Jared Marks Thunders To First Career Top-Five Finish At Salem Speedway

Jared Marks Thunders To First Career Top-Five Finish At Salem Speedway

Topics: Jared Marks, Kentuckiana Ford Dealers ARCA Fall Classic

Jared Marks Thunders To First Career Top-Five Finish At Salem Speedway

Chris Knight
Knight Motorsports Management/Tony Marks Racing
September 19, 2011

“ARCA Racing Series Rookie Inhales Career Best Qualifying Effort As Well”

SALEM, Indiana (September 19, 2011) - - For part-time ARCA Racing Series presented by Menards driver Jared Marks his personal weekend goals turned into a mission on Saturday night at Salem (Ind.) Speedway for the running of the Kentuckiana Ford Dealers ARCA Fall Classic by Federated Car Care.

Marks, driver of the No. 12 TMR / Mad Croc Energy / Dodge Motorsports Dodge Charger entered the 17th race of the season with confidence following a private test session at the roaring half-mile oval which left the team with good vibes about Marks’ sixth career ARCA start.

While making your inaugural daunting debut at Salem Speedway could be nerve wrecking for any young-gun, Marks, the Napoleon, Ohio native took the challenge in stride while also relying on the experience of his crew chief and former Salem Speedway winner Ryan Chism. With the team’s leadership and confidence the team was highly optimistic about their chances of a strong finish.

In the lone practice session on Saturday afternoon, Marks in his first official tango with the Southern Indiana track whipped his Tony Marks Racing (TMR) entry around the track in 17.947 seconds at 111.32 miles per hour. The time was good enough for 14th fastest overall.

“I’ll admit I was expecting a little more,” said 17-year old Jared Marks. “Our car was incredibly fast in testing and we come back here for race weekend and we don’t quite have our No. 12 Mad Croc Energy / Dodge Motorsports Dodge Charger where we want it to be. We’ll get it there though. It’s about making some small changes, staying realistic and keeping positive.”

Even being considered a rookie, Marks’s demeanor and uplifting encouragement to his team could be considered that of a multi-year veteran. Still, Marks entry would be plastered with the familiar yellow stripe on his rear bumper reminding him just how new he was to stock car racing.

After consulting with Chism, the team made some routine changes to their No. 12 Mad Croc Energy / Dodge Motorsports Dodge Charger for qualifying. By the conclusion of time trials, it was Marks’ who left an impact in the garage. During his two lap maneuver, Marks bolted to a time of 17.546 seconds or 113.872 miles per hour. The pickup was nearly four tenths of a second faster than his fastest lap in practice which rewarded the freshman organization with eighth place on the starting grid, accelerating Marks’ best his previous best qualifying run of ninth at Winchester (Ind.) Speedway earlier this year.

Strapping into his family-owned automobile for his sixth short track contest of the season, the team reminded their driver to stay on his toes, keep the fenders on the car till the end of the race and more importantly have fun.

From the drop of the green flag in annual fall tradition, Marks held his own. Hovering comfortably inside the top-10 during the first stages of the race, the junior home-schooled student fell into his own comfort zone, logging laps while following in the trenches of some of ARCA’s finest.

When the caution flag waived on approaching lap 65, it was ample opportunity for Marks to make a trip to pit road where the team bolted on new tires and gave their driver plenty of fuel before sending him back into the battle.

Still hovering inside the top-10, flirting between the positions of sixth and eighth, it would be the second-half of the race where Marks would step his game and strut his stuff.

Despite falling off the lead circuit after the leaders walloped the field during a stretch of a long-green flag run, Marks luckily received the lucky dog following a caution which allowed the avid racer to regain his lost lap. The consequence of returning to lead lap status meant that Marks would have to take the green from the rear of the field in the seventh position.

With coaching from his spotter, the Tony Marks Racing development driver methodically worked his way through from the back of the field through the enormous amount of traffic shortly after the restart.

The yellow flag waived inside the final 50 circuits of the event giving Chism the opportunity to utilize some strategy, thus calling his pilot to pit road for some more new rubber and fuel, hoping that the new tires would offer his driver a sense of stability for their anticipated final run of the night.

When racing resumed, it was Marks putting the pressure on his competition. Moving from his restarting point of sixth, the rising star weathered some late race restarts which he utilized to his advantage by chopping his way into fourth where he took the checkered flag, a career-best finish for the second generation driver.

“The team gave me an excellent racecar and that’s why we were able to have a good of a run as we did,” offered the modest Marks. “I had a lot of fun. Salem is definitely a monstrous racetrack but we were able to conquer it. The car is pretty clean and to bring home a strong finish not only for the team but for Mad Croc, Dodge, the University of Northwestern Ohio (UNOH), Cool-Off and all those who support us, I cannot thank them all enough, we really needed this.”

For owner and father Tony Marks, the performance by his son was encouraging and inspiring yet one of the fondest racing moments of his life to this point.

“I’m so proud of Jared,” the Ohio entrepreneur said. “He knew what he needed to do and he did it with flying colors. He really kept the car cleaned and minded his matters which paid off with an impressive finish. I’m also real proud of this Tony Marks Racing team. I cannot tell you what their hard work and dedication means to me. Its finishes like Jared posted that make it all worth it in the end. We’ll go to Kansas and see if we can’t keep the momentum going and then close out the season with at Toledo with a strong finish that will help lift off our program for 2012.”

Next up for the ARCA Racing Series is their penultimate event at Kansas Speedway for the running of the Kansas Lottery 98.9 which is set to launch on Friday, October 7 live on SPEED. Sorel, Quebec Canada native Maryeve Dufault will return to the controls of the No. 12 Mad Croc Energy / Dodge Motorsports Dodge Charger for her 13th ARCA start of the season. TMR will field a two-car entry at Toledo Speedway the following week for the season finale for both Dufault and Marks.

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

Get Mad with Mad Croc Energy by visiting the World Wide Web at Madcroc.com.

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

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