Maryeve Dufault; Tony Marks Racing Set For Short Track Return

Maryeve Dufault; Tony Marks Racing Set For Short Track Return

Topics: Maryeve Dufault, Winchester ARCA 200

Maryeve Dufault; Tony Marks Racing Set For Short Track Return

Chris Knight
Knight Motorsports Management
Tony Marks Racing
June 22, 2011

WINCHESTER, Indiana (June 22, 2011) - - ARCA Racing Series (ARS) presented by Menards Rookie of the Year contender Maryeve Dufault returns to short track racing this weekend in hopes of repelling of a strong finish gone a-wall from Michigan in Saturday night’s Winchester ARCA 200 presented by Federated Auto Parts.

The driver of the No. 12 VR-12 / Dodge Motorsports Dodge Charger returns to a half-mile oval looking to take the checkered flag after gallant efforts at Salem (Ind.) Speedway and Toledo Speedway were ruined with DNFs (did not finish).

Armed with a stellar Dodge Charger built by the Mooresville, North Carolina-based Tony Marks Racing (TMR) team, Dufault and her posse look to make some noise in just her third career short track start.

“I’m extremely optimistic about this weekend,” said Dufault who enters the ninth race of the season 11th in the championship standings. “The more I’m competing at short tracks, the more my learning curve strengthens. My main objective this weekend is to get comfortable during practice, start as close to the front as we can and complete all 200 laps. If we can do that, we should have a relatively good finish.”

Saturday night’s anticipated brawl officially marks the halfway point to the 2011 ARCA Racing Series season. Dufault and her TMR have experienced their share of ups and downs, but the Sorel, Quebec native feels that her team will begin an uphill swing of finishes marching forward.

“We have eight races under our belt,” Dufault explained. “We’ve learned a lot in those races that should help us tremendously moving forward to the rest of the year. I’m incredibly grateful to VR-12 and Dodge for their continued support of our race team. I’m just hoping we can close out the year with some more strong finishes.”

The finishes that the former NASCAR Canadian Tire Series pilot is referring to dates back to earlier this month at Chicagoland Speedway where Dufault carried her team to their first career top-10 finish with a solid 10th place finish at the 1.5-mile oval. While short track racing offers different situations and odds under racing conditions, Dufault knows that her chances of finishing in the top-10 are still obtainable.

“Finishing in the top-10 is no easy task in the ARCA Racing Series this season,” Dufault sounded. “The competition is strong on a weekly basis which forces the other team to step up to the plate and try harder. I feel we would have a couple more top-10 finishes this year if we didn’t have some bad luck. That’s just part of the game though. We’ll go to Winchester this weekend and prepare to beat the odds.”

Tony Marks, owner of TMR offered his insight on Saturday’s night contest. “Despite the bad luck that we’ve had on the short tracks, Maryeve has been competitive, just been at the wrong place, wrong time. We’ve laid out our goals for the race and we’ll do everything we can to accomplish them.”

The Winchester ARCA 200 presented by Federated Auto Parts (200 laps / 100 miles) is the ninth of 19 events on the 2011 ARCA Racing Series presented by Menards schedule. The 22nd ARCA race at Winchester is a one-day show. Practice begins Saturday, June 25 with a one hour and half practice session planned from 1:45 p.m. - 3:15 p.m. Menards Pole by Ansell qualifying is slated to begin later in the day at 4:45 p.m. The field will take the green flag later that night shortly after 8:00 p.m. The race will not be televised but event coverage including live timing and scoring throughout the 1,321st race for the ARCA Racing Series presented by Menards since it was formed in 1953 will be available through the ARCA Racing Network (ARN) online at arcaracing.com presented by ARCANation.com. All times are local.

For additional information on TMT, Inc. please visit; tmtcompanies.net.

For more on Maryeve Dufault, please log onto Maryeveracing.com.

To learn more about Tony Marks Racing, please click over to Tmr-racing.com.

See the buzz that VR-12 is creating by clicking over to their website at VR-12.com.

About Tony Marks Racing (TMR):

Tony Marks Racing was founded in 2009 through the passion for racing of team owner and former driver Tony Marks. Marks is the successful owner of TMT, Inc., a logistics, warehousing and packaging company with over 400 employees whose customers are mainly comprised of Fortune 100 companies.

Marks began his racing career in 1985 getting behind the wheel of everything from drag racers, Dirt Late Models, SCCA Formula Fords, USAC F2000 Open Wheel and ARCA cars. Tony personally raced until 2005 amassing numerous wins, championships and track records along the way until he then changed his focus from driver to owner and began building racing programs for his children Jared (16 years old) and Rachel (13 years old). Under the auspices of TMR, Jared began his racing career in 2002 in quarter midgets and now competes in late model, CRA, ASA and ARCA Series events while Rachel continues her development program racing quarter midgets and Bandoleros.

TMR has been at the forefront of charitable giving through its’ “Driving Against Hunger” and “Million Meal Challenge” race programs which have raised over $200,000 for Forgotten Harvest in 2010 at the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series and NASCAR Nationwide Series events at Michigan International Speedway.

For the NASCAR events TMR along with TMT, Inc. partnered with Forgotten Harvest for the “Million Meal Challenge For Our Kids” which helps to bridge the hunger gap while schools are out of session and feeds 20,000 children per day in the Detroit metro area. Forgotten Harvest was significantly displayed on the entry of Chase Austin during both the Truck and Nationwide events at Michigan International Speedway along with logos of “Million Meal Challenge” sponsors Walgreen’s, United Race Group, Holyfield’s Choice Alka-Power Water and Vitamin Spice. Evander Holyfield was also instrumental in the challenge, acting as Grand Marshall for the August race and announcing his “Fight Against Hunger” on behalf of Forgotten Harvest.

As the first race team to “Drive Against Hunger” through their partnership with Forgotten Harvest, TMR plans to continue their alliance with Forgotten Harvest and once again “Drive Against Hunger” during the 2011 season.

TEAM COMMUNICATIONS CONTACT:

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