[media-credit name=”Kimmel Racing PR” align=”alignleft” width=”143″]
[/media-credit]Being the nephew of nine-time ARCA Racing Series Champion Frank Kimmel is enough pressure in itself. When you’re taking over the seat that he had for over 10 years, that just continues to add to the pressure.
Will Kimmel lived up to all the pressure as he finished third in the Lucas Oil Slick Mist 200 at Daytona International Speedway. The finish marked the third top five finish in his young career.
“I can’t thank everyone on this Kimmel Racing team for all of their support and dedication,” he said. “We have an all-volunteer crew and we picked up some sponsorship from Enterprise Software Development and man, I’m happy for them. Hopefully this run will help us moving forward and we can acquire some more sponsorship that will keep us in the ARCA championship battle.”
The driver of the No. 68 Enterprise Software Development/Clarksville Schwinn Ford didn’t have an easy weekend with his Indiana based team as he qualified the car 21st.
Right when the green flag dropped, the 23 year old began to make his move, for a caution occurred on lap six when Milka Duno went for a spin. His crew chief and father Bill Kimmel elected to use pit strategy and bring his son to pit road.
This would have him starting back in 29th on lap 13, but he would begin to move up quickly. By the caution for Leilani Munter on lap 17, he was up to 19th. His move to the front would continue and by lap 47, he would be in the top 10.
On lap 69, a multi-car accident would occur, setting up a restart with five laps to go. The final five laps were crazy and some of the most dramatic in Daytona history.
On lap 78, Chris Busecher would bring out the caution when was he was hit from behind, beginning the mess of fuel strategy. Some cars had enough fuel while others were cutting it close and some chose to come down pit road. Bill Kimmel kept his son on track, restarting him in the third position.
On the final lap, while Will Kimmel was trying to make his move, both leaders Brandon McReynolds and Chris Windom ran out of school. Kimmel made the move to avoid both drivers, but in the process, both Bobby Gerhart and Drew Charlson got by. Brett Hudson and Nelson Canache would both also pass Kimmel, but they would have their positions revoked due to passing under the yellow line. This locked in the third place finishing position for the driver who was making his second ever Daytona start.
“Wow, that was crazy,” he said. “We had a shot at winning the race but when those guys ran out of gas, I had to check-up and I was done. I tried to keep those guys from passing me but it was already then too late. At that point, I was happy to finish fifth, but when they penalized them and moved us back into third, it was even a better feeling.”
Heading into the next race on March 10th at Mobile International Speedway, Kimmel sits 10 points behind Gerhart. Both Gerhart and Charlson, who are above Kimmel in points, are not entered for Mobile as of right now so Kimmel likely will inherit the points lead upon arrival at Mobile.
For more on Will Kimmel, please visit willkimmel.com.
