Buescher Conserves Tires on New Michigan Pavement to Win RainEater Wiper Blades 200 Over Bowman, Lofton
(BROOKLYN, Mich.) – On a day of record speeds on Michigan International Speedway’s new pavement, tire conservation became the key element in the RainEater Wiper Blades 200. Chris Buescher played the game better than anyone, leading the final 14 laps to score his seventh ARCA Racing Series presented by Menards victory.
Buescher made a Lap 74 pit stop and kept his No. 17 Roulo Brothers Racing Ford on the track while race leader Alex Bowman pitted 12 laps later. Bowman started second on a restart with 10 laps to go, but could not pass Buescher, who extended his lead to over a half-second four laps later. Bowman, who led 12 laps, charged toward Buescher and attempted a low pass at the checkered flag, but just missed his fourth series win by 0.054 second.
Matt Lofton finished third after leading 15 laps to finish just ahead of Brennan Newberry, who made his ARCA debut. Brandon Davis finished a career-best fifth, one place in front of John Blankenship, who also achieved a career high. Frank Kimmel, Spencer Gallagher, Menards Pole Award presented by Ansell winner and new track qualifying record holder Joey Coulter, and Buster Graham filled out the top 10.
Points leader Brennan Poole led the first 59 laps but encountered tire issues and fell out of contention. He finished 11th, three laps off of the pace, but maintained a 20-point advantage in the series standings over Buescher after eight of 20 races. With two wins each in the last four races, Poole and Buescher are the only multiple winners in the series in 2012.
The race lasted for one hour, 34 minutes, and eight seconds, at an average pace of 127.479 mph. Five cautions slowed the field for 30 laps.
The full results are below, and ARCARacing.com will issue more information from the race shortly.
2012 ARCA Racing Series presented by Menards Event #8
Michigan Int’l Speedway, Brooklyn Michigan, 6-15-12
RainEater Wiper Blades 200
June 15, 2012 / 6:52 PM
FIN STR NO DRIVER/HOMETOWN LAPS STATUS
1 9 17 Chris Buescher/Prosper TX 100 Running
2 3 22 Alex Bowman/Tucson AZ 100 Running
3 6 16 Matt Lofton/Roxboro NC 100 Running
4 17 92 Brennan Newberry/Bakersfield CA 100 Running
5 20 99 Brandon Davis/Huntington Beach CA 100 Running
6 11 66 John Blankenship/Williamson WV 100 Running
7 8 44 Frank Kimmel/Clarksville IN 99 Running
8 15 23 Spencer Gallagher/Las Vegas NV 99 Running
9 1 61 Joey Coulter/Miami Springs FL 98 Running
10 33 88 Buster Graham/Lafayette LA 97 Running
11 2 25 Brennan Poole/The Woodlands TX 97 Running
12 4 15 Ryan Reed/Bakersfield CA 97 Running
13 7 6 Kyle Larson/Elk Grove CA 97 Running
14 5 55 Kevin Swindell/Germantown TN 97 Running
15 13 97 Juan Carlos Blum/Guadalajara Mexico 96 Running
16 10 12 Jared Marks/Napoleon OH 95 Running
17 21 20 Tom Berte/New Berlin WI 94 Running
18 22 10 Rick Clifton/Circleville OH 93 Running
19 25 7 Kent Schenkel/Huntington IN 91 Running
20 27 3 Mike Buckley/Ann Arbor MI 91 Running
21 31 58 Chad Hackenbracht/New Philadelphia OH 88 Running
22 28 48 James Hylton/Inman SC 87 Running
23 26 06 Tommy O’Leary/Cygnet OH 62 Running
24 14 52 Tom Hessert/Cherry Hill NJ 61 Running
25 29 0 Brad Smith/Shelby Township MI 56 Running
26 19 32 Aleks Gregory/Baton Rouge LA 42 Accident
27 34 5 Bobby Gerhart/Lebanon PA 39 Engine
28 30 34 Darrell Basham/Henryville IN 18 Handling
29 24 02 Josh Williams/Port Charlotte FL 9 Brakes
30 16 68 Will Kimmel/Sellersburg IN 6 Vibration
31 23 69 Korbin Forrister/Cedartown GA 5 Handling
32 12 35 Nelson Canache/Caracas Venezuela 1 Accident
33 18 04 Larry Barford Jr./Denton MD 1 Accident
34 32 40 Roger Carter/Sunfield MI 1 Engine
Menards Pole Award Presented by Ansell: Joey Coulter 37.471 (192.149 mph) *NTR
Margin of Victory: 0.054 seconds
Time of Race: 1:34:08
Lap Leaders: Poole 1-59 (59); Coulter 60-74 (15); Bowman 75-86 (12); Buescher 87-100 (14)
An ARCA tripleheader is on the schedule next week at Indiana’s Winchester Speedway, as the ARCA Racing Series presented by Menards headlines a weekend that also features the ARCA CRA Super Series and ARCA Truck Series. The ARCA Racing Series will hold two 45-minute practices on Saturday, at 12:05 and 2:05 p.m. Menards Pole Qualifying presented by Ansell will follow at 4:30, just before the Truck Series race at 5:30 and the Super Series event at 6:30.
The 200-lap, 100-mile Herr’s Chase the Taste 200 will begin at 2 p.m., with live timing and scoring and live audio coverage presented by the ARCA Racing Network available at ARCARacing.com.
2012 is the ARCA Racing Series presented by Menards’ 60th Anniversary Season, featuring 20 races at 18 tracks. The complete 2012 event schedule is available at ARCARacing.com.
The ARCA Racing Series presented by Menards has crowned an ARCA national champion each year since its inaugural season in 1953, and has toured over 200 race tracks in 26 states since its inception. The series has tested the abilities of drivers and race teams over the most diverse schedule of stock car racing events in the world, visiting tracks ranging from 0.375 mile to 2.66 miles in length, on both paved and dirt surfaces as well as a left- and right-turn road course in its most recent season. This year, the series visited Alabama’s Mobile International Speedway and Minnesota’s Elko Speedway for the first time.
Founded by John and Mildred Marcum in 1953 in Toledo, Ohio, the Automobile Racing Club of America (ARCA) is recognized among the leading sanctioning bodies in the country. Closing in on completing its sixth decade after hundreds of thousands of miles of racing, ARCA administers over 100 race events each season in three professional touring series and local weekly events.
