DAYTONA BEACH, Florida (February 8, 2011) – – Mooresville, North Carolina-based Spraker Racing Enterprises is well known for bringing dreams to life. Once again, racing pioneer Jeff Spraker will do it again by looking to guide Scott Stenzel to his second consecutive top-10 superspeedway finish in his Daytona (Fla.) International Speedway debut in Saturday’s Lucas Oil Slick Mist 200.
After a hiccup in qualifying last year, Stenzel, the Orlando, Florida native just missed the season-opener, but Spraker, the former ARCA Racing Series presented by Menards competitor wasn’t about to let disappointment overcome determination. During the two-month break between Daytona and the final restrictor plate event at Talladega, a detailed plan was worked out for the young Stenzel to have another shot at restrictor plate racing and compete in the Talladega ARCA 250 at Talladega (Ala.) Superspeedway.
Stenzel, the 30-year old entrepreneur by trade qualified his No. 42 Yellow Stripes Making The Driver Ford Fusion 28th and mastered the 2.66 mile superspeedway during the 94-lap event to boast an impressive seventh place finish, all under the guidance of Spraker.
Testing extremely well, sixth overall at the newly re-paved 2.5-mile superspeedway last month, the duo has agreed to once again unite at the “World Center of Racing” and give Stenzel a shot at improving on his top-10 outing from last season.
“I’m looking forward to working with Scott this week,” said Spraker, who has also nurtured up and coming drivers from the NASCAR K&N Series and Late Models. “Scott is one determined young man and with our performance at the test in January, it was not a hard decision to give Daytona another shot.”
Stenzel offered similar sentiments about Spraker.
“Jeff Spraker has been instrumental to my success on and off the track,” sounded Stenzel. “His organization, Spraker Racing Enterprises, offers a lot more than just on track services, and for that I am very thankful. We are on year two of our relationship and look forward to many more years to come. Jeff stepped up our efforts for the Daytona race since the test, that means a lot, and he continues to exceed my expectations on and off the track. Nothing more, than bringing home a win, would express my gratitude toward the entire Spraker Racing team.”
Spraker added, “Obviously with the resurfacing of the track, I’m expecting the racing to be as tight as ever. I believe Scott showed at Talladega last year that he knows how to draft and knows when and when not to press the issue. He has worked hard for this opportunity and I know he’ll further gain the respect of his competitors on the track; as he has off the track.”
By pulling off another solid finish in Saturday’s season-opener, Spraker is hoping to open the door and spread the word that he has the equipment, manpower and affiliations to produce a solid race program at several different levels.
“I have a lot of cars, great guys and all of the other assets required to go racing competitively in any series,” offered Spraker. “I’ve always enjoyed working with young and upcoming drivers, whether they are males or females. At this point, we would love to work with Scott on a full-time basis but right now, this is just a one-race deal. We’re opening the doors at Spraker Racing though and letting everyone know we’re ready to go racing!”
Mike Bliss, Dexter Bean, Drew Brannon, Kerry Earnhardt, Joey Gase, Ron Hornaday Jr., P.J. Jones, Alex Kennedy, Steve Park, David Ragan, Scott Riggs, David Reutimann, Michelle Theriault, Darrell Waltrip and Smokey Yunick are just some of the drivers that Spraker, who also has starts for himself in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series (NCWTS) and NASCAR Nationwide Series, has been affiliated with in one capacity or another through SRE.
The Lucas Oil Slick Mist 200 at Daytona (80 laps / 200 miles) is the first of 19 events on the 2011 ARCA Racing Series presented by Menards schedule. The 48th ARCA race held at Daytona is a three-day show. Practice begins Thursday, February 10 with a four hour practice session planned from 1:00 p.m. – 5:00 p.m. Menards pole qualifying presented by Ansell is set for Friday, February 11 slated to begin at 2:00 p.m. A forty-five minute final practice session is etched in on Saturday, February 12th from 10:00 a.m. – 10:45 a.m. The event will take the green flag later that day shortly after 4:30 p.m. The race will be televised live on SPEED with additional race coverage including live timing and scoring and radio broadcast through the ARCA Racing Network (ARN) online at arcaracing.com. All times are local.
For more information on Spraker Racing Enterprises (SRE) and its available programs, please visit sprakerracing.com.
