NEWTON, Iowa—After two positive top-15 finishes at Daytona International Speedway and Salem Speedway sophomore ARCA RE/MAX Series (ARS) driver Patrick Sheltra is thirsty for his first top-10 finish of the season as the series strolls to Iowa Speedway this weekend for the running of the Prairie Meadows 250 Saturday afternoon.
The first two races of the season haven’t yielded the finishes the Sheltra Motorsports deserve, however the performance of the team hasn’t lacked. Up front and in contention at Daytona and Salem have kept the team alive and ready to keep the momentum rolling heading into the third race of the season.
“I’m really looking forward to heading to Iowa Speedway this weekend,” said Sheltra, who is enjoying his second full season of competition in the ARCA RE/MAX Series. “We didn’t have the finish that we should have last year, but the experience was priceless. The team has done a fabulous job this year and I’m hoping we can continue that trend this weekend.”
Planting it in his mind that Iowa Speedway is still a short track, Sheltra takes the same mentality that he used last Sunday at Salem Speedway to the newly constructed Newton, Iowa speed plant this weekend. “Of course there is a huge difference between Iowa Speedway and Salem Speedway, but it’s hard to believe with the speeds of the track; that’s it’s still a short track. It’s good hard racing. Iowa isn’t as tough as Salem is, but it’s a place where you can’t let up on the wheel either. I know the competition there was tight last year and I expect the same this weekend.”
Opting not to participate in the open-test at .875-mile oval earlier this month doesn’t faze the Whitesville, Kentucky operation or the dirt track ace heading into to third race on the calendar.
“We feel that our Iowa program is going to be stout,” added Sheltra, who will run three different racing divisions in 2008. “I have great faith in my crew chief John (Hayden) that we’ll unload with a strong setup and the changes that we make will make us even stronger throughout the weekend.”
Speaking of Hayden, he has elected to bring the Chevrolet Monte Carlo SS that the team utilized in the season finale last year at Toledo Speedway. The 23rd event on the schedule awarded the team with a powerful effort after Sheltra bolted into a top-five and recovered from being spun out to net a eighth place finish in the former Richard Childress Racing machine.
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