Chad Hackenbracht Recovers Masterfully For Top-10 Finish In ARCA Season Finale

Topics:  Chad Hackenbracht, Federated Car Care 200

Chris Knight
Knight Motorsports Management/CGH Motorsports
October 18, 2011

TOLEDO, Ohio (October 18, 2011) - - After a late race spin in Sunday’s Federated Car Care 200 at Toledo Speedway, 19-year old Chad Hackenbracht and his CGH Motorsports team were able to close out the 2011 ARCA Racing Series presented by Menards with their 10th top-10 finish of the year.

The Mooresville, North Carolina-based team led by crew chief Kevin Reed were among the list of pre-race contenders for the 19th event of the season, especially after a private test session earlier in the week boosted the team’s confidence level for their second tango with the Northern Ohio short track.

With the United States Auto Club (USAC) sharing Saturday with the ARCA Racing Series at Toledo Speedway, practice which was normally run as one session would now be combined into two forty minute-efforts. Mounting the seventh and third quickest laps in each practice respectively, the CGH Motorsports team was looking forward to qualifying.

The New Philadelphia, Ohio native whipped his No. 58 Tastee Caramel Apple Chevrolet around the half-mile oval to post the ninth fastest lap overall to start on the inside of row number five. After a long day, the team was ready to recharge their batteries and prepare for action on Sunday afternoon.

Unfortunately, teams returned to the ARCA-owned racetrack on Sunday under gloomy skies and consistent rain showers. Ultimately, the start of the contest would be pushed-back nearly two hours before the command to fire engines was given. ARCA would choose to utilize the 35-car starting field to finish the track drying process throwing both the green and yellow flags simultaneously for the first 40 circuits of the contest. With the yellow flag retracted and the green “officially” given to the field, Hackenbracht quickly tried to filter his way through traffic and mix himself into the lead pack.

Patiently working his way up through the field, Hackenbracht had guided his No. 58 Tastee Caramel Apple machine up to the sixth position by lap 92 where he remained until lap 118, when the yellow flag waived offering Reed the opportunity to bring his driver to pit lane.

The 2010 ARCA crew chief of the year made a gutsy call for just two right side tires and fuel which propelled Hackenbracht to become the leader off pit road but find himself fifth overall on the track as several automobiles elected to stay on the racetrack.

Restarting fifth, Hackenbracht attempted to saw his way to the lead but would find himself hung up in a wad of racecars which consumed of both lead lap and lap down machines, forcing Hackenbracht to back off and regroup and settle into the eighth position just three laps later.

Again showing patience from a rookie driver allowed the opportunity to climb back into the top-five by lap 144 where the No. 58 Tastee Caramel Apple car found itself behind the No. 52 of Tom Hessert. Hackenbracht would stalk his fellow competitor for several laps before using a nudge in traffic on lap 177 to maneuver around the No. 52. By the time the two cars returned to the frontstretch the next lap, Hessert retaliated by spinning the No. 58 on lap 178 and making light contact with the wall.

Hackenbracht was able to drive away from the scene of the incident under his own power but would have to come to pit road where four tires and damage control were on the agenda for the family-owned team. While the CGH Motorsports organization remained on the lead lap, they found themselves mired in the 16th position for the lap 183 restart.

Quickly slicing and dicing his way through traffic, Hackenbracht would hover in the 11th position but with laps quickly running out. A caution on the final lap threw the event into overtime which allowed Hackenbracht to tag onto the back bumpers of the lead-lap contenders for a green-white-checkered restart.

A man on a mission when the green and white flags flew together, Hackenbracht craftily maneuvered around the cars of Charles Evans Jr., Jared Marks and Chrissy Wallace knocking off three cars in one lap and propelling from 11th to eighth where he took the checkered flag, six laps after the scheduled distance of 200 circuits.

"Overall, it was a great effort by the CGH Motorsports team again,” the No. 58 pilot said. “Kevin (Reed) made a great call when he suggested two tires for track position. The car still hooked to the track and we had the leaders in our sight. Then, we had the incident with Hessert and we had to fight our way back to a top-10. Under the circumstances, there's momentum to gain to get back next year and be there at Daytona.”

When asked about the incident with the No. 52 of Hessert, he remarked, "We were running fifth all day and we go into Turn three (on Lap 168) and a lapped car was in front of the 52 (Hessert) and I was behind the 52," he said. "He blocked (Hessert) coming up out of Turn two, and we go down into three, and the 52 just straight turned the lapped car. It wrecked me; it wrecked the No. 52, and so I went up beside the car on caution and let him know I didn't like it. There on the next start, we were faster anyway and I moved him. I got by him, he got loose and shuffled it up. We come around, and I don't know if he tried to move me and didn't know how, but he just flat out wrecked us. I really didn't like it at all, so I went up and let him know again. We'll live and learn from this and move on.”

With his eighth place run, Hackenbracht was able to unofficially secure eighth in the final 2011 ARCA Racing Series championship standings tallying 19 starts, three top-fives, 10 top-10, 67 laps led in four races (Chicagoland, Winchester, Berlin and DuQuoin) and accumulating 4,145 points.

Next up for the ARCA Racing Series is the 2011 championship banquet which is set for Saturday, December 10th at the Northern Kentucky Convention Center in Covington, Ky., near Cincinnati. The top-20 drivers and top-10 owners and drivers will be recognized for their participation in the series this year.

CGH Motorsports still has marketing partnerships available for the 2012 ARCA Racing Series season. Interested parties can contact Jordan Dahl at Jordan@cghmotorsports.com or 570.234.5449.

For more information on Chad Hackenbracht and CGH Motorsports, please visit ChadHackenbracht.com and CGHMotorsports.com.

To purchase the popular “What’s A Chad Hacken-Something” tee-shirt, please log on to store.cghmotorsports.com or CGHMotorsports.com.

Connect with Chad Hackenbracht and CGH Motorsports through Facebook by clicking here.

Tweet with Chad Hackenbracht through Twitter at @ChadH58 or CGH Motorsports @CGH5858.

About CGH Motorsports:

CGH Motorsports (CGHMotorsports.com), established in 2007 by Ohio entrepreneur Greg Hackenbracht is located in a 10,000 sq. foot facility located in Mooresville, North Carolina. CGH Motorsports is home of rising sensation Chad Hackenbracht, who competed in nine ARCA Racing Series races in 2010 after an aggressive ARCA testing schedule in 2009. Chad Hackenbracht is the 2008 National Asphalt Legends champion, winning 33 percent of his races and finishing in the top-10, 85 percent of the events he competed in. The team has stepped up their commitment from a partial schedule in 2010 and ran a full-effort in 2011, with the prospects of a potential two-car operation in 2012.

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TEAM COMMUNICATIONS CONTACT:
NAME: Chris Knight, Knight Motorsports Management
PHONE: 239.834.9797
EMAIL: chris@chrisknightpr.com