Talladega General Tire Superspeedway Challenge
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Talladega General Tire Superspeedway Challenge The General Tire 200 is the second round of the General Tire Superspeedway Challenge, comprised of 7 races held on paved ovals greater than 1.5 miles in length. - A superspeedway championship for the car owners within the overall championship of the ARCA Menards Series 20-race schedule. - Only race points are counted towards a team’s point total, with the bonus points for leading laps or winning the pole disregarded. - Champion crowned at Kansas Speedway on Friday, October 16, 2020 and recognized at annual championship awards banquet. The last time the ARCA Menards Series took to the high banks of a superspeedway, Michael Self drove the Cathy Venturini-owned No. 25 Venturini Motorsports Toyota to a dominating win at Daytona International Speedway in February. Self led 61 of the 80 laps from the pole as he picked up his second win in the prestigious season-opening race, having also won the event in 2018. The win not only bolstered Self’s hopes for a championship run after finishing a narrow second in the standings a year ago, but it also propelled car owner Cathy Venturini and the No. 25 team to the early lead in the General Tire Superspeedway Challenge standings for 2020. After a lengthy layoff of over four months since the last superspeedway race and three months since the last race the series ran at Phoenix Raceway in March, the drivers of the ARCA Menards Series are looking forward to getting back on track for Saturday’s General Tire 200 at Talladega Superspeedway. Self figures to be one of the favorites to win the race, with a pole and a pair of top-five finishes in his two starts at the 2.66-mile superspeedway. The defending winner of the race is Todd Gilliland, who drove the No. 4 Toyota owned by his father David Gilliland to victory lane. It was the younger Gilliland’s first AMS win since a record-breaking victory at Toledo in 2015, when he became the youngest winner in series history just two days after his 15th birthday. Much is different this time around, though – the number and the car owner are about the only things that this year’s No. 4 team has in common with last year’s bunch – but don’t mistake the changes as a reason to count the No. 4 car out this time around. Despite sporting a new manufacturer (Ford), new sponsors (Monster Energy and Toter) and a new crew chief (Seth Smith), the most recognizable change for the No. 4 team comes courtesy of the new driver behind the wheel. Rising young star Hailie Deegan joined DGR-Crosley for the full 2020 ARCA Menards Series schedule and immediately made an impact at Daytona. In her first race at the famous superspeedway, Deegan posted a career-best finish of second and tied the series record of being the highest-finishing female driver in a race, joining Shawna Robinson and Erin Crocker in that very exclusive club. With one race in the draft now under her belt, rookie Deegan will be looking to turn that second into a first in her Talladega debut. Fellow DGR-Crosley teammates Thad Moffitt, driving the No. 46 for Bo LeMastus, and Tanner Gray, driving the No. 17 for David Gilliland, spent much of the race at Daytona near the top of the leaderboard themselves and also look to be among the favorites at Talladega. The General Tire Superspeedway Challenge – a championship within a championship The General Tire Superspeedway Challenge is a special series within the greater ARCA Menards Series overall championship. The challenge is comprised of races on the ARCA schedule at paved ovals greater than 1.5 miles in length. The season-long battle began at Daytona in February and will conclude at Kansas in October. Race points only count towards a team’s yearlong tally, with bonus points not counted towards this total. The General Tire Superspeedway Challenge is contested among car owners, rather than drivers, so that a team using multiple drivers has the same chances of winning as a team with a single full-time driver. Last year saw Chad Bryant’s No. 22 Chad Bryant Racing Ford take the General Tire Superspeedway Challenge crown via this method, with three different drivers making starts in the No. 22 car. The effort was anchored by Ty Majeski, now competing in the NASCAR Gander RV & Outdoors Truck Series for Niece Motorsports, as he won three races in just six starts to help seal the title for Bryant. 2020 General Tire Superspeedway Challenge Current Points DAY TAL POC CHA KAN-I MIC KAN-II TOTAL CAR Owner NAME 25 Cathy Venturini 43 43 4 David Gilliland 42 42 15 Bill Venturini 41 41 8 John Corr 40 40 46 Bo LeMastus 39 39 12 Michelle Hillenburg 38 38 18 Coy Gibbs 37 37 3 Wayne Hixson 36 36 23 Stacy Holmes 35 35 69 Bill Kimmel 34 34 9 Thomas Praytor 33 33 28 Mike Bursley 32 32 87 Chuck Buchanan 31 31 0 Wayne Peterson 30 30 09 Chris Our 29 29 17 David Gilliland 28 28 7 Eric Caudell 27 27 06 Wayne Peterson 26 26 11 Andy Hillenburg 25 25 22 Chad Bryant 24 24 10 Andy Hillenburg 23 23 20 Billy Venturini 22 22 32 Kevin Cywinski 21 21 61 J.J. Pack 20 20 30 Mark Rette 19 19 52 Ken Schrader 18 18 77 Chad Bryant 17 17 02 Chris Our 16 16 01 Michelle Hillenburg 15 15 63 Paris Wixon 14 14 48 Brad Smith 13 13 97 Codie Rohrbaugh 12 12 88 Scott Reeves 11 11 2020 General Tire Superspeedway Challenge Schedule* February 8 – Daytona International Speedway – Cathy Venturini, No. 25 Toyota (Michael Self) June 20 – Talladega Superspeedway – General Tire 200 June 26 – Pocono Raceway – ARCA Pocono 200 July 15 – Charlotte Motor Speedway – General Tire 150 July 24 – Kansas Speedway – ARCA Kansas 150 TBA – Michigan International Speedway – ARCA Michigan 200 October 16 – Kansas Speedway – ARCA Kansas 150 (General Tire Superspeedway Challenge champion crowned) *Schedule subject to change .