VMS No.55 team car in hunt for Bill France Four Crown award
Concord, NC (August 29, 2014) – Venturini Motorsports (VMS) will be aiming for their third consecutive victory this weekend as the ARCA Racing Series presented by Menards makes its annual trek to southern Illinois for the 61st running of the Southern Illinois 100 on the DuQuoin State Fairgrounds dirt mile Labor DayMonday, September 1st.
The team, with four victories during the ’14 ARCA season, has been on a late season role finding victory lane most recently with Justin Boston (No.25 ZLOOP/JACO Toyota) last weekend at Madison Int’l Speedway and Kevin Swindell (No.15 Zaxby’s Toyota) who subbed for then injured driver John Wes Townley at the legendary Springfield, Illinois dirt mile.
Townley, who missed out on ARCA’s earlier dirt race, returned to the driver’s seat last weekend in Madison earning a top-10 finish will compete at DuQuoin in his familiar Zaxby’s car.
Rounding out VMS’s driver line-up for Monday’s holiday race will be two-time ARCA winner Justin Boston and five-time series winner Brennan Poole who returns driving the No.55 The Identical Movie Toyota.
VMS has been very successful on dirt tracks wining three times in the past four years with three different drivers (Steve Arpin ’10 – DuQuoin, Brennan Poole ’13 – Springfield and Kevin Swindell ’14 – Springfield).
Monday’s race also marks the final leg of ARCA’s 2014 Bill France Four Crown championship with just 45 points separating the top-six contenders. Currently, GMS Racing’s Grant Enfinger leads by 15 points over Ken Schrader Racing and VMS, tied for second.
Venturini’s Bill France Four Crown championship bid will fall onto Brennan Poole’s lap as the No.55 team car is in the hunt for the title. Poole who has extensive dirt racing experience and won last season at Springfield and is expected to be a contender in Monday’s Southern Illinois 100 presented by Federated Car Care event.
The Bill France Four Crown championship represents ARCA’s versatility and provides a link to the series’ roots, featuring a diverse combination of tracks in any given season. This year’s France Four Crown schedule included the New Jersey Motorsports Park (road course), Chicagoland Speedway (superspeedway), Berlin Raceway (short track), and DuQuoin (mile dirt).
“The Bill France Four Crown Award speaks to the very nature of the ARCA Racing Series presented by Menards,” said Ron Drager, President of ARCA. “Being the full-bodied stock car series that runs on speedways, road courses, short tracks, and dirt ovals, this is the epitome of what our series is about.”
The annual Bill France Four Crown reaches back to 1984 when the late Davey Allison was the first recipient/champion.
Practice for the September 1 Southern Illinois 100 presented by Federated Car Care is scheduled from9:00-10:00 a.m. with Menards Pole Award Qualifying presented by Ansell following at 11:15. The 61st annual Southern Illinois 100 starts at 1:30 p.m. All times are local.
The event will feature live timing and scoring for all on-track activity at ARCAracing.com, as well as live flag-to-flag audio coverage for the race.
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, John Wes Townley and Erik Jones. Over the years the Venturini name has become synonymous with modern-day racing in America. In 2012, the Venturini family was inducted into the National Italian American Sports Hall of Fame (www.NIASHF.org) and now find themselves enshrined with such sports icons as Joe DiMaggio, Mario Andretti, Vince Lombardi, Tommy Lasorda and Rocky Marciano.
Official: www.VenturiniMotorsports.com | Twitter: @VenturiniMotor | Facebook: Venturini Motorsports
