Despite the cool Michigan evening, the temperatures in the Aaron’s Lucky Dog team pit was extremely hot. It was this heat that forced Ken Butler, III bowed out early from Saturday night’s Berlin ARCA 200. Eddie Sharp Racing’s KBII made a stellar seventh-place start, but finished a disappointing 25th.
“After practice, I really thought we had a car that was capable of winning the race,” said Butler. “It is just very unfortunate that we overheated. I really think we would have had a great finish otherwise.”
Saturday KBIII qualified the No. 22 Aaron’s Lucky Dog Toyota in the seventh position with a 17.251-second qualifying lap, only one 1/1000’s behind teammate Scott Speed in the sixth position.
Drivers were introduced to fans on the front stretch and climbed into their cars. The cars rolled onto the track and the green flagged dropped at 8:36 p.m.
During the second caution of the evening at lap 34, it was decided that the No. 22 would come down pit road. Over the course of the next 20 laps, the No. 22 Aaron’s Lucky Dog team made four pit stops for fresh tires, fuel, and adjustments to improve the car’s tight handling. With each pit stop, Davis and the Aaron’s Lucky Dog team kept KBIII on the lead lap. When the race restarted, KBIII moved quickly back into the top 10, taking the No. 22 three-wide at times.
During the lap 73 caution, KBIII reported that the car “feels like it’s getting freer as the run goes.” KBIII drove hard to remain in the top 10 during the next green-flag run. However, lap 105, KBIII reported once again that the temperatures were spiking. The No. 22 came back to pit road on lap 107. The team lifted the hood and steam poured out. The day was over for the Lucky Dog Toyota. With 107 laps complete, KBIII would ultimately be scored in the 25th position.
“This was definitely not the finish we needed,” said Butler. “When the race started we were extremely tight, which was weird because in practice we had been more on the free side. Jonathan made a good call on the adjustments and the handling was much better with the next run. We’ll just move on to Pocono next weekend. Eddie Sharp Racing builds strong speedway cars and we finished 11th there in the spring, so I’m looking forward to going back and bettering that.”
