Corey LaJoie Continues His Amazing Record in the ARCA Racing Series This Year With His Third Win at Kentucky

         Corey LaJoie used a final restart pass for the lead to take his third ARCA win of the season in only four events. LaJoie became a part of the series only two months ago with his first win in his first start of the season at Chicagoland. Two weeks later, he took his second win of his career in his second start of the season at Pocono. After having a fourth place finish in his third start of the season two weeks ago at Iowa, LaJoie came back strong with his third win in four starts on the season at Kentucky. LaJoie, who is the son of former Busch Series champion Randy LaJoie, has had the help of Richard Petty Motorsports, but he has used cars that he tuned himself. If you ask me, that is a great accomplishment considering all the huge teams with huge budgets in the sport. Frank Kimmel continued his dominance of the series with another top ten finish. As long he makes the trip to Kansas in two weeks, he will be crowned the 2013 ARCA Racing Series Champion. Mason Mingus did a good job in his first year to fight with the veteran, but he will come up just short. All in all, it was a good race with a few contenders having trouble during the race that allowed others to have a chance at the victory.

         Frank Kimmel started on the pole. Qualifying had been rained out on Friday and the lineup was set based on owners points. Because of this, drivers like Chase Elliott, Chad Boat, and Grant Enfinger had to start deep in the field with good cars. The race had also been rained out on Friday and was forced to be run on Saturday afternoon. This meant that cars that were set up for a night race would have to compete during the day. The race went green and it only went one corner before the first caution waved on lap 1. Milka Duno got loose in turn 2 underneath Chase Elliott. Duno slid around and backed into the outside wall. She had a good bit of damage, but she would be able to continue on in the race even though she wasn't a factor. After seventeen hours after the scheduled start of the race and a caution the first lap of the race, Frank Kimmel was able to cross the line to lead the first lap.

        The race went back green and Erik Jones was able to take the lead from Frank Kimmel entering turn 1. Jones held onto the lead until Corey LaJoie was able to take the lead from him on lap 31. Shortly after this, the second caution of the race waved on lap 34. Josh Williams got loose in turn 2 and went for a spin. Williams did a good job to keep his car off the inside wall and get stopped. He was able to stop on the apron of the track and continue on without damage. The lead lap drivers decided to come down pit road for their first stops. Chase Elliott, Corey LaJoie, and others took four tires while Grant Enfinger and Mason Mitchell took two tires. This allowed Enfinger and Mitchell to restart second and fourth, respectively. The pit stops were not without incident. Erik Jones's team had some trouble. The team did a good job to get all four tires on the car and the jackman dropped the jack, which signaled to Jones that he could take off. When he did, the left rear tire popped off the housing holding it into place. Jones did not realize it and started to pull off without a left rear. His team stopped him and the crew had to lift the car up with their bare hands to get jacks underneath it. After a struggle, they did and they were able to replace the tire, but Jones had received some damage and he had lost a lot of time. It would be interesting to see if Jones, who had led earlier, would be able to get back to the front.

       The race went back green and Chase Elliott was able to hold onto the lead he took during the stops. The race would soon turn from good to bad for Elliott. On lap 41, Elliott began to slow down on track. He made it to the apron and made the move to pit road. He reported to his team that something was wrong with the engine and the car had shut off on the way to pit road. He made it to his stall and the team checked underneath the hood. Later on, the team would find out that water had somehow made its way into their fuel and had caused the fuel pump to go bad. It was a tough break for Elliott and his team and he would not return to the race. This left a really nice battle for the lead between Mason Mitchell and Corey LaJoie. After riding side by side for a good bit, Mitchell was able to take the lead from LaJoie. The race went a short while before the third caution waved on lap 54. Erik Jones got loose underneath Grant Enfinger in turn 4. Jones went for a slide down the frontstretch and stopped on the grass. Jones was able to keep going without damage after replacing his tires. A little bit of strategy occurred during the caution. The top 7 drivers stayed out along with Frank Kimmel and others while Grant Enfinger, Mason Mingus, Erik Jones, and others came to pit road. It would be interesting to see if  tires propelled a driver farther in the field to the win.

