Millville: Frank Kimmel race report

Kimmel Takes Over ARCA Points Lead with 4th-Place Finish at NJMP
Earns career-best finish at 2.25-mile road course

Millville, NJ (Aug. 16, 2010) - Frank Kimmel is looking for his record-breaking 10th ARCA Racing Series presented by RE/MAX and Menards championship this season, and he took one giant leap in the right direction after securing the points lead Sunday afternoon at New Jersey Motorsports Park (NJMP). Kimmel and his Ansell/Menards team drove to a hard-fought fourth-place finish in the Garden State ARCA 150 presented by American Red Cross. The finish was a career-best for the nine-time ARCA Champion at the 2.25 track.

When the green flag dropped for 67 laps of road course racing action Kimmel was ready for the twists and turns that is road course racing. He knew he had some work to do starting the race from the 14th position. Kimmel maintained position for the first several laps of competition until the first yellow of the day came out on lap seven. Crew Chief, Bill Kimmel Jr., began his road course strategy early, bringing his driver down pit road on lap nine during that caution period for a splash of gas.

The Ansell/Menards Ford Fusion returned to the track for the restart on lap 10 in the 19th position. Kimmel quickly negotiated his way back through the field, gaining three positions by lap 11 and moving into 14th position by lap 14.

Kimmel Jr's strategy call earlier in the race came into play when the leaders began making green flag pit stops on lap 26. As the front runners came in for service, Kimmel continued to climb through the field, moving into third on lap 31.

On lap 41, Kimmel Jr. called his Ansell/Menards Ford Fusion down pit road for four tires and fuel, but as Kimmel brought his car to a stop the yellow flag came out forcing the team to rejoin the field without servicing the car. One lap later Kimmel came back down pit road under yellow so the Ansell/Menards crew could finish their work and rejoined the field for the restart in 12th position.

As the field went back to green it only took Kimmel one lap to claim 11th, but contact with the 60 while racing side-by-side for 10th caused right front damage and a tire rub. With a smoking tire and worried crew, Kimmel took over 10th position and started knocking off his fastest laps of the race.

A lap 50 caution came at the perfect time allowing Kimmel to bring his Ansell/Menards Ford down pit road to change four tires and pull out the right front fender. Quick work by the Ansell/Menards team allowed Kimmel to rejoin the field, only losing one position, in 11th place for the lap 58 restart.

With only nine laps remaining Kimmel was ready for the restart, picking up four positions and moving into 6th place after only one lap of green-flag racing. On lap 60 he moved his Ansell/Menards Ford into 5th and was looking to catch fourth when the final caution of the afternoon came out on lap 61.

The field restarted for a final three lap shoot-out on lap 64. With the leaders in his sights, Kimmel moved around the 25 of Mikey Kile to take fourth as the white flag flew on lap 66. Kimmel came around a final time to take the checkered flag claiming a fourth-place finish along with the lead in the ARCA Racing Series championship point standings.

"It was a great day for the Ansell/Menards team," said Kimmel. "Our goal was a top-10 today, so to come out of here with a fourth-place finish at a road course, we are really happy. The crew worked really hard. I got more and more comfortable with the car all day and ran some of my fastest laps of the weekend during the race. The Roush/Yates motors were really strong. The G-Force transmission didn't skip a beat all weekend. Our Hawk Performance Breaks worked really well all day. Everything just worked really well. We had a pretty much flawless race."

The Ansell/Menards team will look to defend their points lead next weekend at what is considered Kimmel's "break and butter" track on Sunday, August 22 as the ARCA Racing Series visits the dirt of the Illinois State Fairgrounds in Springfield, Ill.

-source: kimmel racing