Salem, IN (April 27 2013) – When Justin Boston took the checkered flag to win the pole for Sunday’s Kentuckiana Ford Dealers 200 presented by Crosley Radio, crew chief Billy Venturini immediately started passing out high five’s and handshakes from his seat above the pit box for the 25 team. “I think having him on the pit box elevates this team and our whole group,” Boston said while accepting the Menards Pole Award presented by Ansell. “I think it’s exactly what the ZLOOP team needs.”
Venturini, who won here in 2006 as a driver and has two wins as a crew chief at Salem, was excited for Boston. “It is so important for Justin to sit on the pole here,” he said. “He’s such a raw race car driver. He is going to be really good. He is more impressive every time out.”
Boston won the pole in impressive fashion, nosing out Venturini Motorsports teammate Kyle Benjamin by .004 seconds. Anderson Bowen will start third, John Wes Townley fourth and Mason Mingus fifth.
“We’ve been neck and neck here,” Boston said of himself and Benjamin. “He edged me out at the test and I went and watched the video of that. After the qualifying lap he had, I didn’t know if I could top that.”
Benjamin thought he might have his first pole award after his qualifying lap.
“Now, I’m trying to figure out what I could have done to be a little bit faster,” the 15-year-old Benjamin said. “We’re always right there together, though. I’m happy for Venturini Motorsports to have the top two qualifiers.” Townley – coming off a win in the season-opening ARCA Racing Series event, gives Venturini three of the top four spots.
Boston, who hails from Baltimore, Maryland, will make his first start at Salem on Sunday. His team worked on race set up in Saturday’s early practice, then switched to qualifying set up for the second practice and the team had the fastest time.
Mingus, who enters Sunday’s race as the co-point leader with Frank Kimmel, led the early practice session and nosed out Mobile International Speedway winner Grant Enfinger for fifth. Kimmel will start eighth, behind 15-year-old Kyle Weatherman, and in front of Travis Swaim and Will Kimmel.
Frank Kimmel has nine all-time wins at Salem, the winningest ARCA Racing Series driver at the historic .555-mile track. The series has been coming to Salem since 1955 and Sunday will be the 93rdARCA Racing Series race at the track.
Billy Venturini wasn’t on the pit box for the first two races of the season, but is doing so this weekend at Salem.
“Salem has been good to me,” he said.
Pre-race festivities and driver introductions get underway just before 2PM on Sunday afternoon (April 28) with the Kentuckiana Ford Dealers 200 slated to get the green flag at 2:15 PM EST. Live race day coverage will air on ARCARACING.com radio with play-by-play given by the dynamic duo of Charlie Krall and Tim Clagg.
About Venturini Motorsports
Venturini Motorsports (VMS), fielding cars for over 30-years in the ARCA Racing Series presented by Menards, is one of the premier NASCAR driver development programs in the country. Multiple team championships and consistent on-track success, VMS has evolved into one of the most recognizable names in motorsports. Since 2007, VMS has assisted in the career development of notable NASCAR drivers such as Joey Logano, Justin Allgaier, Ryan Blaney, Alex Bowman, Brian Scott, Kevin Swindell, Miguel Paludo, John Wes Townley, Josh Richards and Johanna Long.
In 2012, VMS and the Venturini family was inducted into the National Italian American Sports Hall of Fame and now find themselves enshrined with such sports icons as Joe DiMaggio, Mario Andretti, Vince Lombardi, Tommy Lasorda and Rocky Marciano, among others.
After nearly two decades away from NASCAR, 2013 marks VMS’s modern day return to the series with John Wes Townley driving the team’s familiar No.25 in selective NASCAR Nationwide Series events.
Official: www.VenturiniMotorsports.com | Twitter: @VenturiniMotor | Facebook: Venturini Motorsports
