The first important stock-car race of the year is not the Daytona 500 or the Bud Shootout. No, it's the annual ARCA 200 race held on Saturday afternoon before the Bud Shootout at the Daytona International Speedway!
And it always turns out as an incredible accident-riddled event! This year was no exception. It did not take long after the green flag was dropped with Justin Lofton (No 6 Camry) on the pole for fans to see a first major crash that involved, among many drivers, young JR Fitzpatrick (Chevy No 48) from the NASCAR Canadian Tire Series getting tagged in an incident involving half a dozen cars. Many great upcoming stock-car stars such as Joey Logano (Camry No 25) were participating in that race that saw quite a few other major crashes, one of them, a dozen-car catastrophe, took out Quebec-born Floridian Mario Gosselin (No 12 Chevy) at exactly mid-race and another one, later on, also involving as many cars, took out Fort Frances, Ontario's Steve Arpin (Camry No 20). An incredible crash with only two cars had the ARCA officials taking out the red flag a few laps before the end of the 80-lap race so it was a last lap shoot-out for the chequered flag. James Buescher (No 32 Camry) who was first when the red was thrown, got off like a rocket ship at restart and second-place Joey Logano (No 25 Camry) was never able to touch him. Pole-sitter Justin Lofton ended up third. Another Canadian, Terry Jones (dodge No 30) from Amherstburg, Ontario, ended up 20th. ARCA teams use the NASCAR Cup cars from the past and run on Hoosier tires out of which only one really blew up in the race. Recent Articles
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