Full Throttle

Roush Fenway Racing’s Ricky Stenhouse, Jr. became the first driver to break the 29-second range in the ARCA RE/MAX Series at Chicagoland Speedway on Friday afternoon, posting a 29.995 second lap around the 1.5-mile speedway for a speed of 180.03 mph. He sits on the pole in a No. 99 Aflac Ford owned by Jack Roush for Saturday’s Chicagoland ARCA 200.

Scott Lagasse, Jr. also broke the previous track record (30.171 second/179.575 mph) to start second in a No. 25 Venturini Motorsports Chevrolet.

By virtue of the pole, Stenhouse picked up an extra 15 points in the 2008 ARCA RE/MAX Series points race and heads into Saturday’s Chicagoland ARCA 200 second in points, trailing Scott Speed by 60 marks. Speed has led the series’ point standings after each of the last four races and will start Saturday’s race fourth in the No. 2 Red Bull Toyota.

Both drivers are 2008 SunTrust Rookie of the Year contenders and are two of six rookies currently in the top-10 in the ARCA RE/MAX Series point standings.

The 41-car starting field includes Stenhouse, Jr., Lagasse, Jr., Justin Lofton, who qualified third in the No. 20 Lofton Cattle Dodge, Speed, and John Wes Townley, who qualified fifth in a No. 09 Zaxby’s-SPS-BB&T Ford. Positions one through 32 were set by qualifying times with the rest of the starting field set by provisional positions.

The Chicagoland ARCA 200 marks the 17th of 21 events in the 2008 ARCA RE/MAX Series and is set to roll off at 5 p.m. Eastern/4 p.m. Central on Saturday, September 6th, 2008. The race will be aired on SPEED beginning at 4 p.m. Eastern on Sunday, September 7th.

Driver Erin Crocker will make her SPEED broadcasting debut at the event, teaming with Ralph Sheheen to call the ARCA RE/MAX Series Chicagoland ARCA 200 from Joliet, Illinois.

Team GLOCK Racing will present live Timing and Scoring and a live audio broadcast of the race on arcaracing.com.