ARCA RE/MAX Series rookie Dan Brode racked in a 21st place finish in Saturday’s Prairie Meadows 250, a nice recovery for Carter-2-Motorsports after missing the second ARS event of the season two weeks ago at Toledo Speedway.
Brode, a native of Mocksville, North Carolina made solid impressions in both practice and qualifying giving his team ease and excitement for the rest of the weekend.
In practice, Brode motored the 26th fastest time, but the group called the session early after seeing several cars slam hard into the wall. The team opted to bow out of the second half of the session knowing they had a baseline setup for qualifying.
“I was pretty happy with the way practice went,” said Brode. “We decided it was in the best interest of the team not to take it too hard in practice. We saw all the incidents go on and we only have one car, so we didn’t want to take a chance of wrecking our only car at Iowa Speedway this weekend.”
With his first practice considered a success for the rookie team, they changed their tunes and focused on ARCA SIM Factory pole qualifying. During his two laps around the track, Brode maneuvered a time of 25.352 seconds at 124.251 MPH locking him 25th on the starting grid.
After two prior attempts to make an ARCA RE/MAX Series event, Brode’s goal was complete. He made the show.
At the start event Brode played safe. He continued to do that for much of the event. Despite not having the perfect setup for Iowa Speedway, the Carter-2-Motorsports team led by crew chief Dan Collins continued to work on the handling of the No. 48 Tucson-FreeFeds.org.
The handling improved throughout much of the event which allowed Brode to escalate through the running order. Brode kept his machine clean and away from trouble, collecting a respectable 21st place finish.
“It was a good day,” said Brode. “As a driver I can’t say I’m completely satisfied, but we finished the race with an intact racecar. We made improvements all race long and as a team I think we learned a whole bunch. I’m excited about my future with the team and I know there is better finishes on the way.”
| 
|