.

It’s one thing to lose points to the driver you’re competing against head-to-head for the championship. But it’s another thing altogether to lose points to part-time drivers, drivers that only run the short tracks and could play a major spoiler in who celebrates after the season finale at Kansas Speedway on October 18 and who ends up wallowing in disappointment.

Part-time drivers Sam Mayer (No. 21 Chevy Accessories Chevrolet) and Carson Hocevar (No. 28 GMPartsNow.com/Scott’s Coins/KBR Development Chevrolet) both played a factor in the spring race at Salem and both could not only be factors for the win on Saturday but could also be championship spoilers for either Self or Eckes.

Mayer, 16, is from Franklin, Wisconsin, a suburb of Milwaukee. He finished second at Salem in the spring, his best career ARCA Menards Series finish. He’s also a three-time NASCAR K&N Pro Series winner in 2019, including two wins at the high-banked Bristol Motor Speedway, a track very similar to Salem.

Mayer thinks he can be a factor to better that runner-up finish in April. He’s also happy the weather forecast looks like it will allow the race to reach its scheduled conclusion after 200 laps, not be cut short by rain just past the midway point as the race was in the spring. He leads the K&N Pro Series East standings by 30 points with just two races remaining.

"Going to Salem for the second time I feel like Mardy (Lindley, crew chief) and I will be even better than we were in the spring,” he said. “Mardy and the team have worked really hard this year and have made my cars better and better as we go, and I feel no different this weekend. I also know I'm a better, more experienced driver than I was earlier this year. I feel confident that we can compete for a win. The weather forecast looks good so far, so hopefully we can run the whole race this time.”

Hocevar, also 16, hails from Portage, Michigan, near Grand Rapids and the equally legendary Berlin Raceway. Hocevar became the youngest late model winner ever at the near-circular Berlin layout at the age of 13. He earned his second career General Tire Pole Award when he started from the pole in the spring race at Salem and he scored his career-best finish when he trailed Mayer across the line in third.

“I’m excited to get back to Salem,” Hocevar said. “We had a lot of success earlier this year, getting the pole, leading a handful of laps and finishing up third. I think we should have a good baseline and improved package from earlier this year, to hopefully get those two extra spots on Saturday night.”

While both would like to win, they could also play spoilers merely finishing between Self and Eckes.

Headed into the last series race at DuQuoin on August 31, Eckes trailed Self by 105 points. Eckes won, while Self finished fourth. Part-time drivers Logan Seavey and Corey Heim finished second and third respectively, and rather than losing 25 points to Eckes, Self instead lost 35 points. That was fully one-third of his advantage headed into DuQuoin and now, headed into Salem, another 35-point loss would cut Self’s advantage in half with two races remaining.

One part-time driver, Chandler Smith (No. 20 Craftsman/828 Logistics Toyota), isn’t involved in the battle for the driver’s championship but is deeply involved in the owner’s championship. His No. 20 team, owned by Billy Venturini, leads the owner’s standings and Smith is determined to keep his team on top. His Venturini Motorsports teammates Self and Eckes know not to expect Smith to give them a break late in the race.

“Every point definitely matters for us too,” Smith said. “We really want to get that owner’s championship for Billy and the team. Everyone has worked so hard to make it happen for the 20 team all season long, and I can only speak for what it’s like when I am in the car, but I think we’ve had the best cars out there. I know my teammates are battling for the drivers championship but for

us, it’s all about that owner’s championship.”

The ARCA Menards Series will be joined by the Lucas Oil Great American Stocks at Salem Speedway on Saturday night, September 14. Activities will kick off with ARCA Menards Series practice at 12 noon ET, followed by General Tire Pole Qualifying at 4 pm ET. The Great American Stocks 50-lap feature will roll at 5 pm ET, with the Kentuckiana Ford Dealers Fall Classic 200 set for 7:15 pm ET. The race will be televised live flag-to-flag on MAVTV. ARCA for Me members can access live timing & scoring, live chat, and live track updates for free at ARCARacing.com. New users can register for free with a valid email address at ARCARacing.com/login. For ticket information, please visit SalemSpeedway.com.

Defending Winner Chandler Smith Heads Back to Salem Looking for Another Win - and One More Lap in the Lead

Rarely does a new driver step up the ladder into a new racing series and thoroughly dominate.

