ARCA RE/MAX race-result release, Talladega

CURRENT ARCA RE/MAX SERIES POINTS AFTER TALLADEGA:  1) Frank Kimmel
5680; 2) Chad Blount 5170; 3) Jason Jarrett 4695; 4) Chase Montgomery
4400; 5) Shelby Howard 4350; 6) Billy Venturini 4310; 7) Ron Cox 4130;
7) Mark Gibson 4130; 9) Andy Belmont 4105; 10) Norm Benning 3880.

SEGARS SO GOOD IN TALLADEGA

TALLADEGA AL (10-5-02) by Don Radebaugh - Hungry for his career-first
ARCA RE/MAX Series victory, Keith Segars, in the Sonny’s Real Pit
Bar-B-Q Chevrolet, filled up with a huge victory in the 40th running of
the Food World 300 Saturday afternoon at Talladega Superspeedway while
Frank Kimmel clinched his fourth RE/MAX Series national championship in
five seasons.

Segars held off the Talladega train for the final 36 laps to earn the
hard-fought victory in his 30th RE/MAX Series attempt.

“I don’t know what to say,” said Segars after the race. “It feels so
good. I haven’t felt this way before. We went out in the final practice
and were just a little off. We made a decision to change the gear and
they told me my restarts wouldn’t be as good as what we really wanted.
But Larry McClure (team owner) promised me if I ever got it into fourth
gear, it would really go.”

Getting it to go was not a problem for Segars who led 62 of 113 laps
throughout the 300-mile race. A little advice from Winston Cup driver
Mike Skinner the night before probably didn’t hurt either.

“Skinner sat me down last night and gave me a lot of ideas and
suggestions, and he has been wonderful to work with,” added Segars. “ I
just listened to him and trusted him and everything went wonderful.”

Things weren’t too bad for Kimmel either whose third place finish, from
the 35th starting position, netted the Jeffersonville, Indiana driver
another well-earned title.

“It’s a wonderful feeling for sure,” said Kimmel. “This championship is
just a product of this whole team. In this series, this Advance Auto
Parts-Pork team is consistently the best there is and I think are record
proves that. My guys are the best and it shows every week.”

ARCA RE/MAX Rookie of the Year Chad Blount was a factor all day and
charged from the 36th starting position to finish second in the APP Gas
Dodge.

“Second place; we’ll take that,” said Blount. “When you have those two
yellow stripes (rookie stripes) on your back bumper cover, that don’t
always get you a whole lot. We just had to hold our own line. If we got
out of line, we couldn’t get any help.”

Blount was glued to Segars’ back bumper in the remaining laps with
Kimmel in tow however each time Blount stepped out to challenge, he
could bring no drafting partners along for the needed push.

Rick Carelli, in the RE/MAX Int’l Chevrolet, raced from the 17th
starting position to fourth in the final running order ahead of Jason
Jarrett who steered the Biomet-Damon RV Pontiac to a fifth place finish.

Chase Montgomery, running second at the time, was very much in
contention to win leading 27 laps throughout the race in his father Ray
Montgomery’s Pontiac until he got a boot from behind from Michael
Vergers on a late-race restart. The collision sent Montgomery’s machine
hard into the outside retaining wall ending his day just 20 laps shy of
the finish. As a result, Montgomery picked up the Landrum Spring Hard
Luck honors. In addition, Montgomery won the Loctite Halfway Leader
award for leading at the halfway point. He was not injured in the
accident.

Old Milwaukee polesitter Bobby Gerhart led the first 13 laps and was in
contention most of the way until his BodyCote.com Chevrolet overheated
after 95 laps completed. Vergers also led 11 laps during the relatively
caution-free event that saw 8 lead changes among the aforementioned four
drivers. In all, four cautions, all for minor incidents, slowed the
event for 20 laps while the rest was filled with your typical Talladega
two, three and four wide, green-flag racing.

Richard Mitchell finished a solid sixth in the Coach USA-Mountaineer
Gaming Pontiac with Mark Gibson, in the Williams Brothers Lumber
Pontiac, trailing in seventh. In addition, Gibson, who started 25th,
picked up the Hoosier Tire Hard Charger award for advancing the most
positions. Vergers finished eighth in the Ken Schrader Racing Pontiac
ahead of Robby Benton who finished ninth in the MAC Tools Ford. Billy
Venturini, in the Sports Authority Pontiac, finished tenth.

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