Patrick Sheltra Drives To Top-10 Practice Effort At Daytona

Topics:  Patrick Sheltra, Lucas Oil Slick Mist 200

Chris Knight
Sheltra Motorsports
February 4, 2010

DAYTONA BEACH, Florida (February 4, 2010) - - Patrick Sheltra steered his No. 60 PowerTrac Machinery Dodge Charger to the sixth fastest time overall during Thursday’s four hour and fifty minute practice session giving his Mooresville North Carolina-based team high hopes for Saturday’s Lucas Oil Slick Mist 200 at Daytona (Fla.) International Speedway.

In the same Dodge Charger that Sheltra piloted last April at Talladega (Ala.) Speedway, the Indiantown, Florida native whipped his Grace Sheltra owned machine around the 2.5-mile superspeedway to a time of 49.612 seconds at 181.408 miles per hour.

In session one which was concluded about half-way during the lengthy practice effort, Sheltra clocked his neon green and camouflage machine into the ninth position.

"Our PowerTrac Dodge is really good. We didn't have to play with it a whole today. The car handles real well all by itself and the little drafting we did today, I didn't have one complaint,” Sheltra said. “We're going to qualify somewhere between eighth and 12th, I think tomorrow (Friday) but come race day, we're going to have a shot at winning this thing. I just have to thank Jon (Wolfe, crew chief) and all of the guys for working real hard. I'm really looking forward to the rest of the weekend."

The 23-year old phenom drew the 15th position for Friday’s Menards pole qualifying presented by Ansell session. Last year, Sheltra qualified his Dodge 16th but was entangled in a late race incident during last season’s season opener which nearly cost the ARCA veteran his racing career. Despite the innocent, he finished 14th.

“I try not and think about what happened last year,” Sheltra added. “Sure it was a bad deal but I think everyone learned from it. I know it made me more attentive as a racecar driver though. These ARCA cars are incredibly safe and I know my guys work extremely hard to keep me safe. I don’t think or hope we won’t see a race like we did last year on Saturday.”

After climbing out of his car Thursday evening, Sheltra was interviewed by Steven Smith of the Orlando Sentinel. The twenty minute interview ranged from Sheltra’s entrance into Motorsports, his off-track life, the ARCA Racing Series as a whole and his thoughts on the addition of IZOD IndyCar Series star Danica Patrick and Formula One driver Nelson Piquet Jr. participating in the ARCA race at Daytona. The commentary article is scheduled to run this Saturday (February 6).

On Saturday, Sheltra Motorsports will also pay tribute to six-year old Nicholas Batchelor who perished in an off-road utility accident in January.

American Concrete, Buffalo Wings & Rings, BuckedUpApparel.com, CAM 2 Blue Blood Racing Oil, Ferguson Pipe Enterprises, Indiantown Marina and Pardo Trucking join the team as associate marketing partners in Sheltra third career start at Daytona (Fla.) International Speedway this weekend.

Entering Daytona, Sheltra has 67 ARCA Racing Series presented by RE/MAX and Menards starts to his credit with one career victory at Salem Speedway (April 2009). During his ARCA tenure, Sheltra has accumulated 10 top-fives and posted 22 top-10 finishes. 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 Lucas Oil Slick Mist 200 at Daytona (80 laps / 200 miles) is the first of 20 events on the 2010 ARCA Racing Series presented by RE/MAX and Menards schedule. The 47th ARCA race held at Daytona is a three-day show. A fifty minute final practice session is etched in on Friday evening from 5:40pm-6:30 p.m. The event will take the green flag on Saturday, February 6 shortly after 4:30 p.m. The race will be televised live on SPEED with additional race coverage including live timing and scoring and radio broadcast through the ARCA Racing Network (ARN) online at arcaracing.com. All times are local.

Stay tuned for a revamped web site and several social networking opportunities to connect with Patrick Sheltra and the Sheltra Motorsports team but in the mean time for the latest and marketing partnership opportunities please visit PatrickSheltra.com.

About Sheltra Motorsports:

Sheltra Motorsports (sheltramotorsports.com) is a three-tier Motorsports operation consisting of dirt and asphalt competition. Patrick Sheltra, a 23-year old native of Indiantown, Florida competes in the UMP and WoO (Dirt) Series; while also running a full schedule in the ARCA Racing Series presented by RE/MAX and Menards (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 Mooresville, North Carolina.

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