(TOLEDO, Ohio - April 16, 2015) - The ARCA Racing Series presented by Menards is heading home, or so it may feel anyway.
When the 63-year-old stock car tour converges on the small, southern Indiana city of Salem, Indiana, it will mark the 97th appearance at Salem since debuting on the historic half-mile oval in 1955. Over the years, no track has appeared on ARCA's annual schedule more than Salem.
The Federated Auto Parts 200 is set for Sunday, April 26 at Salem Speedway Fueled by the Hoosier Lottery.
The track has already had its share of activity with several teams hitting the track for private testing. Louisville, Kentucky's Bo LeMastus and Sellersburg, Indiana's Will Kimmel tested for Kimmel Racing, for example, in early April.
"Had a real good test at Salem," said LeMastus, CEO and Chairman of Crosley Radio. "Bill (Kimmel) gave me great advice from A to Z and gave me a really compliant car to test. We got up to speed. We were solid all day. Could have probably pushed it a little more, but we didn't want to put his car in the wall."
Kimmel Racing tested two cars at Salem, a steel-bodied Ford Fusion and the new ARCA Racing Series composite body car. LeMastus tested the steel-bodied car while Kimmel tested both.
"Real good day overall," Kimmel said. "We changed some stuff on the front-end of our composite car...pivot points mostly. They were off from where we thought they were. The car definitely acted different after that. I think it's better. I'm anxious to go back and have a full day there ourselves and getting after it."
A couple more ARCA Racing Series teams were expected to test this week.
Expected entrants for the Federated Auto Parts 200 include point leader Grant Enfinger coming off back-to-back-to-back wins at Daytona, Mobile and Nashville; NASCAR/ARCA winner Ken Schrader and three-time Salem winner Tom Hessert, to name a few.
Enfinger can become the first driver in series history to win the first four races of a season if his No. 23 Allegiant Travel Chevrolet makes it into the victory lane at Salem Speedway.
Past ARCA Racing Series winners at Salem include NASCAR Cup champions Bobby Allison and Benny Parsons, 1952 Indianapolis 500 winner Troy Ruttman, six-time ARCA champion Iggy Katona, Schrader, 10-time ARCA champion Frank Kimmel (9-time Salem winner), and three-time series champions Jack Bowsher and Tim Steele. Current NASCAR Sprint Cup Series drivers Justin Allgaier and Alex Bowman have also visited victory lane in ARCA competition at Salem.
The Federated Auto Parts 200 at Salem will spread out over two days, Saturday and Sunday, April 25 and 26. Practice for the Federated Auto Parts 200 will include two sessions from 12:00 noon to 12:45 and final practice from 1:15 to 2:00 Saturday afternoon, with Menards Pole Qualifying presented by Ansell at 3:30. Federated Auto Parts 200 raceday festivities get underway with pre-race ceremonies and driver introductions at 1:45, with the green flag to follow at 2:15.