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Chicagoland: Series round 15 preview

Rookie Kligerman Leads Tight ARCA Title Fight to Chicagoland; Veteran Kimmel Hits 10,000 Laps-Led! JOLIET IL (8-24-09) - Fresh from his ARCA RE/MAX Series victory Sunday on the Springfield mile-dirt, rookie sensation Parker Kligerman carries his ...

Rookie Kligerman Leads Tight ARCA Title Fight to Chicagoland; Veteran Kimmel Hits 10,000 Laps-Led!

JOLIET IL (8-24-09) - Fresh from his ARCA RE/MAX Series victory Sunday on the Springfield mile-dirt, rookie sensation Parker Kligerman carries his momentum north to Chicagoland Speedway where the championship battle rages on.

Kligerman, in his first-ever dirt track attempt, made history Sunday, becoming the youngest winner of the Allen Crowe 100 at the Illinois State Fairgrounds.

"This is definitely a big moment in my career," said Kligerman, who, at 19, surpassed Justin Allgaier - who was 20 at the time - as the youngest winner of the annual Crowe 100.

"I about got wrecked four times in one corner. The dirt is very challenging; it's all so new to me." Of course, all the tracks on the ARCA RE/MAX Series tour are new to Kligerman, who leads with a series-high six wins in 2009.

He, and his Cunningham Motorsports team, now head to Chicagoland Speedway next for this Friday's Ansell Cut Protection 150.

"I don't know a lot about Chicagoland other than it's one of those mile-and-a-half cookie cutter tracks. I hear the backstretch is curved a lot more than Kentucky or a Kansas, so that will affect your exit off (turn) two. I hear a lot of drivers really like it because it's so fast. We'll just get there, look the place over, and learn it as fast as we can."

Kligerman has a slim 35-point lead over Eddie Sharp Racing's Justin Lofton headed to Chicagoland.

Kimmel Hits 10,000!

Nine-time series champion and former Chicagoland winner Frank Kimmel is currently third in points. Although the Clarksville, Indiana stock car legend didn't get the result he wanted Sunday at Springfield - a ninth place finish - Kimmel uncovered a major milestone at Springfield.

Kimmel etched his name further into the record books after he led 34 laps during the race. By doing so, Kimmel surpassed the 10,000 laps-led mark bringing his career total to 10,028 laps-led overall.

"Overall and in the grand scheme of things, today was good day for Kimmel Racing," said Kimmel. "To lead laps and to reach the milestone of 10,000 laps led was a huge accomplishment for us. At the end of the day, though, anything but a win is a bit of a disappointment here at Springfield. The right side tires just had somewhat of a blistering feel to them there from the middle of the race on. It's just not the result we hoped for but what can you do but go on to the next one at Chicagoland and keep our head in the game as we focus on getting the first win for Ansell and Menards."

In eight previous ARCA RE/MAX Series races at Chicagoland, there has never been a repeat race winner, nor has there ever been a repeat pole winner. Race winners include Ed Berrier, Chad Blount, Dawayne Bryan, Kimmel, Kyle Krisiloff, Steve Wallace, Michael McDowell and most recently Scott Lagasse, Jr.

Practice for the Friday, August 28th Ansell Cut Protection 150 race event is scheduled from 4:10 - 5:30 PM Thursday afternoon, August 27th. A final practice from 8:00 - 8:50 AM Friday morning followed by Menards Pole Qualifying presented by Ansell at 12:10 PM will precede the race, which is LIVE on SPEED Friday late afternoon.

-credit: arca

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