KANSAS CITY, Kan: Whatever happens in Saturday night’s Reese’s 150 at Kansas Speedway, it has been a dream season for ARCA Menards Series rookie Greg Van Alst and his Greg Van Alst Motorsports team.
A dream to make his first career start at Daytona (Fla.) International Speedway in February blossomed into a limited ARCA schedule that has been full of highs and lows, but the Anderson, Indiana native wouldn’t trade any of it for the world.
“We are going to Kansas Speedway this weekend all smiles because we weren’t even planning on racing this event eight months ago,” said Van Alst.
“It’s been a wing and a prayer really to put as many races together as we have together this season.
“A lot of hard work, determination and most of all support by our sponsors have put our small team in a position to go out there and make seven starts so far highlighted by a career-best second-place finish at Winchester. It’s been a lot of fun and I think we’re just getting started.”
Van Alst returns to the site of his first career top-10 finish in May when he dodged a first-lap wreck and charged throughout the 100-lap race to finish seventh after starting eighth. Since then, the team has grown, and Van Alst is hoping to deliver his second top-five of 2021 on Friday night.
“We’re charged up about Kansas this weekend,” added Van Alst who seeks his fourth top-10 overall. “We had high expectations for Bristol last month but were plagued with brake issues from the start of the day that continued throughout the race. We made it to the finish with the car relatively intact – but I wasn’t happy with the finish.
“You are going to have days like that. That’s just a part of racing. But it also put a fire underneath every guy on this team to make sure we’re going back to Kansas this weekend with an opportunity to be better not only from our last race but our last trip to Kansas.
“I know it’s the Championship race, so there will be some give and take on Friday night, but if we’re in a position to challenge for a top-five, we are going to fight for it. Everyone on this team and our partners deserve that opportunity to head into the ARCA off-season with a great vibe and a strong outlook for 2022.”
As for next season, Van Alst is putting the final touches on his 2022 ARCA Menards Series schedule but says his team will be back.
“Oh, we’ll be back, there’s no doubt about that,” Van Alst confirmed. “We will be at the Daytona ARCA test in January, and we’ll start the year looking to finish what we started at Daytona next February. As for the rest of the year, we’ll see how the schedule looks and make a future announcement soon.”
It won’t just be the ARCA Menards Series on his plate next year though. Van Alst is committed and planning to invade the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series next year too.
“We’ve already started those talks about next year in Trucks,” he sounded. “Nothing to confirm at this point, but we’re putting our ducks in a row. We have to bring additional value to our partners and the ARCA Menards Series has done that –- but elevating myself as a driver to NASCAR is something I’ve always dreamed about and we’re planning to make it a reality next year for sure.”
CB Fabricating, a longtime partner with Greg Van Alst Motorsports has boosted its commitment to the team and will continue its role as the primary marketing partner of Van Alst’s No. 35 Ford.
Headquartered in Anderson, Ind., CB Fabricating offers a complete list of fabricating from design, laser cutting, CNC punching, forming, welding, powder coating, and assembly.
Their 26,000 square foot facility allows them to service the needs of many different industries. Everything from the Automotive, agricultural, aquatic, medical, transportation, electrical enclosures, and much more.
For the fifth consecutive race, not only is Van Alst racing for a fourth top-10 finish of the year on Saturday night but awareness too.
CB Fabricating president Chris Barkdull was recently diagnosed with prostate cancer and will utilize the ARCA event to bring attentiveness and awareness to the disease as Barkdull continues treatment.
“Chris is doing very well with his treatment, but we have promised him that we will continue with this Prostate Cancer Awareness campaign this weekend and into 2022,” added Van Alst.
“He is expected to be with our team at Kansas and I keep reminding him that none of this would have been possible without him. He’s just not an investor or a partner in this thing – he’s family.
“While we are focused on performance, we are fully invested in awareness too. This is important to Chris to do his part to educate the public and that is exactly what he is going to do, and we are happy to keep using the race car to our advantage.”
In addition to CB Fabricating, Top Choice Fence, Norton Transport, KRJ Race Products and Lintz Creative will serve as associate marketing partners for Van Alst’s 11th career ARCA start.
Veteran crew chief Jim Long will continue his role as crew chief at Kansas Speedway.
For more on Greg Van Alst and Greg Van Alst Motorsports, please stay tuned for a new website, but like them on Facebook (Van Alst Motorsports) and follow him on Twitter (@GregVanAlst35).
For more on CB Fabricating, please visit CBFabricating.com and like them on Facebook (CB Fabricating).
The Reese’s 150 (100 laps | 150 miles) is the 20th of 20 races on the 2021 ARCA Menards Series schedule. Practice begins Sat., Oct. 23 with a forty-five minute practice session from 11:00 a.m. – 11:45 a.m. A timed General Tire pole qualifying session is set for a short time later at 12:40 p.m. The race is set to take the green flag shortly after 6:00 p.m. (7:00 p.m. ET). The event will be televised live on MAVTV, the Motor Racing Network (Radio) and SiriusXM Satellite Radio (XM channel 391, online channel 981). ARCARacing.com will also stream live timing and scoring throughout the day’s festivities. All times are local (CT).
