(DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. – February 18, 2012) – In a sense rebounding from last night’s engine inspection failure that swept away the Menards Pole Award and relegated him to the 42nd starting position, Bobby Gerhart led the final ARCA Racing Series presented by Menards practice at Daytona this morning.
Gerhart drove the No. 5 Lucas Oil Slick Mist Chevrolet to a best of 15 laps in 48.866 seconds (184.102 mph), topping Frank Kimmel (No. 44 Ansell/Menards Toyota) by 0.026 second. Ed Kennedy, Josh Williams, and Brandon Davis filled out the top five for the session.
Eighteen of the 43 cars which will start this afternoon’s race took laps. Sean Corr, the Menards Pole Award winner after Gerhart’s lap was disallowed, did not participate. Fellow top-five starters Ryan Reed (second), Tom Hessert (fourth), and Chris Windom (fifth) also sat out the 45-minute session.
Steve Blackburn, who will start third, practiced 12th fastest.
The ARCA Racing Series garage will open to fans for 90 minutes at 12:30, and the Lucas Oil Slick Mist 200 will begin at 4:30 p.m. ARCARacing.com will feature live timing and scoring coverage of the race, and SPEED will begin its television coverage just after 4 p.m.
