Lofton Has Solid Top-Five Finish in Iowa; Remains in Championship Hunt

*         **Lofton Has Solid Top-Five Finish in Iowa; Remains in
Championship Hunt *





*FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE*



Newton, Iowa (September 19, 2009) – The 2009 USARacing Pro Cup Series has
been a year of ups and downs for many teams on the circuit, but for Matt
Lofton and his Strutmasters.com crew, it has been a year of continuous
progress.  Lofton continued his improvements with a solid fourth place
finish in Saturday’s Pork 200 presented by Cookies Sauces and Seasonings at
Iowa Speedway.



There was one minor drawback early in the day when Lofton drew a poor
qualifying draw, which the team felt hindered their qualifying efforts,
leaving them with a sixth place starting position.  But the Strutmasters
Chevrolet rallied back and remained one of the quickest cars on the track
come race time.



“We had an awesome car all weekend and we unloaded fast.  We had a little
bit of a bad draw in qualifying though.  We went out second and qualified
sixth.  That wasn’t near as good as we ran in practice, but we were able to
run well all race long.”



This was Lofton’s second appearance at Iowa Speedway, and although he didn’t
have the best finish last year, knew that he was going to run well this time
around.  Lofton ran a smart patient race in the early laps of the event, and
picked up the pace after a few great pit stops in the last half.



“It’s really difficult to pass here, so the first part of the race we just
kind of rode around there in fifth,” commented Lofton.  “We had some good
pit stops there at the end of the race and even had a chance to lead.  We
restarted second with about 60 or 70 laps to go, but had a bad restart and
dropped back to seventh.  We were able to work our way back up to fourth in
the last 50 laps.  We just kind of ran out of time by then.”



This top-five finish keeps Lofton in the Championship hunt with just two
races left.  A disappointing finish at the Championship Series opener at
Concord [N.C.] Speedway when a late race wreck left him with a finish just
outside the top-ten after running competitively all night long.  But Lofton
bounced back at Iowa and is now within 78 points of the point leader.  Lofton
and his crew feel they are just as much in the running as anyone else.



“We have to keep it consistent.  We had a great run going at Concord, but a
late race incident took us out of the running there.  We did everything we
had to do at Iowa to keep ourselves in it.  If we have two more races like
that, then we really have a chance [a Championship],” explained Lofton.  “As
good as we were at Iowa; I feel really confident going into Rockingham.  We
have a chance at Rockingham and we always have a chance at South Boston.  So
if we have an opportunity to run in the top three at these last two races,
and I can minimize any mistakes, we can win a championship.”



Lofton has two weeks off before traveling to Rockingham [N.C.] Speedway for
the Aaron’s 150 presented by Black’s Tire & Auto on Oct. 10. The season
concludes Oct. 31 at South Boston [Va.] Speedway when the series champion
will be crowned.

Strutmasters was founded by Chip Lofton in 1999. Since then, dozens of
dealerships, parts and service chains nationwide, and tens of thousands of
individual drivers like you have installed our kits. Well known companies
that have purchased and used our product are: Midas, Meineke, Monro, Ford,
Walker Auto Stores, Kirks Management Co., and we have even done a conversion
kit for the C.I.A.!

For more information, visit www.strutmasters.com.

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