Sure, Davey Allison won two Monster Energy Cup Series races as a rookie back in 1987, but he also finished outside the top ten in 12 of his 22 starts, and failed to finish six times. Six years later, Jeff Gordon would go winless in his rookie season and fail to finish eleven times.

Both drivers eventually figured it out, and both have been inducted into the NASCAR Hall of Fame for their accomplishments in the sport.

Chandler Smith (No. 20 Craftsman Toyota) is just seventeen years old. He’s yet to run a full season in the ARCA Menards Series, making appearances on the short tracks in 2018 and adding WWT Raceway and Pocono Raceway to his schedule in 2019. He’s made a total of 18 career starts, which for a driver his age may have been unheard of a decade ago.

But that’s far from the most impressive part of the Talking Rock, Georgia native’s brief career.

Smith has won six times, finished in the top five thirteen times, and finished in the top ten in every start but one. He’s led 1,422 laps out of 3,177 he’s completed. He also set a modern era ARCA Menards Series record by starting from the General Tire Pole in each of his first four career appearances.

It’s not just in ARCA where Smith’s talents have been on display. He’s made the leap into the NASCAR Gander Outdoors Truck Series in 2019. In three starts he’s earned two top-five finishes and has been in the top ten in all three. He finished a career best second in his last appearance at Bristol, pushing his average finish to an impressive 4.7.

Not bad for a young man not yet eligible to vote.

Smith returns to the ARCA Menards Series for the first time since July in Saturday night’s Kentuckiana Ford Dealers Fall Classic 200 at Salem Speedway. In last year’s race, Smith started outside the front row and took the lead on lap one and led 199 of the race’s 200 laps to earn his second win of the season.

Hard to believe anyone could improve on that performance, but for Smith he thinks he can.

“I guess we just need to go down and lead that one more lap,” Smith joked. “We should have led that lap last year but Gus Dean led a lap on pit road. We did everything else we could do there last year so we need to go get that one extra lap this time.”

Smith will undoubtedly be a challenger for the victory at Salem. Being near the front and battling for the victory will put him in proximity to his Venturini Motorsports teammates Michael Self (No. 25 Sinclair Lubricants Toyota) and Christian Eckes (No. 15 JBL Audio Toyota), two drivers that not only will also be battling for the win but are fighting it out for the ARCA Menards Series championship.

Smith isn’t involved in the battle for the driver’s championship, afterall, he’s only run nine of the seventeen races so far. But his No. 20 car is leading the owner’s championship standings, which means Smith will not be backing down to his teammates as the race winds to its conclusion.

Smith’s time in the No. 20 Toyota for Venturini Motorsports is limited by the fact, that at seventeen years of age, he is not eligible to compete on the majority of the superspeedways the ARCA Menards Series races on per ARCA rules. Despite only running about half of the races, Smith has built a strong report with the team and believes that is the secret to his success.

“All of us are strictly business at the track,” he said. “We all know what we want and what we need and our only job at the track is to get it done. It’s almost like we don’t even have to say it. Everyone knows it and we all work towards it.”

Michael Self Looks to Make it Two-in-a-Row in ARCA Menards Series 106th Visit to Salem Speedway

April showers bring May flowers. April showers also brought Michael Self (No. 25 Sinclair Lubricants Toyota) a victory lane celebration as he was the beneficiary of a cloudburst just one lap past halfway in the ARCA Menards Series annual April visit to Salem Speedway.

It was Self’s second win of the season, and his second career series short track victory, following a win in the season’s second race at Five Flags Speedway in Pensacola, Florida. The back-to-back wins put Self on a trajectory that landed him atop the series championship standings.

Although he holds a 70-point advantage over his Venturini Motorsports teammate Christian Eckes (No. 15 JBL Audio Toyota) with three races to go, Self isn’t in the mood to talk about points. All he’s focused on is his next visit to victory lane.

It’s a place Self has gotten used to in 2019.

In addition to his wins at Five Flags and Salem, Self has also won at Michigan International Speedway and on the dirt at the Springfield Mile. He’ll be going for a season-high fifth win of the year and a season sweep in Saturday night’s Kentuckiana Ford Dealers Fall Classic 200.

