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**Cunningham Motorsports Quick at ARCA RE/MAX Series Kentucky Speedway Open Testing; Rookie Michael Phelps Tops Speed Charts

SPARTA KY (7-1-08) – Suwanee, Georgia rookie Michael Phelps, in the no. 45 Bowen Family Homes-Cunningham Motorsports Dodge, unofficially posted the quickest speed in ARCA RE/MAX Series open testing Tuesday at Kentucky Speedway.

The test, during which 20 drivers participated, was in preparation for the upcoming Kentucky ARCA RE/MAX 150 Friday night, July 18^th LIVE on SPEED at 8:00 PM ET.

Phelps unofficially circled the 1.5-mile superspeedway in 30.680 seconds, for an average speed of  176.010 mph.

Cunningham Motorsports recently announced an alliance with Penske Racing under which Cunningham Motorsports would serve as Penske’s official ARCA RE/MAX Series development team.

Matt Hawkins, who won at Iowa Speedway in his career-first series start back in April, was second quickest overall at 175.382 mph. Hawkins also made contact with the turn two wall earlier in the day. The Canton, Georgia driver was not injured.

Tayler Malsam, Phelps’s teammate under the Cunningham Motorsports banner, was third quickest overall at 175.041 mph. Malsam, currently eighth in national championship points headed to Kentucky, hails from Seattle, Washington.

Alli Owens, driver of the ElectrifyingCareers.com Chevrolet, was fourth quickest overall at 174.081 mph. Owens, one of four female drivers who tested Tuesday, is running a partial schedule in 2008 for team owner Mario Gosselin.

Other female drivers who competed in the open test included Chrissy Wallace, daughter of NASCAR/ARCA veteran Mike Wallace, and Angela and Amber Cope, nieces of NASCAR veteran Derrick Cope.

Pelham, New Hampshire’s Sean Caisse, in Shigeaki Hattori’s Aisin AW Toyota, was fifth quickest overall at 173.801 mph.

In addition to Hawkins, three other drivers made contact with the wall during the open test including Brian Scott, Todd Hansen and Owens. There were no injuries.

The list of former ARCA RE/MAX Series winners list at Kentucky is impressive to say the least. It includes four-time Kentucky winner Kimmel, Stenhouse, Jr., Michael McDowell, Erik Darnell, Tim Steele, Ryan Newman, Chad Blount, Kyle Busch, Ryan Hemphill, Steve Wallace and Brad Coleman.

Practice for the Kentucky ARCA RE/MAX 150 will be Friday, July 18^th from 11:30 AM to 1:45 PM followed by SIM Factory Pole Qualifying at 4:30 PM. The Kentucky 150 is LIVE on SPEED at 8:00 PM Friday night. 

Tickets are on sale now and can be reserved online through the track's official Web site, http://www.kentuckyspeedway.com, by phone at 888-652-RACE (7223), through Meijer stores and by visiting the Kentucky Speedway ticket offices at 400 Buttermilk Pike, Suite 100, in Ft. Mitchell, Ky., and the track’s Sparta, Ky., Fan Center located off of Interstate 71, Exit 57 and Ky. Hwy. 35 N.  

Gullatta Cleans up at Cayuga

NELLES CORNERS ON (6-28-08) – Nobody does it quite like Nick Gullatta, at least not Saturday afternoon at Cayuga Motor Speedway where the Cleveland, Ohio driver won the 2BKool Pole Award, led the most laps and won the ARCA Lincoln Welders Truck Series 50-lap main event.

“It may have looked easy but it was anything but simple,” said a tired Gullatta from victory lane. “This track is very challenging, very bumpy – we worked very hard on the set-up and fortunately it paid off for us. I want to congratulate Mike Young for a great run today – he did a really nice job out there.”

Gullatta, in the no. 31 Thomson Automotive-Mr. Heater-Enerco Chevy Colorado, slipped underneath Mike Young for the lead on a lap 20 restart and was never seriously challenged from there. Young, in the no. 23 Dave White Chevrolet, finished second, 10 lengths back.

Current series point leader Paul Hahn, in the no. 7 Hahn’s Powder Coating-Fox Auto Parts-Howe Racing Chevrolet, charged from the tail-end after an unscheduled pit stop to finish third.

Duane Bischoff finished fourth in the no. 15 Gamco Concrete-Valvoline-Hoosier Foreign Auto Service Ford Ranger, with veteran Steve Christman trailing in fifth in the no. 19 Bagman Racing Chassis-R&B Fabrication Chevrolet.

Gullatta, who established a new one-lap track record with an average speed of 103.706 mph, started seventh after the inversion and quickly worked his way toward initial race leader Bischoff, who led the first seven circuits from his inside front row starting position. But before Gullatta could get there, Young passed Bischoff for the lead on the eighth lap. By lap 12, Young had pulled out to a 10-length advantage over Gullatta, who had finally cleared Bischoff for second. But in five laps Gullatta caught Young and began challenging for the lead.

Ash Hawkins, who started 14^th and finished sixth, earned the Ed & Company Hard Charger honors for advancing the most positions. Two-time and defending series champion Bill Withers finished seventh in front of Tim Schafer, who finished eighth. Tully Esterline was ninth with Brad Yunker 10^th, the last truck on the lead lap.

Gullatta, who earned his sixth career series victory at Cayuga, closed to within 50 markers of point leader Hahn.

The next event for the ARCA Lincoln Welders Truck Series will be July 11^th at Kil-Kare Raceway in Xenia, Ohio before the series travels west to Iowa Speedway for the inaugural ARCA Lincoln Welders 50-lap main event at the 7/8ths-mile Newton, Iowa oval.

Justin Lofton Earns ARCA RE/MAX Series SIM Factory Pole Award at Cayuga

NELLES CORNER ON (6-28-08)—Eddie Sharp Racing’s Justin Lofton earned his career first ARCA RE/MAX Series SIM Factory Pole Award on Saturday afternoon at Cayuga Motor Speedway, circling the Nelles Corner, Ontario, based short track in 20.424 seconds for a speed of 110.164 mph. The pole comes on the heels of earning his career first series victory on June 14^th at Michigan Int’l Speedway. He sits alongside Win-Tron Racing’s James Buescher for Sunday’s Cayuga ARCA RE/MAX 250, which rolls off at 1:30 p.m. Eastern.

Dexter Bean starts third in the No. 37 GLOCK Chevrolet, alongside Matt Carter in the No. 46 Stine Seed-Hantz Group Ford. SunTrust Rookie of the Year Contenders Tom Hessert III (No. 1 Maaco Auto Painting America’s Body Shop Ford) and Ricky Stenhouse, Jr. (No. 99 Roush Fenway Racing Ford) will start the 250-lap race from the third row.

Lofton is one of three drivers from the Eddie Sharp Racing stable of drivers that have earned SIM Factory Pole Awards in 2008, as teammate Ken Butler, III sat on the pole at Kansas and Scott Speed earned pole awards at Pocono and Michigan. In all, eight drivers have earned SIM Factory Pole Awards so far in 2008, including Justin Marks (Daytona), Ken Schrader (Salem), Butler, III (Kansas), Joey Logano (Rockingham), Sean Caisse (Kentucky), Andy Hanson (Toledo), Speed (Pocono, Michigan) and Lofton (Cayuga).

Arcaracing.com will debut live audio coverage of the Cayuga ARCA RE/MAX 250 to complement the site’s live-to-web timing and scoring feature beginning at 1 p.m. The race is scheduled to begin at 1:30 p.m.