In a caution-filled ARCA Racing Series presented by Menards battle at the 1/2 mile Mobile International Speedway, David Levine raced his No. 59 Gary Yeomans Ford to a 12th place finish on Saturday. Combined with his strong finish last month at Daytona, the rookie driver now finds himself 6th in the overall ARCA Series points standings (unofficial).
With two practice sessions and qualifying rained on out on Friday, the starting grid for the race was set by car owner points. David summed up his thoughts after the announcement to cancel qualifying was made: “Bad news: We are a new team so we have no owners points and will have to start last. Good news: It’s a long race and we have a strong car.”
A thirty-minute practice session was added to the schedule for Saturday morning, a decision which was well-received by the drivers. For David, it was especially appreciated since he was debuting a newly built car with a new ARCA composite body at the event. At the end of the session, he commented, “Great call by ARCA to give us some track time before the race today. We ended practice P12. Great run for a brand new car, today was the first laps she’s ever made! 200 laps is a lot of racing – we are setup for the long run. The key today is staying clean and running all the laps.”
Starting shotgun on the field on Saturday put David in a tough position, with the ARCA race at Mobile having the distinction of being the race with the most caution periods all three years it’s been on the schedule. This year it was more of the same at the tough Alabama track, with the caution flag flying 11 times, matching the number of cautions from the previous three races.
After the race, David was disappointed that he didn’t finish in the top ten, but he was excited to make it to the checkered flag in his first ARCA Series short rack race. “Started 25th and ended up 12th! Great points day for the Gary Yeomans / TraqGear / AttorneyAtLaw.com Ford! I got spun halfway into the race by a lapped car and lost a few laps. My crew chief Sam Schram and the crew kept fighting to keep us in it and kept the car under me all day long. I learned a lot this weekend and can’t wait to get back at it soon. Thank you to my car owners Carlos and Amanda Lira for everything they’ve done!!”
Although Scott Rookie Challenge points for the race have not been officially announced yet, David’s performance in Mobile should move him up in the Rookie standings.
David and his Lira Motorsports team will be back in action at Fairgrounds Speedway in Nashville, TN on April 11th for the Nashville ARCA 200.
For more information about David, visit www.DavidLevineRacing.com or www.LiraMotorsports.com. You can also catch up with David on facebook at /DavidLevineRacing and on twitter @DaveLevineRacin
