By Jason D Searcy

ARCA Shorelunch 250 Preview for (June 3rd 2017)

Drivers from fifteen different states and all four corners of this great nation from Florida, Oklahoma, Maine and California will all be coming to Minnesota on Saturday June 3rd for the Shore Lunch 250 ARCA race presented by Menards at Elko Speedway.

ELKO is the smallest track on the ARCA circuit, it’s a 3/8th mile progressive banked asphalt oval that its sure to provide close side-by-side racing and excitement throughout the entire 250 lap event. ARCA is the most diverse racing series in the United States, they race at huge Super-Speedways like Daytona and Talladega, they Road Course race at Road America in WI and even run two races on the Dirt Tracks at Springfield and DuQuoin IL. ELKO will provide a challenge unlike any other track, the winning driver will need to be aggressive enough to fight through the lapped traffic but smooth enough not to wear out his/her tires too soon. This is also the only time our local fans get to see LIVE pit stops during a race.

This is only the fourth ever ARCA race to be held in Minnesota. The previous three winners are Brennan Poole in 2012, he now races in the NASCAR Xfinity series for Chip Ginassi. Frank Kimmel won the race in 2013, he is a ten time champion and won a record 80 races in the ARCA series. Grant Enfinger won in 2014 and he currently races in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series for Mike Curb.

Other notable drivers have raced at ELKO in the ARCA circuit including:

*Alex Bowman won the pole in 2012, he is favored by many to replace Dale Jr in the #88 car for Hendrick Motorsports in the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup series.

*Ken Schrader won the pole in 2013, he raced an incredible 29 yrs in the premiere series of NASCAR and won four races.

*Erik Jones finished 8th place in 2012, he now races in the NASCAR Cup series for Furniture Row racing.

*Chris Buescher finished 3rd place in 2012, he won an Xfinity Championship and now races for JTDaugherty in the NASCAR Cup Series.

*Steve Arpin finished 12th in 2012, he is now a star on the Global Rallycross circuit driving for Chip Ginassi.

The drivers racing right now in the ARCA series are the future stars of Motorsports including:

18 Riley Herbst from Las Vegas NV, he is driving for Joe Gibbs racing.

52 Austin Theriault from Fort Kane ME, he is the point leader and has raced for JR Motorsports in the Xfinity series.

77 Dalton Sargeant from Boca Raton FL, second in points and showing great potential.

15 Christian Eckes from Middletown NY, he won the 2016 Snowball Derby Super Late Model race.

Some drivers with a local tie are also racing the Shore Lunch 250 ARCA race presented by Menards at Elko Speedway:

Three-time ASA Champion Kevin Cywinski who lived in Lakeville MN for many years will field two teams. Gus Dean in the #32 car is fourth in ARCA points and Justin Fontaine in the #33 is just returning from a broken back suffered in the season opening Daytona race.

Natalie Decker from Eagle River WI will make her second career start in the #25 for Venturini Motorsports at ELKO. She has spent a lot of time at Elko Speedway the past few years as a fan and has also raced here twice before in a Late Model.

Cole Anderson from Northfield MN will make his ARCA debut at ELKO. He will race the #78 for Mason Mitchell Motorsports, Cole has won some big Super Late Model races all over the Nation and has raced dozens of times at Elko Speedway.

The Spectator Gates will open at 1pm to watch practice. The ARCA cars will do qualifying at 5pm, the Eternity Homes Great North Legends will have their Feature event at 5:30pm, On-Track driver autograph session at 6:15pm and the ARCA race begins at 8pm Saturday night June 3rd.

Get your discounted tickets at local Menards stores or get discounted advanced tickets at ElkoSpeedway.com

Elko Speedway is located 30 minutes South of Downtown Minneapolis (MN) just off of I-35 and County Road 2 in Elko (MN). Get more information by searching Elko Speedway on Social Media, by calling (952) 461-7223 or by going to ElkoSpeedway.com