CONCORD, N.C.: Set for his third ARCA Menards Series start of the 2021 season, CR7 Motorsports’ Jason Kitzmiller invades Charlotte (N.C.) Motor Speedway for Saturday night’s General Tire 150 hopeful to deliver his fourth career top-10 finish.
Kitzmiller will eye his 10th career ARCA start determined to improve on his respectable 15th place showing in his most recent race at Talladega (Ala.) Superspeedway last month.
Kitzmiller was headed towards back-to-back top-10 finishes at the legendary 2.66-mile superspeedway, but he was shuffled in the final laps of the event and nearly wrecked by another competitor before recovering control of his No. 97 A.L.L. Construction Inc. Chevrolet SS and producing his eighth straight top-15 ARCA finish.
“Talladega was a little hard to swallow because everyone on the CR7 Motorsports team definitely brought me a fast race car. Unfortunately, there was a lot of jockeying for position there in the closing laps and some impatience by others that nearly sent us home destroyed.
“I had to make that decision on either get wrecked and hope we finish inside the top-10 or back out of the draft and recover and keep our superspeedway car intact for Daytona next year. I think we made the right decision – but I’m motivated to go to Charlotte and finish what we started at Talladega.”
Charlotte’s unique 1.5-mile track will be a new track for Kitzmiller and to prepare him for his first intermediate track of the year, Kitzmiller and his Todd Myers-led team participated in an open test at the facility earlier this year where Kitzmiller maneuvered the 14th quickest lap overall.
“Between the weather, I got to make 31 laps around Charlotte and those were some pretty important laps,” added Kitzmiller. “I like Charlotte, it’s extremely fast and bumpy at the same time. Momentum and concentration is definitely key as well as handling.
“I definitely understood how much our car changed with the drop not only in track conditions but ambient temperatures. All of that is good notes for the race this weekend. Hopefully, we have a good practice on Saturday afternoon and find us in a prime spot for our first top-10 of the year.”
Not competing for points and racing for wins, the team’s often laid-back approach has seemed to work for the Statesville, N.C.-based organization, but once the headsets go on and Kitzmiller straps behind the wheel of his race car, business becomes the priority.
“We don’t necessarily have a strategy at this point, we’ll just see how the race unfolds,”
added Kitzmiller. “It just depends on how those opening laps unfold. 100 laps will go by quickly at Charlotte, but we need to make sure we stay on the lead lap and keep ourselves in the mix.
We just have to wait and see how it all flows and hope we can drive out of the parking lot knowing our Charlotte debut together was a success.”
Kitzmiller and CR7 Motorsports will run a partial ARCA schedule in 2021 with a firm schedule announced soon.
Kitzmiller will also continue to adorn a decal remembering CR7 Motorsports general manager Mark Huff who passed away last week after a brief illness. Huff was responsible for helping revive the ARCA Menards Series team in 2020.
“I will always Mark for his carrying of people on this CR7 Motorsports team and his enormous work ethic. He did a lot for the team and is irreplaceable. We will race to win in his honor on Saturday night.”
Marketing partnership(s) opportunities are available for the No. 97 A.L.L. Construction Chevrolet and No. 9 Grant County Mulch Chevrolet for the 2021 ARCA Menards Series and NASCAR Camping World Truck Series seasons and beyond. Interested inquiries are encouraged to contact at tonya@gcmulch.com or 304.257.8783.
The General Tire 150 (100 laps | 150 miles) is the sixth of 20 races on the 2021 ARCA Menards Series schedule. A combined practice and qualifying session begins on Sat., May 29 with a forty-five-minute practice session from 4:30 p.m. – 5:15 p.m. The race is set to take the green flag shortly after 7:00 p.m. The event will be televised live on FOX Sports 1 (FS1), while ARCARacing.com will stream live timing and scoring throughout the entire weekend festivities. All times are local (ET).
