DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. — Having 32 cars separated by only nine-tenths of a second in qualifying will guarantee close competition. Having a field that tight for the ARCA 200 at Daytona Int’l Speedway also promises plenty of beating and banging.
Michael Annett survived a pair of multi-car accidents Saturday and flexed Toyota muscle down the stretch to win the 45th running of the ARCA 200, opening the 2008 ARCA RE/MAX Series season.
The 21-year-old Bill Davis Racing developmental driver scored his second victory in five ARCA starts in the No. 28 Pilot Travel Centers Toyota, following last fall’s race at Talladega Superspeedway. It was also Toyota’s second victory in the series.
Once out front, the Iowan ran unchallenged over the final 32 circuits, winning by .256-second over the Chevrolet of fellow 21-year-old Justin Allgaier.
They were followed by a trio of veterans; Bill Baird in Ken Schrader’s Saturn Machine Dodge, five-time Daytona 200 winner Bobby Gerhart in a Chevrolet and nine-time ARCA champion Frank Kimmel in his first drive with his family owned Dodge, run in cooperation with Cunningham Motorsports.
Rounding out the top 10 were Tom Hessert III, Landon Cassill, Dawayne Bryan, Brad Baker and Dario Franchitti.
“I knew what I had underneath me,” Annett said when asked if he was worried in the closing laps. “Those last few laps were so long, I had so much time to think about stuff. But the spotters kept saying, ‘They’re three back,’ and, if anything, I started to pull away a little bit. So I knew if they didn’t pull out and get a good line, I knew my Terry Elledge motor was going to pull me to the finish line.”
Annett’s stretch run was anticlimactic after the competitive two- and three-wide racing early in the event. The 65-car entry was whittled to 32 cars in time trials — separated by nine-tenths of a second — with provisionals filling the 43-car grid. However, the close racing led to incidents that slowed or eliminated many of the contending cars.
“I definitely didn’t have anything for the No. 28,” Allgaier said after his fourth-career ARCA runner-up finish to go with two victories. “It was pretty amazing what they were able to accomplish, and it’s a true testament to their team. Without Bill (Baird) pushing me from behind, I don’t feel we would have finished second.”
Former Formula One regular Scott Speed led 16 laps early in the race and was running in the top 10 behind Annett — with Hessert leading Kyle Krisiloff.
Then, Krisiloff spun on lap 30 while running second. Krisiloff went to the inside, but then came back across the track, directly in the path of Speed. That triggered a 16-car accident. Both cars were eliminated in the incident, along with the Chevrolets of Brian Scott and Kirk Shelmerdine, the Fords of Max Dumarey and Brian Silas, and the Dodge of Terry Jones.
In addition, several of the frontrunners — including Gerhart, Kimmel and pole-sitter Justin Marks — sustained bodywork damage in the incident.
When racing resumed following a 14-minute, 10-second halt, Hessert lost the lead to Gerhart. The Pennsylvanian, seeking his fourth-consecutive Daytona victory, lost the lead to Annett on lap 50 when he was caught in the outside lane while attempting to pass the lapped car of Dexter Bean. Gerhart was freight-trained by the lead pack. Moments later, the second multi-car wreck took place, when the race’s sixth and final caution came out on lap 53. The cars running in positions two through four — Patrick Sheltra, Marks and Ricky Stenhouse, Jr. — got together and were all eliminated.
For the remainder of the race, Annett was able to pull slightly away. Gerhart made several attempts to get back to the front, but his damaged Chevrolet was not up to the task.
“I was a sitting duck with a big hole in the car, and it was pretty obvious after that incident,” Gerhart said. “We’ll be back next year and start the string all over again.”
There were a pair of cautions during the opening 10 laps, for the first of two spins by Alli Owens on lap five and a turn-four crash eliminating the cars of Ed Kennedy and Ryan Fischer on lap 10.
Marks and Speed combined to give Toyota the front row for the race. The two road-racing veterans combined to lead the opening 23 laps before getting taken out in incidents.
Annett averaged 114.998 mph. The race was slowed by six cautions for 34 laps.
The finish:
Showing driver, car and laps completed: 1. Michael Annett, Toyota, 80; 2. Justin Allgaier, Chevrolet, 80; 3. Bill Baird, Dodge, 80; 4. Bobby Gerhart, Chevrolet, 80; 5. Frank Kimmel, Dodge, 80; 6. Tom Hessert, Ford, 80; 7. Landon Cassill, Chevrolet, 80; 8. Dawayne Bryan, Dodge, 80; 9. Brad Baker, Ford, 80; 10. Dario Franchitti, Dodge, 80; 11. John Wes Townley, Ford, 80; 12. Mike Harmon, Chevrolet, 80; 13. Matt Carter, Dodge, 80; 14. Darrell Basham, Chevrolet, 79; 15. Patrick Sheltra, Chevrolet, 79; 16. J.R. Heffner, Chevrolet, 79; 17. Brandon Kelley, Chevrolet, 76; 18. Tayler Malsam, Dodge, 74; 19. Ken Butler III, Toyota, 73; 20. Gabi DiCarlo, Chevrolet, 73; 21. Tim Mitchell, Chevrolet, 69; 22. Dexter Bean, Chevrolet, 64; 23. Nur Ali, Dodge, 60; 24. Pierre Bourque, Dodge, 58; 25. Ricky Stenhouse, Jr., Ford, 54; 26. Justin Marks, Toyota, 53; 27. Benny Chastain, Chevrolet, 53; 28. Danny Sammons, Chevrolet, 53; 29. Brad Smith, Dodge, 47; 30. Jack Bailey, Toyota, 43; 31. Norm Benning, Chevrolet, 41; 32. Mario Gosselin, Chevrolet, 38; 33. Dominick Casola, Dodge, 34; 34. Kirk Shelmerdine, Chevrolet, 30; 35. Terry Jones, Dodge, 30; 36. Bryan Silas, Ford, 30; 37. Max Dumarey, Ford, 30; 38. Kyle Krisiloff, Chevrolet, 29; 39. Scott Speed, Toyota, 29; 40. Brian Scott, Chevrolet, 29; 41. Alli Owens, Chevrolet, 23; 42. Ed Kennedy, Chevrolet, 9; 43. Ryan Fischer, Chevrolet, 9.