RIDGEWAY, VA :: Martinsville Speedway President Clay Campbell has been racing for nearly 20 years, racing at tracks like Caraway and in touring divisions such as the NASCAR K&N Pro Series and the ARCA Racing Series.  Now, Campbell has his sights set on a victory at the World Center of Speed.  He will race for the win in the 50th Lucas Oil 200 presented by MavTV, the season opener for ARCA’s top-tier racing division, on Saturday at the Daytona International Speedway.

“This is my first time at Daytona and obviously I’m excited about it,” Campbell said.  “It’s special.  I’ve been involved in the sport all my life.  I’ve been coming (to Daytona) since I was a kid.  It’s special to run Daytona.  That’s why I’m doing this race.  It’s a bucket list item for me.  It’s neat and gratifying.”

The Lucas Oil 200 is known for being wild and crazy.  Spectacular crashes and frantic finishes have been the main event in the ARCA race at Daytona over the course of a half-century.  However, the last two races have had a different flavor… a tamer race, the type of race Campbell hopes to be competing in on Saturday.

“I hope the race is tame like it has been the past couple years,” Campbell stated.  “You’ve got a lot of drivers with varying experience and levels of equipment.  Things have gotten better over the past few years.  They’re the same as the Sprint Cup cars of a few years ago and you’re seeing that in the race itself.  There’s a lot of good competition in this series.”

There could be a new feel this year.  A smaller restrictor plate, designed to take away more horsepower, creates for an unknown for the drivers competing in Saturday’s ARCA race.

“I don’t know what the plate change will do,” Campbell mentioned.  “When we were here in December testing, we never got a chance to get a lot of cars in a pack.  I don’t know if it’s going to make that big a difference whether it will be a closer pack or split packs.”

Campbell is teaming up with Spraker Racing to compete in the 50th Lucas Oil 200.  It’s a team he’s raced with before and he’s confident he can pull out an upset victory over the eight-time Daytona winner Bobby Gerhart and the nine-time ARCA Champion Frank Kimmel.

“I’ve been with Jeff Spraker on the K&N side before,” Campbell explained.  We’ve got a great relationship, good equipment, Mountain Dew as a sponsor, Ferrum College as an associate sponsor.  If I didn’t think we could win, I wouldn’t do it.  You’ve got a lot of experience with Kimmel, Gerhart and others.  Daytona and Talladega are rolls of the dice.  If you can avoid trouble and stay in the lead draft, the draft is an equalizer.  If we can avoid trouble and keep our nose clean, we’ve got a shot at it.  I think we can have a good day.”

 

Clay Campbell finished 25th in the 2012 International Motorsports Hall of Fame 250 at Talladega.  The 50th Lucas Oil 200 presented by MavTV can be seen live on SPEED on Saturday, February 16th