Ryan Huff Hopeful for Back-to-Back Top-10s at Talladega Superspeedway

TALLADEGA, Ala.: On the heels of earning a quiet top-10 finish in the 2022 ARCA Menards Series season-opener at Daytona (Fla.) International Speedway in February, Ryan Huff invades Talladega (Ala.) Superspeedway determined to earn back-to-back top-10 finishes for the first time in his young ARCA career in Saturday afternoon’s General Tire 200.

The third ARCA event of the season will mark Huff’s fifth-career superspeedway start after competing in every superspeedway race at Daytona (Fla.) International Speedway and Talladega, respectively since the drop of the 2020 ARCA Menards Series season.

Two years later, the amount of experience and knowledge that Huff has digested has been priceless and armed with the same No. 36 H&H Excavation | Southeastern Services Ford Fusion he wheeled at the “World Center of Racing,” Huff hopes to inch closer to his first career top-five finish.

“Daytona feels like forever ago, so I’m just glad Talladega is finally here,” said Huff. “After our solid start to our ARCA season at Daytona, I’ve been eager to get to Talladega and see if we can get keep the momentum on our side.

“It’s not easy being a small family-owned team out here competing with some of the best of the best in the series, but I think we’ve surprised a few people with our effort and dedication and I believe as a team we are now more than ready to turn our top-10 finishes into top-five efforts.”

With just practice on deck for the teams and competitors on Friday afternoon, the lineup will be set per last year’s ARCA Menards Series owner points and with just two races under their belt because of the Coronavirus pandemic, Huff will start Saturday’s race from deep in the field.

Still, with time trials axed, Huff plans to utilize the one-hour practice session on Friday to make sure his No. 36 H&H Excavation | Southeastern Services Ford Fusion is dialed in to his liking.

“It’s important to make sure we still have the speed in our car from Daytona,” added Huff. “We’ve worked on this car a bunch since Daytona all with the intentions of making it better for this weekend. You just don’t know if all that hard work will pay off though until you get on the track and feel it out for yourself.

“Starting towards the back, I think our main focus on practice is just to make sure the car drafts well and we are able to suck up to that next car in a timely manner. I don’t expect us to run many laps in practice, just enough to make sure the car is OK and then we’ll cover her up until the race.”

As for the race goes, Huff admits their game plan is subject to change but they know in order to finish first, you must first finish.

“We’ll planning to take a conservative approach to the race on Saturday,” added Huff. “It’s important for us to get a good finish and look ahead at the rest of our 2022 season. I’ve learned a lot about how to drive at Talladega over the past two years, but I also learned that having the right drafting partners is part of having a successful race.

“Our goal is to make it to the first segment, see where we are at and then hopefully press the attack button from there.”

This weekend, Huff is excited to continue his relationship with Chris Monez – a veteran spotter in the NASCAR Cup Series, Xfinity and Truck Series. Monez came highly recommended by a member of his team in 2021.

“Chris has really been instrumental to my success lately in the ARCA Menards Series,” added Huff. “He has been very critical of me, but his guidance and advice is what has evaluated me as a driver and overall just made us a better team.

“With his continued direction, I feel I can only improve my craft on the superspeedways.”

The remainder of Huff’s 2022 ARCA Menards Series schedule is still being pieced together, but the Williamsburg, Va. native hopes to have a larger presence in the series.

“We’re still ironing out the details, but we’re hoping to make Kansas our next race following Talladega,” Huff explained. “If everything goes good at Kansas, we’ll take on Charlotte, Pocono and other races during the season.

“We are working hard to be at the track as much as possible this summer and fall, but it’s an expensive sport and we are doing the best we can with the support we have.”

H&H Excavation, a company owned by Huff will serve as the primary partner this weekend at Talladega. In addition, Southeastern Services, Outback Steakhouse and Hawkeye Graphics will serve as associate marketing partners for Huff’s third ARCA start at the 2.66-mile superspeedway.

Since 2020, Huff has 10 ARCA Menards Series starts to his credit with a career-best finish of eighth at Kansas Speedway in July 2020. He earned his first career top-10 finish at Pocono (Pa.) Raceway in June 2020. Huff has started a career-best 11th three times. Despite competing in just seven races in 2020, Huff finished 14th in the championship standings.

For more on Ryan Huff, follow him on Twitter (@driverRyanHuff) and like him on Facebook (@driverRyanHuff).

The General Tire 200 (76 laps | 200 miles) is the third of 20 races on the 2022 ARCA Menards Series schedule. Group practice begins on Fri. April 22 from 3:00 p.m. – 4:00 p.m. The series won’t host qualifying, setting the field by 2021 ARCA car owner standings. The 60th ARCA from Talladega is set to take the green flag on Saturday, April 23 shortly after 12:00 p.m. The event will be televised live on FOX Sports 1 (FS1) with the Motor Racing Network (MRN) handling the radio waves. ARCARacing.com will also stream live timing and scoring throughout the entire weekend festivities. All times are local (CT).

The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of SpeedwayMedia.com

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