Chandler Smith led the 90-minute practice session for the ARCA Menards Herr’s Potato Chips 200 on Saturday afternoon at Lucas Oil Raceway in Brownsburg, Indiana. Smith (No. 20 Craftsman/828 Logistics Toyota) turned a fast lap of 21.954 seconds/112.490 miles per hour late in the session to knock Ty Gibbs, winner of the last series race at Salem Speedway in September, off the top of the leaderboard.
Gibbs (No. 18 Monster Energy/ORCA Coolers/Terrible Herbst/Advance Auto Parts Toyota), who turned 17 on Friday, was second fastest at 21.990 seconds/112.306 miles per hour.
Smith, driving for the No. 20 team that leads the series’ owners championship standings, is already a four-time winner in 2019 and will be in position to clinch the Valvoline Lap Leader Award if he leaves Lucas Oil Raceway with a 100-lap advantage over Michael Self (No. 25 Sinclair Lubricants Toyota). He currently leads Self by 179 laps led.
Carson Hocevar (No. 28 GMPartsNow.com/Scott’s Coins/KBR Development Chevrolet) was third at 22.026 seconds/112.122 miles per hour, followed by championship contenders Christian Eckes (No. 15 JBL Audio Toyota) and Self. Eckes’ lap was 22.035 seconds/112.076 miles per hour with Self rounding out the top five at 22.131 seconds/111.590 miles per hour.
Self currently leads the ARCA Menards Series championship standings by just five points over Eckes with two races remaining including tonight’s Herr’s Potato Chips 200.
Corey Heim (No. 22 Speedway Children’s Charities Ford), Hailie Deegan (No. 55 TRD 40th Anniversary Toyota), Travis Braden (No. 27 MatrixCare/Consonus Health Care/Liberty Village Ford), Sam Mayer (No. 21 Chevy Accessories Chevrolet), and Bret Holmes (No. 23 Holmes II Excavation rounded out the top ten.
General Tire Pole Qualifying is up next at 5 pm ET, followed by the 200-lap main event at 8 pm ET. The Herr’s Potato Chips 200 will be televised live flag-to-flag on MAVTV; ARCA for Me members can follow live timing & scoring at ARCARacing.com.
ARCA PR
