ELKO, Minn. – Willie Mullins enjoyed one of the best races of his life Saturday night at Elko Speedway.
Mullins, driving the No. 10 Ford in a partnership between Mullins Racing and Andy Hillenburg’s Fast Track Racing, scored an eighth-place finish in the ARCA Menards Series Menards 250 at Elko Speedway in front of a large gathering of family and friends.
The finish Mullins’ best effort in ARCA competition on a short-track and also bettered the team’s best ARCA-sanctioned short-track finish, which was previously a ninth-place finish by Davey Callihan at Southern National Motorsports Park in Kenly, N.C., earlier this year.
“It was the best short-track weekend we’ve ever had,” Mullins said. “We worked really hard to have a car that worked that good. We were finally able to put all the pieces together last weekend at Elko.
“It was one of the highlights of my racing career,” Mullins continued. “After Southern National and Davey showing us our equipment was good, I was able to go to Elko and show everybody our equipment is just as good with me in it and prove that I can drive a race car and prove to myself I can be competitive with the top half of the field.”
Mullins started the day by setting a strong pace in practice, where he was 10th fastest. That was followed by an 11th-place qualifying effort for the 250-lap event.
“Once we went out for practice I was able to be in the top-10 and be very competitive,” Mullins said. “We knew we were really good for everything we’ve had in the past. We qualified really good, qualified 11th, but we picked up another tenth in qualifying.”
Once the race began Mullins’ rode in the back half of the top-10 with the goal of staying on the lead lap throughout the majority of the event. He was able to do this, which put him in position to capitalize when drivers in front of him made mistakes in the final 30 laps of the race, opening the door for his eighth-place finish.
“We stayed on the lead lap. That was our main goal, to stay on the lead lap,” Mullins said. “We were able to capitalize on a couple of peoples mistakes and we were able to get an eighth-place finish out of it.”
Mullins said the finish would not have been possible without Hillenburg and the rest of the ARCA family, with multiple people coming together to help make the program possible.
“A huge thank you to Andy Hillenburg and his crew for taking our car to Elko, crewing it and making sure we had a competitive group working on the car to help support our effort,” Mullins said. “Andy and the rest of our ARCA family really came together to help us at Elko and make sure we were competitive and we can’t thank everyone enough for that.”
The No. 10 Mullins Racing/Fast Track Racing Ford carries sponsorship support from Crow Wing Recycling, CW Metals, Bugsy’s Auto, Snap On by Timmy Brann, Dinah Marie Photography Crawford Sprinkler of Raleigh and CorvetteParts.net.
For more information on Mullins Racing, please visit mullinsracing.net, like them on Facebook at www.facebook.com/mullinsracing and follow them on Twitter at @mullins_racing.
