Patrick Sheltra Qualifies 11th For ARCA RE/MAX 250 At Talladega

Topics:  Patrick Sheltra, ARCA RE/MAX 250

Chris Knight
Sheltra Motorsports
April 23, 2009

“Third Year ARCA Team Captures Career Best Speedway Qualifying Effort”

TALLADEGA, Alabama (April 23, 2009) - - Patrick Sheltra just missed his third top-10 start of the season after the Indiantown, Florida negotiated the 11th fastest time in Menards Pole by Ansell qualifying Thursday afternoon which sets the field for tomorrow’s ARCA RE/MAX 250 at Talladega Superspeedway.

The effort is a career-best for Sheltra in fifth superspeedway time trials attempt. After drawing the sixth position for his qualifying run, Sheltra maneuvered the 2.66-mile speedway in Grace Sheltra’s No. 60 Buffalo Wings & Rings / BuckedUpApparel.com Dodge Charger to a time of 51.872 seconds at 184.608 miles per hour. The effort was a tick slower from his practice effort early Friday afternoon.

“It was pretty decent,” said Sheltra. “We were really hoping for a little more but I’ve never qualified better than 27th here so I’ll take 11th and look forward to tomorrow’s race. It’s a big day for us. We have several representatives of Buffalo Wings & Rings who will be in attendance on Friday and of course, our newest buddy Scott Herman will be in the pits, so I’m looking forward to all the hype and the race tomorrow.”

Sheltra who finished fifth in last year’s ARCA RE/MAX 250 commented on qualifying as a whole. “The TOYOTAs are fast but I was happy to see a Ford and Tom (Hessert) get the pole. The TOYOTAs are obviously the cars to beat here tomorrow, we just have to outsmart them. It was a Dodge that beat a TOYOTA here last year, so I’m hoping we can back up that statement for the second consecutive year.”

Real World Update: 24-year old Scott Herman from MTV’s Real World: Brooklyn is experiencing his first taste of stock car racing for the first time this weekend at Talladega Superspeedway. The Salem, New Hampshire native will join ARCA RE/MAX Series official Brad Hockaday on the flag stand for the final practice session Friday morning before the drop of the green flag for round four on the 2009 ARCA RE/MAX Series calendar.

Entering Talladega, Sheltra has 49 ARCA RE/MAX Series starts to his credit with one career victory at Salem Speedway (April 2009). Sheltra also holds second place efforts at Rockingham Speedway (April 2009), Toledo Speedway (May 2008) and the DuQuoin State Fairgrounds (September 2008) with four additional top-five finishes, (fourth) at Toledo Speedway (October 2008), (fifth) at Talladega Superspeedway (October 2008), (third) at Illinois State Fairgrounds (August 2007) and (fourth) at Berlin Raceway (July 2007) while holding additional top-10s at Nashville Superspeedway (August 2008), Michigan International Speedway (June 2008), Kentucky Speedway (May 2008), Kansas Speedway (April 2008), Iowa Speedway (April 2008), Kentucky Speedway (June 2007), DuQuoin State Fairgrounds (September 2007) and Toledo Speedway (October 2007). A third place qualifying effort at Rockingham Speedway (April 2009) is Sheltra’s best time trials efforts to date. He has controlled the ARCA field five times for 109 laps.

The ARCA RE/MAX 250 (94 laps / 250 miles) is the fourth of 22 events on the 2009 ARCA RE/MAX Series schedule. The 47th ever ARCA race at Talladega Superspeedway is a two-day show. A “Happy Hour” 45-minute practice has been etched in on Friday, April 24 from 9:30 a.m. – 10:15 a.m. The event will take the green flag that afternoon shortly after 4:00 p.m. The race will be televised live on SPEED with additional live broadcasting available through the ARCA Racing Network (ARN) online at arcaracing.com. All times are local.

About Sheltra Motorsports:

Sheltra Motorsports (sheltramotorsports.com) is a three-tier Motorsports operation consisting of dirt and asphalt competition. Patrick Sheltra, a 22-year old native of Indiantown , Florida competes in the UMP and WoO (Dirt) Series; while also running a full schedule in the ARCA RE/MAX Series (No. 60) and a limited schedule in the NASCAR Nationwide Series. Sheltra Motorsports ownership is combined of Richard, Grace and Patrick Sheltra. The team is headquartered in Indiantown , Florida with additional operations in Richmond , Indiana and Whitesville , Kentucky .

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TEAM COMMUNICATIONS CONTACT:

NAME: Chris Knight, Sheltra Motorsports
PHONE: 239.834.9797 or 239.214.1083
EMAIL: chris@patricksheltra.com