TACH Speed Channel - ARCA RE/MAX release, results, points, Nashville

CURRENT ARCA RE/MAX SERIES TOP-10 POINTS:  1) Frank Kimmel 3990; 2) Chad
Blount 3755; 3) Jason Jarrett 3340; 4) Chase Montgomery 3250; 5) Shelby
Howard 3155; 6) Billy Venturini 3115; 7) Andy Belmont 2995; 8) Mark
Gibson 2970; 9) Ron Cox 2925; 10) Kevin Belmont 2795.

SPARKS FLY, TEMPERS FLARE AS KIMMEL WINS AFTER COLLISION WITH BLOUNT ON
NASHVILLE CONCRETE; PADS POINT LEAD

NASHVILLE TN (8-9-02) Friday night's Waste Management 200 at Nashville
Superspeedway turned into an exercise of crisis control management after
Frank Kimmel and Chad Blount locked horns racing for the lead near the
end of the 200-mile race. When the dust settled, Kimmel posted his 39th
career ARCA RE/MAX Series victory while Blount went home with a wrecked
racecar.

With laps winding down, Blount got a run underneath Kimmel off turn four
and took the lead at the start finish line. As they raced into turn one,
Kimmel’s front bumper made contact with Blount’s rear bumper upon entry
sending the Walkerton, Indiana rookie hard into the wall between turns
one and two. With his chief rival out of the mix, Kimmel easily went on
to win a full lap ahead of the second place finisher Robert Burroughs.
It was Kimmel’s third consecutive victory at Nashville.

“Chad made a great run coming off turn four, got under me and pinched me
up into the fence,” said Kimmel after the race. “I’m sure it was
probably an accident. I hit him; he hit me and we went sliding back and
forth. I hate to win like that. We’ve raced hard all year; it was just
hard racing. I just got into the back of him.”

Blount suffered a bruised right wrist and elbow but otherwise checked
out okay. However, his Todd Braun-owned Dodge Intrepid was destroyed.

“I don’t understand it,” said Blount after the race. “I raced him
(Kimmel) clean all day. I passed him clean; I never touched him. The
rest was pretty plain to see. It wasn’t an issue of hard racing; we
always do that. It’s about right and wrong. That was wrong. We lost out
on the win. We took a big hit in the points, and worst of all, one of
our best speedway cars is complete junk.”

Tempers and skirmishes flared up between the two crews following the
incident in which ARCA RE/MAX Series officials did their best to
control. No post-race injuries were reported as a result.

While Kimmel and Blount battled up front, several other drivers were
making noise of their own including Burroughs who battled back from an
earlier spin and passed Chase Montgomery on the last lap to record his
career-best finish in second. Montgomery, who donated his race earnings
to the Nashville Ronald McDonald Children Charities, went on to finish a
career-best third. “It’s awesome to come home and run this well,”
Montgomery said. “These are people that watched me growing up in racing;
this is just great.” Brent Sherman finished a career-best fourth in the
Serta Mattress-Hickory Farms Chevy, with John Metcalf, in the RE/MAX
Int’l Chevy, trailing in fifth.

Kimmel won the Old Milwaukee Pole Award, his fourth in four attempts at
Nashville, and easily got the jump on outside polesitter Blount at the
onset who faded back trying to get up to speed. Jason Jarrett and Robert
Burroughs also charged around Blount and settled in while Kimmel took
off like a rocket. Jarrett soon fell out with engine troubles while
Kimmel continued to stretch his advantage right up through the first
round of pit stops on lap 48. It was also during that first pit stop
exchange in which Blount’s crew allowed a tire to escape from his pit
box and roll across pit road. As a result, RE/MAX Series officials put
Blount at the tail-end of the longest line. Back under green Blount,
clearly on a mission, charged through the field towards the front while
Kimmel extended his lead to nearly a half lap over his closet
competitor. Kimmel soon lapped most of the field while Jason Rudd, who
started tenth, steered his way into the top three behind Kimmel and
Burroughs with Blount trailing in fourth. Then Burroughs spun off turn
four on lap 111 bringing out the caution flag. With most teams needing
just one final pit stop to go the distance, the incident served up the
perfect opportunity for the frontrunners to service their cars for a run
to the checkered flag. Then for the first time, Kimmel would lose the
lead when Blount won the race off pit road. Back under green, Kimmel
drove to the outside of Blount and drag-raced the new leader down the
backstretch and went side-by-side with Blount in three and four.
However, Blount would emerge as the clear-cut leader as they raced off
turn four. From there, Blount gave the audience a new look up front when
he stretched his lead to five lengths over Kimmel and Rudd. Then another
caution, one of seven, came out on lap 126 for debris. On the restart,
the tide turned again when Blount missed a shift and Kimmel raced back
into the lead. Kimmel’s advantage did not last long however when an
ultra-determined Blount charged right back and retook the lead just
before the accident occurred.

With Blount gone, Rudd was the only car left on the lead lap. But that
changed when Rudd and Burroughs made contact in turn one resulting in
Rudd slamming the wall. Rudd was not injured but through for the night.

Kimmel, in addition to his first-place prize money, picked up the
Loctite Halfway Leader Award as well as the National Pork Producers
Pole-Win bonus for winning from the pole. Kimmel also dominated in the
lap leader category with 130 laps led. Blount was the only other lap
leader.

