ARCA Champion Patrick Sheltra Solidly Qualifies For Talladega Truck Debut

ARCA Champion Patrick Sheltra Solidly Qualifies For Talladega Truck Debut

Topics: Patrick Sheltra, Coca-Cola 250

ARCA Champion Patrick Sheltra Solidly Qualifies For Talladega Truck Debut

Chris Knight
Knight Motorsports Management
T3R Racing
October 21, 2011

“2010 ARCA Racing Series Champion Grabs Attentions With Attractive Lap”

TALLADEGA, Ala. (October 21, 2011) - - 2010 ARCA Racing Series champion Patrick Sheltra will make his second-career NASCAR Camping World Truck Series (NCWTS) start Saturday afternoon in the sixth annual Coca-Cola 250 Powered By fred’s 250 at Talladega (Ala.) Superspeedway.

Sheltra, the Indiantown, Florida native practiced his No. 99 Bucked Up Apparel / PatrickSheltra.com Ford F-150 Friday morning in the 32nd position in the lone-two hour session of the weekend after mounting a lap of 54.418 seconds at 175.971 miles per hour. However in qualifying, the 25-year old nailed the 21st quickest effort by maneuvering his blue oval around the 2.66-mile speedway in 55.129 seconds or 173.702 miles per hour.

The T3R Racing team led by Motorsports veteran crew chief Cal Boprey started the day with a strict agenda. With 40 NASCAR Camping World Truck Series teams on the ground, the team would have to beat four other competitors in order to earn a berth into tomorrow’s race.

After some routine adjustments, Boprey turned the reins to the three-time ARCA Racing Series winner where he impressed many in the garage with a solid time trials lap and attractable starting position.

T3R Racing out qualified some of the stoutest teams in the NCWTS garage that included; Germain Racing (Max Papis and Brendan Gaughan), Kyle Busch Motorsports (Josh Richards), Randy Moss Motorsports (Todd Bodine) and Red Horse Racing (Miguel Paludo).

Description: _MG_1553_resize“It was a total team effort by everyone at T3R,” said Sheltra, who will make his first NCWTS start since 2007. “Our main attention was single-truck runs during practice. We received a little help during the session which threw our lap-times off track a little bit, but we were pretty pleased with that (qualifying) lap.”

He added, “I definitely think we have a good enough No. 99 Bucked Up Apparel / PatrickSheltra.com Ford F-150 to have a good run with during the race. We know that in order to have a finish well though, we have to be around when lap 94 strikes. We haven’t really decided on a game plan yet; we’ll just see how it all unfolds. I just want to thank everyone including Cal (Boprey, crew chief), Charlie (Vest, team manager) and the Silas family for the opportunity. I am looking forward to the race.”

Sheltra is no stranger to success at the daring yet sometimes intimidating Talladega (Ala.) Superspeedway. Last year in the ARCA race, Sheltra who finished second pushed Dakoda Armstrong, who is also entered in Saturday’s afternoon contest to his first career ARCA Racing Series win last April. The following day, Sheltra made his NASCAR Nationwide Series (NNS) debut at ‘Dega driving the No. 09 Ford Fusion for RAB Racing with Brack Maggard, which included leading three laps under green before delivering a top-20 finish.

The No. 99 Ford F-150 is boasting a pink paint scheme for this weekend’s thriller, all towards spreading the support of Breast Cancer Awareness month, which is recognized during the month of October.

Before today, Sheltra’s best starting position for any NASCAR event ironically occurred at Talladega last April for RAB Racing where he started 22nd. He started 35th in his lone NCWTS start at Atlanta (Ga.) Motor Speedway more than five years ago.

Additionally, T3R announced today that it plans to field a ride for the Floridian in the season finale at Homestead-Miami (Fla.) Speedway in the Ford 200 on Friday night, November 18.

The Coca-Cola 250 Powered By fred’s 250 (94 laps / 250.04 miles) is the 22nd of 25 races on the 2011 NASCAR Camping World Truck Series tour. The field will take the green flag on Saturday, October 22nd shortly after 3:00 p.m. with live coverage on SPEED, the Motor Racing Network (Radio) and SiriusXM NASCAR Radio (Satellite, Channel 90). Pre-race coverage of the contest lifts off at 2:30 p.m. also on SPEED. All times are local (Central).

For additional input on Patrick Sheltra, please connect to PatrickSheltra.com.

PHOTO CAPTION 1: The No. 99 Bucked Up Apparel / PatrickSheltra.com Ford F-150 driven by Patrick Sheltra in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series for T3R.

PHOTO CAPTION 2: Patrick Sheltra, driver of the No. 99 Bucked Up Apparel / PatrickSheltra.com Ford F-150 in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series (NCWTS) for T3R.

TEAM / DRIVER COMMUNICATIONS CONTACT:

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