ARCA Menards Series top driver Michael Self (No. 25 Sinclair Oil Toyota) will make his second east coast appearance of the season when the series returns to action Friday afternoon for the FORTS USA 150 at Pocono Raceway.
Set to make his third career appearance on Pocono’s daunting 2.5-mile surface known as the Tricky Triangle, Self hopes to avenge his 11th place finish which came during the spring during ARCA’s first visit.
“Our first race here a few weeks ago was definitely frustrating,” Self says. “We struggled with balance throughout practice but felt like we made progress on it and had an idea of which direction we needed to go during the race, then as soon as we rolled off the grid we started losing power due to the alternator going bad. It kind of just went downhill from there as we had an axle issue around halfway, and then we completely lost power with about five laps to go when it was looking like we might’ve still been able to manage a top-ten. I’m definitely wanting to put all that in the rearview mirror this weekend and put together a clean day at a track that I really enjoy going to.”
Stretching his series points lead to 90 points after last week’s finish at Iowa Speedway, Self looks to extend his advantage over competitor Brett Holmes with another strong superspeedway outing. A six-time series winner, four of his wins have come on tracks larger than 1.5-mile in length.
Considered a superspeedway specialist due to his past successes, Self has notched victories at Kansas Speedway, Daytona International Speedway, Chicagoland Speedway and most recently last month at Michigan International Speedway.
Driving in his first full season with Venturini Motorsports, Self has found victory lane three times to go along with four General Tire Pole Awards, 10 top-five and 10 top-ten finishes. His 433 laps led during the 2019 season are most among all full-time drivers.
Self will join VMS teammates Christian Eckes and Chandler Smith prior to the start of Friday’s matinee for a private autograph engagement at 11:15am on the Fan Stage in Fan Fair.
Next up for the ARCA Menards Series is the FORTS USA 150 at Pocono Raceway on Friday, July 26. Practice starts at 9 am ET with General Tire Pole Qualifying set for 1:35 pm ET and the green flag on the FORTS USA 150 set to fly at 4 pm ET. The race will be televised live flag to flag on FS1.
Venturini Motorsports PR