Ron Cox, in Wayne Hixson’s Buffalo Wild Wings Chevrolet, finished a
solid sixth in front of Deborah Renshaw, who steered Bob Schacht’s
National City Bank-Town & Country Ford to a career-best seventh. Billy
Venturini finished eighth in the Bass Pro Shops Chevrolet. Kevin Belmont
continues to impress with a ninth place finish in James Hylton’s Ford
over former NFL head coach Jerry Glanville who finished tenth in the
Loctite-St Jude Hospital Ford.

    2002 ARCA RE/MAX SERIES EVENT #15
   Nashville Superspeedway, Nashville TN, 8-9-02
   Official Results, Waste Management 200

FIN STR NO DRIVER/RESIDENCE TEAM & CAR LAPS STATUS
1 1 46 Frank Kimmel/Jeffersonville IN Advance Auto Parts-Pork Ford 152
Running
2 4 53 Robert Burroughs/Laurel MS Burroughs Diesel Chevrolet 151 Running

3 9 27 Chase Montgomery/Mt Juliet TN Ronald McDonald House Charities
Chevrolet 151 Running
4 5 04 Brent Sherman/N Barrington IL Hickory Farms-Serta Mattress
Chevrolet 150 Running
5 6 05 John Metcalf/Aurora CO RE/MAX Int'l Chevrolet 150 Running
6 18 23 Ron Cox/Soddy Daisy TN Buffalo Wild Wings Chevrolet 150 Running
7 35 75 Deborah Renshaw/Bowling Green KY National City Bank-Town &
Country Ford 150 Running
8 15 25 Billy Venturini/Concord NC Bass Pro Shops Chevrolet 149 Running
9 14 48 Kevin Belmont/Feasterville PA Victory Junction Gang Ford 149
Running
10 8 81 Jerry Glanville/Dawsonville GA Loctite-Race Fans St Jude
Hospital Ford 149 Running
11 19 5 Robbie Cowart/Savannah GA JE Black Construction-Southern Pavers
Chevrolet 148 Running
12 11 64 Shelby Howard/Greenwood IN CIMCO Racing Dodge 148 Running
13 34 38 Greg Sarff/Columbus OH Beannie's Luxury Coach-Absolute
Impressions Ford 148 Running
14 17 58 Justin Ashburn/Joelton TN 31W Insulation-Day Enterprises
Pontiac 147 Running
15 22 14 Jeff Caudell/Seymour IN Tim's Body Shop-S&L Electric Chevrolet
145 Running
16 23 54 Frank Kapfhammer/Louisville KY Subway-CFM Mortgage Chevrolet
145 Running
17 28 21 Todd Bowsher/Springfield OH Collateralevaluation.com Ford 145
Running
18 10 10 Jason Rudd/Suffolk VA Graybar Electric Dodge 144 Accident
19 30 7 Dicky Williamson/Savannah GA JE Black Construction Ford 143
Running
20 21 84 Norm Benning/Pittsburgh PA Benning Motorsports Chevrolet 138
Running
21 38 26 Brad Smith/Dearborn MI BradSmithMotorsports.com Ford 135
Running
22 2 77 Chad Blount/Walkerton IN Braun Auto Group Dodge 133 Accident
23 16 19 Keith Murt/Paducah KY World Tower-Murtco-CMI Chevrolet 131
Running
24 25 24 Chuck Weber/Mesquite TX Cardinal Tool Company Chevrolet 130
Running
25 32 6 Tim Mitchell/Fayetteville TN Vito's Pizza Pontiac 130 Running
26 13 1 Andy Belmont/Penndel PA Odoban Grease Control Ford 100 Ignition
27 24 28 Mike Buckley/Ann Arbor MI Midwest Mall Fronts Chevrolet 63
Engine
28 36 34 Darrell Basham/Henryville IN Basham Racing Chevrolet 37
Overhtng
29 3 67 Jason Jarrett/Hickory NC Biomet-Damon RV Chevrolet 35 Engine
30 7 31 Randal Ritter/Franklin TN PFG Lester Chevrolet 34 Valve
31 20 2 Eric Martin/Hixson TN Holiday Inn Of Murfreesboro TN Chevrolet
31 Engine
32 12 59 Mark Gibson/Winder GA Williams Brothers Lumber Ford 19 Engine
33 33 32 Shawn Gray/Columbus OH Valley Crossing Auto Salvage Ford 14 Oil
prssr
34 39 83 Dennis English/Benton KY Beannie's Luxury Coach-Absolute
Impressions Ford 11 Overhtng
35 40 06 Tim Turner/Pulaski TN Wayne Peterson Racing Chevrolet 11
Overhtng
36 37 91 James Hylton/Inman SC Southern Pan Services Ford 10 Rear end
37 29 8 Randy Ainsworth/Excelsior Springs MO Benning Motorsports
Chevrolet 8 Radio
38 27 3 Mike Basham/Henryville IN Darrell Basham Racing Chevrolet 8
Transmssn
39 31 4 Dick Tracey/Columbus GA Cardinal Tool Company Chevrolet 4 Clutch

40 26 43 Mike Zazula/Turnersville NJ James Hylton Racing Ford 1
Vibration

   OLD MILWAUKEE POLE AWARD:  Frank Kimmel 30.804 (155.785 mph)
   MRGN OF VICT:  1 lap plus .845 sec CAUTIONS:  7 for 40 laps
   TIME OF RACE:  1:50:23 AVG SPEED:  108.685 mph
   LAP LEADERS:  Kimmel 1-112, 135-152 (130); Blount 113-134 (22)

CONTACT: ARCA (734) 847-6726 or arcaracing.com