Milka Duno had worked her way up to the top 10, to only be taken out in a wreck with 16 laps remaining in a nine-car accident in the Lucas Oil Slick Mist 200 at Daytona.
“We had a really good race going,” said Duno. “I really appreciate the car that the team gave me. It was a really good car. It was a great team effort. We ran close to the top-10 for much of the night. We were running some of the fastest laps of the race. I am just really sorry for what happened and very disappointed for my guys. They gave me such a great car and Jon (Wolfe) had a great strategy. The No. 25 just made a bad move, and we got caught in a wreck.”
Duno started the race from the 23rd position and by lap two, she was already up to the 16th position. She continued to move up through the field, before making a fuel-only pit stop under the second caution on lap 18. However, she got blocked in, causing her to fall back to the 25th position. Once the green came back out, Duno once again worked her way through the field, all the way back up to 16th at lap 40 and then into the top 10. Unfortunately, Duno didn’t get to finish her charge to the front as when Hal Martin suffered a blow tire, Steve Arpin went to avoid him and caught Duno, sending both of them into the wall. In total, nine cars ended up being collected.
“Milka ran a great race today,” said Crew Chief Jon Wolfe. “She did exactly what we asked her to do. We were close to our goal of a top-10 finish, we just got taken out.”
“Milka did a real good job,” said team owner and 2010 ARCA Champion Patrick Sheltra. “She stayed out of trouble and drove a clean race. It’s unfortunate that (Steve) Arpin got in to her. I was very impressed with her. She learned a lot during the race and showed a lot of potential for the future.”
The next race for the ARCA Series is on April 15th at Talladega Superspeedway and will be shown live on SPEED.