“I like going to Salem,” Self said. “Of all the short tracks we go to Salem is one of my favorites. I am looking forward to going back there. We had a great car in the spring. Even if it hadn’t rained, we were going to be hard to beat. Shannon (Rursch) and the team gave me a great car and Venturini Motorsports has had a lot of success there in the past. Between myself, Christian, and Chandler we’ve won the last three races there. I know they’re my teammates but those are the guys we’re going to be racing for the win.”

Self transitioned into the ARCA Menards Series after achieving success in the NASCAR K&N Pro Series West. Self won eight times on a variety of circuits, including road courses, one-mile tracks, and true short tracks. When he made the move into the ARCA Menards Series, Self found superspeedway racing to be his forte. He won the season finale at Kansas in 2017, and followed it with a win in the 2018 season opener at Daytona. His third win at Chicagoland last summer only fortified his reputation as the series’ best big track racer.

“I love the style of racing on the big tracks,” Self said. “I like the speed, I like the way you work the air. It really seems to fit my style the best and I have had a lot of success on the bigger tracks.”

But Self’s short track skills, honed back in his K&N Pro Series days, have come to the forefront this season. Not only does he lead the series’ overall standings, he’s also leading the Sioux Chief Short Track Challenge standings with two races remaining. In nine short track races this season, Self has eight top five finishes and three wins. His average start is 4.6 and his average finish is 4.3.

His impressive runs on short tracks, combined with his continued strength on the superspeedways, has made him a championship contender. Despite leading the standings since the sixth race of the season at Toledo, the battle for the championship isn’t a topic he wants to talk about.

“I am superstitious about it,” he said. “It’s all people ask me. I want to focus on winning races and running the best we can every week. If we are in victory lane then we’ve done all we can do and the points situation will take care of itself.”

CGS Imaging Four Crown Championship to be Settled at Salem

The Kentuckiana Ford Dealers Fall Classic 200 at Salem Speedway, set for Saturday night at 7 pm ET, is the eighteenth of twenty races on the ARCA Menards Series schedule. With three races remaining in the season, it is positioned as an important race as the championship battle starts to wind towards its conclusion at Kansas Speedway on October 18.

But the Salem race carries added significance as it’s also the final event of ARCA’s annual CGS Four Crown championship. It’s the first of three series-within-a-series championships to be decided in 2019, followed by the Sioux Chief Short Track Challenge, which will be settled at Lucas Oil Raceway, and the General Tire Superspeedway Challenge, which will be decided at Kansas.

Dating back to 1984, when Davey Allison won the inaugural Four Crown championship, the series-within-a-series celebrates the diversity that has become the trademark of the ARCA Menards Series. With one race on each type of the four different styles of racetracks that the series competes on, the Four Crown includes a restrictor-plate superspeedway, and intermediate superspeedway, a paved short track, and a dirt track.

For 2019, the tracks included in the Four Crown were Talladega Superspeedway, won by Todd Gilliland, Michigan International Speedway and the Springfield Mile at the Illinois State Fairgrounds, both won by Michael Self.

Self (No. 25 Sinclair Lubricants Toyota) has a 35-point advantage over second-place Bret Holmes (No. 23 Holmes II Excavation Chevrolet), with Travis Braden (No. 27 MatrixCare/Consonus Health Care/Liberty Village Ford) and Joe Graf, Jr. (No. 77 EAT SLEEP RACE Ford) are tied for third 45 points behind.

Self will clinch if he finishes in the top six no matter what Holmes or Braden do. For Holmes to win the Four Crown title, he needs to win and have Self finish seventh or worse, or finish eight positions better if he doesn’t win. For Braden or Graf to win, they need to win and have Self finish eleventh or worse and Holmes to finish third or worse. If they don’t win they need to finish twelve positions ahead of Self and five positions ahead of Holmes.

Zane Smith won the 2018 CGS Imaging Four Crown championship, becoming the 24th driver to win the coveted title and joining the likes of Bob Keselowski, Bobby Bowsher, Tim Steele, Frank Kimmel, Grant Enfinger, Chase Briscoe, and Austin Theriault as winners.

Christian Eckes Looking for Another Salem Win to Jump Start ARCA Menards Series Championship Chase