After continuous rain on Friday, ARCA decided to postpone the General Tire 200 at the Talladega Superspeedway. Qualifying was also cancelled due to rain which means the field is set by owners points, meaning Dalton Sargeant will start on the pole with Noah Gragson starting second.
Last season, Gus Dean was able to secure his first career victory and on Saturday he will look to defend his win from last season, but it won’t be easy as Dean will start 22nd. Dean’s teammate this weekend is a little different than who it has been the last few weeks. Terry Jones will pilot the No. 33 in place of an injured Justin Fontaine. Jones drove in the season opener with Rette Jones Racing where he was contending for the victory until the red flag that ultimately ended the race early. Jones would finish second.
Austin Theriault is looking to follow-up his superspeedway victory from Daytona this weekend at Talladega. He will look to sweep the plate races. On top of searching for that, he will look to leave Talladega with the points lead, as he has done all season long. Theriault hasn’t raced at Talladega before, but has the win at Daytona earlier this year along with a start in the NCWTS at Daytona.
Kyle Weatherman has some momentum and has really shown himself as a threat to Theriault this season when it comes to the ARCA Championship. Weatherman has had great finishes the last two weeks dominating in Nashville and yesterday Weatherman was second in practice. In the race tonight though, Weatherman will have something different in the form of teammates as the No. 98 will be driven by Leilani Münter and the No. 88 will be driven by Brandon Lynn.
Sean Corr led the sole ARCA practice held on Friday, but has a lot of cars to pass as he will start 35th of 36 cars. Corr has had the speed in recent years at the superspeedways but has never been able to find victory lane. He has finished fifth twice, at Talladega and Daytona. Last season, Corr brought home a Top-5 at Talladega, and it will be the last race for the single car he is driving tonight.
Cunningham Motorsports has had success at Talladega going to victory lane three times, most recently in 2015 with Blake Jones. The team also went to victory lane with Tom Hessert in 2014 and Dakoda Armstrong in 2010. Saturday, Cunningham has two bullets in the gun in the form of Shane Lee and as noted above, the pole sitter, Sargeant. Both drivers had strong showings at Daytona earlier this year and will look to pull from that momentum. On top of the momentum from Daytona, Sargeant pulls momentum from his dominating victory at Salem last weekend.
Jim Vandiver won the inaugural race back in 1969. Grant Adcox as the most victories in the ARCA Race at Talladega with five victories.
