Gerhart wins another ARCA race at Daytona

Alan Schmadtke | Sentinel Staff Writer

February 11, 2007

A late-stage accident created a green-white-checkered finish, but it did nothing to prevent Saturday's strongest car from winning an accident-filled ARCA 200.

Bobby Gerhart pulled away from Tallahassee's Marc Mitchell and Jeremy Clements over the final two laps following the restart, winning the ARCA RE/MAX Series event at Daytona International Speedway for a record fifth time.

"It's not old-hat, I promise you," said Gerhart, who makes this annual race here a priority for his Pennsylvania-based team. "We as a team are as excited as we were for the first one."

Mitchell, Clements and polesitter Erin Crocker said Gerhart's Chevrolet was the most dominant car in the 41-car field, and Gerhart proved it. He led 54 of 80 laps, charging to the front at the start. He led the first 30 laps and the final 24, getting by Lake Wales' Mario Gosselin for the winning pass on lap 57.

"This was a repeat of '99," Gerhart said, referring to losing the pole position late in qualifying but winning nonetheless. "It brought a quick sense of, 'What are we here to do?' "

Driving in the draft

Crocker got a lesson Saturday in driving in the draft at Daytona, and the result was a late-stage mistake that earned her a disappointing 20th-place finish.

"We didn't do too much drafting during testing, so it was a little bit freer than I would have liked in the draft," said Crocker, only the second woman to win a pole at DIS. "I lost a little momentum there . . . and should never have been back where we were on the restart. But we won a pole, and we head to Nashville with our heads up."

Crocker, driving without a sponsor, saw her Dodge get loose and get high in Turn 3 late in the race when the draft was taking a low line. She shuffled back into the pack.

Then she got tapped in the back and spun through the tri-oval on Lap 61, handing her a lap deficit she could not make up.

The authorized celluloid tale

Daytona USA will show the new movie DALE -- the authorized film about Dale Earnhardt Sr. -- three times a day from Monday through Sunday.

The movie, narrated by Paul Newman, also will be shown at AMC Volusia Square on Wednesday and Thursday nights (7 and 9) and Saturday night at Bethune-Cookman College's Mary McLeon Performing Arts Center.

Extra laps

Robert Yates Racing posted the top two laps of morning practice, and two of the top three laps in the afternoon: Ricky Rudd was ahead of teammate David Gilliland both times and was at the top of the speed chart both times. . . . Sterling Marlin's Chevrolet was second-fastest in the second practice, and to make the Daytona 500 field, he's going to have to qualify on time. . . . Jeremy Mayfield, another driver who must qualify at the top, had the fourth-fastest time in practice. . . . Saturday's ARCA race was the first of two in Florida this year. Lakeland International Speedway hosts a March 24 event, the first time in 12 years the series has raced more than once in Florida. . . . Several ARCA teams added a special "BP" decal to their paint schemes Saturday to honor recently deceased driver/broadcaster Benny Parsons. Parsons was a two-time ARCA points champion and the 1965 ARCA rookie of the year. . . . Ginn Racing has a new 18-race deal for Joe Nemechek's No. 13 Chevrolet. . . . Bill Elliott will drive a small number of races for Front Row Motorsports, teaming with Chad Chaffin in a No. 37 Dodge.