The halfway point of the 2016 ARCA Racing Series presented by Menards season is already upon us. That also means that we have reached the halfway point of the General Tire Superspeedway Challenge. The Superspeedway Challenge is a championship within the overall series championship that includes eight races – Daytona, Talladega, Michigan, Chicagoland, Kentucky, Kansas and the two races at Pocono. There is a total purse of $35,000 on the line to be distributed by General Tire to the top 10 ARCA teams competing in all eight superspeedway events with $10,000 of it going to the team earning the most points from those events. In addition, the winner of each superspeedway race earns a $1,500 General Tire Victory Bonus.
To make it even more interesting, the races within those eight that have General Tire as the entitling or presenting sponsor will reward double points. Those events include, Daytona, Talladega, Pocono #1 and Kentucky.
So, let’s take a look at where the standings are now that we have four of the eight races in the books. For the “Lucas Oil 200 presented by General Tire” at Daytona, John Wes Townley came home the victor in the Athenian Motorsports #05 and started out as the Challenge leader.
Then, we moved on to Talladega for the “General Tire 200” where Gus Dean and the Mason Mitchell Motorsports team won a hard fought race. The “General Tire #AnywhereIsPossible 200” at Pocono ended with Grant Enfinger in victory lane. Grant is not a factor in the Challenge, however, Dalton Sargeant and his Venturini #55 finished 4th and took a 50 point lead in the Challenge points over the Cunningham #77 of Chase Briscoe.
When we left Michigan, Brandon Jones and his new Ranier Racing with MDM #8 was in victory lane, but Chase Briscoe and his Cunningham #77 finished a close second allowing them to cut into that points lead of the Venturini #55 which brought them within 15 points of the Challenge lead. Travis Roffler, director of marketing for General Tire, is excited how the battle is taking shape.
“It has been fun watching such a fierce battle play out within the overall series championship,” stated Roffler. “We feel that the way this Challenge is structured, it’s going to come down to the final race at Kansas before we know who will win the title.”
Next up in the General Tire Superspeedway Challenge is a return visit to Pocono on July 29. Will Chase Briscoe continue his strong surge to the front or will Dalton Sargeant hold on to the Challenge lead? We don’t know that answer, however, we can guarantee you that it will be fun to watch.