        The race went back green and Mason Mitchell was able to hold onto the lead. He would only hold it for a short time until a great move was made on lap 62. Corey LaJoie went underneath Mason Mitchell in turn 2. Chad Boat, who was running third, got a huge run exiting turn 2 and was able to make a three wide move underneath the two leaders on the backstretch. Boat was able to pass both LaJoie and Mitchell and take the lead. Immediately after this, the fourth and final caution of the race waved on lap 63. Garrett Smithley got loose in turn 2 and went up the track. He made slight contact with the outside wall and it looked like he had the car saved, but it snapped to the left and slammed the inside wall. Smithley ended up stopped on the apron and he tried to get back going, but the damage was too much and he wouldn't return to the race. The lead lap drivers stayed on track and the final green flag run of the race was set up.

       The race went green for the final time and Corey LaJoie and Chad Boat began to battle. In turn 2, the two drivers made contact and LaJoie was able to jump out to the lead while Boat started to fall back. LaJoie began to move away from the field and he held a comfortable lead, but there were a good many laps to go. With twenty laps to go, LaJoie still held a comfortable lead, but Mason Mitchell and Spencer Gallagher were there waiting for a mistake. With ten laps to go, LaJoie's lead almost completely went away. On lap 90, Steven Mathews went up the track in turn 2 and slammed the outside wall. Tire smoke poured out of Mathews car and he was barely able to make it to the apron. He came down pit road and his race was finished. ARCA decided not to wave the caution since debris had not been put on the track and LaJoie still held the lead. LaJoie would hold the lead and cruise to his third career win in the ARCA Racing Series. It has been a very good four races this year for LaJoie and he should only get better.

        I remember that just two months ago I was asking myself  what had happened to Corey LaJoie. He had only been in two K&N races before June. I was wondering if maybe his career was nearing its end before it had even begun. Now, LaJoie is a three time winner in the ARCA Racing Series this year and is on the radar of many of the teams across all series in NASCAR. It is a great turn around and one that is needed for a very promising driver. With his ninth place finish, Frank Kimmel has practically guaranteed himself his tenth ARCA Racing Series championship. With still a few years left in the tank, Frank Kimmel could grab the title of being one of the best to ever drive a stock car. I want to bring up a driver who is retiring at the end of this year. James Hylton, a seventy nine year old who is in his final ARCA season, finished twenty first in the penultimate round of his storied career. With only one event left, I hope he can grab at least a top twenty finish to end off a great career. The race also held a tough break for Chase Elliott. Elliott, who was running up front, had a weird occurrence of water in his fuel. It is a tough way to end his ARCA season, but he should come on strong next year in whatever he gets behind the wheel of. The ARCA Racing Series takes a week off before heading to the Kansas Speedway for the final race of the season. Will Frank Kimmel win a record eightieth race along with his tenth championship, will Mason Mitchell, Mason Mingus, or Justin Boston grab their first win in the final race of the season, or will another driver come out with the victory? We will have to wait two weeks to find this out.
(More Stats Down Below!)




Cautions:
1st Caution: Lap 1- Milka Duno got loose underneath Chase Elliott in turn 2 and went for a spin that ultimately caused her to slam the outside wall.

2nd Caution: Lap 34- Josh Williams got loose in turn 2 and went for a spin.

3rd Caution: Lap 54- Erik Jones got loose underneath Grant Enfinger in turn 4 and went for a spin down the frontstretch.

4th Caution: Lap 63- Garrett Smithley got loose in turn 2 and barely hit the outside wall, but he slid down the track and slammed the inside wall.

Top 5 Finishers:
1st: Corey LaJoie
2nd: Mason Mitchell
3rd: Spencer Gallagher
4th: Grant Enfinger
5th: Chad Boat

Notables Not in Top 5:
6th: Erik Jones
9th: Frank Kimmel
10th: Mason Mingus
13th: Bobby Gerhart
21st: James Hylton
23rd: Milka Duno
27th: Chase Elliott




Credits:
-My Own Notes
-Statistics:
http://racing-reference.info/race/2013_ZLOOP_150/A
http://timing1.arcaracing.com/
-Special thanks to Besweeet53 on justin.tv. My stupid cable provider does not provide FOX Sports 2, but I was able to watch it on his stream. If you guys want to check out any of the races during the weekend, he is the guy to go to. Here is his channel link:
http://www.justin.tv/besweeet53#/w/6916888832/6
-Image:
http://arcaracing.com/