When a primary sponsor, on the hood of a race car, is the same corporation that’s also sponsoring the race it often makes a race driver dig a little deeper, and race a little harder. That’s exactly what racing veteran Bobby Gerhart did on the afternoon of February 18th at the Daytona International Raceway. Despite a weekend filled with obstacles, Gerhart dug deep and raced hard. The reward was the right to park his Lucas Oil Slick Mist Chevrolet in victory lane after winning the Lucas Oil Slick Mist 200.
The event was the official season opener of the ARCA Racing Series, presented by Menards. The Lucas Oil Slick Mist 200 also marked the Automobile Racing Club of America’s 60th anniversary season. The event also sent Gerhart to Daytona’s victory lane for the eighth time in 25 starts as well as his third consecutive win at the famous raceway.
However, Gerhart’s day of Daytona jubilation came at series’ rookie driver Brandon McReynolds’ expense. The Lucas Oil Slick Mist 200 was scheduled for 80 laps around Daytona’s massive 2.5 mile oval. The race distance was actually 83 laps due to a late race caution. McReynolds’ Chevrolet, entered by Turner Motorsports, just simply didn’t have enough fuel in the tank to run those extra three laps. McReynolds helplessly watched his first series win at Daytona turn into an 11th place finish after the engine sputtered and silently rolled across the finish line. Making that sinking feeling even deeper was the fact that McReynolds drove a brilliant race and led 64 laps. That’s when Gerhart, with a massive bump draft from series newcomer Drew Charlson, moved from fifth to first to steal the win during the final few feet of the race.
Gerhart’s latest ARCA Series win was not an easy one. The day before the race the Pennsylvania driver scorched the competition in qualifying to claim what would have been his fifth pole position at Daytona. However, during a post qualifying tech inspection, his car failed an engine vacuum leak check and Gerhart was informed that he would be starting the race from the rear of the 43 car field. Despite that disappointment, the team installed their back up power plant and then topped the speed charts during the final practice session held that morning.
Knowing that the Lucas Oil Slick Mist 200 was bound to become a fuel mileage race, Gerhart surprised everyone by coming down pit road, to pack his tank with gas, on the first lap. He repeated that procedure on lap ten. It would turn out to be a race winning moment. It was later revealed that this move was planned prior to the start of the race.
The pit stops placed Gerhart a lap down but, with 24 of the 43 drivers in the field being ARCA and Daytona rookies, the team knew there was bound to be an early caution flag. They didn’t have to wait very long. A single car spin brought out the first yellow of the race on lap six. Gerhart was awarded the Lucky Dog pass to place him back on the lead lap and began the process of working his way towards the front of the field.
On lap 74, the field was under caution again and McReynolds was observed driving on the track’s apron, wiggling the car from side to side, to save all of the badly needed fuel he would require for the final laps of the race. Unfortunately the field only ran two green flag laps before a single car accident brought out the final yellow. The Lucas Oil Slick Mist 200 was going into overtime.
Following the green-white-checker restart, it appeared that McReynolds, despite running on gas fumes, might have just enough left in the tank to take the win. Unfortunately while coming off of the final turn of the final lap, with the checkered flag in sight, that’s when McReynolds’ engine sputtered. The outstanding, dominant, run by this young driver was now over.
That’s also when the tandem of Gerhart and Charlson jumped to the outside lane which led to their one-two finish. Will Kimmel, Steve Blackburn and Mark Thompson followed them under the checkers to complete the top five rundown.
In victory lane, an ecstatic Bobby Gerhart patted the roof of his car with his hand and screamed “you should never, I mean never ever, rule out this Lucas Oil hot rod.” On this afternoon at Daytona, no truer words were ever spoken.
