Austin Theriault’s season-long tenure with Ken Schrader Racing (KSR) started off with a bang as Theriault claimed an accident-shortened ARCA Racing Series opener.
Theriault, 23, was leading Saturday’s season-opening Lucas Oil Complete Engine Treatment 200 Driven by General Tire when a vicious accident involving Justin Fontaine, Cody Rohrbaugh and Bobby Gerhart brought out a red flag for repairs to a damaged section SAFER barrier with five laps remaining.
Thank goodness for SAFER barriers. #ARCAonFS1 pic.twitter.com/shrVqlgYbp
— INDYCAR on FOX (@IndyCarOnFOX) February 18, 2017
Running out of time to complete repairs and race before the night’s Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series event, ARCA officials called the race minutes later, awarding Theriault with the victory.
The achievement marks Theriault’s second ARCA win in three career starts, and the first victory for KSR since Ken Schrader’s 2015 victory at Salem Speedway.
Terry Jones led the race into the closing stages, but lost the lead to Theriault with eight laps remaining. Jones ultimately ended the event in second, his best finish in 57-career ARCA starts.
Shane Lee, Dalton Sargeant and Tom Hessert completed the top five.
The race-ending shunt was just one of three big accidents that plagued the 75-lap event, taking out dozens of competitors.
After running the first half of the event in fairly clean fashion, the field was slowed by a massive accident with 25 laps remaining. From there successive large crashes followed in 10-lap increments with 15 laps and five laps to go, respectively, with the last incident ultimately causing the race’s end.
Fontaine was slowly extricated from his No. 33 machine and transported to a local hospital after the car was sent into the outside wall and flipping onto its roof in the final crash.
The ARCA Racing Series will return to action on Apr. 7 at Fairgrounds Speedway Nashville.
Results:
ARCA Racing Series presented by Menards
Daytona Int’l Speedway (Feb. 18, 2017)
Results, Lucas Oil Complete Engine Treatment 200 Driven by General Tire
| FIN | STR | NO | DRIVER/HOMETOWN | LAPS | STATUS |
| 1 | 9 | 52 | Austin Theriault/Fort Kent ME | 75 | Running |
| 2 | 12 | 30 | Terry Jones/Amherstburg ON | 75 | Running |
| 3 | 19 | 22 | Shane Lee/Newton NC | 75 | Running |
| 4 | 10 | 77 | Dalton Sargeant/Boca Raton FL | 75 | Running |
| 5 | 1 | 25 | Tom Hessert/Cherry Hill NJ | 75 | Running |
| 6 | 14 | 23 | Bret Holmes/Munford AL | 75 | Running |
| 7 | 20 | 69 | Ricky Sanders/Stockbridge GA | 75 | Running |
| 8 | 4 | 78 | Kyle Weatherman/Wentzville MO | 75 | Running |
| 9 | 29 | 58 | Clint King/Denton NC | 75 | Running |
| 10 | 6 | 88 | Kaz Grala/Westboro MA | 75 | Running |
| 11 | 22 | 46 | Sean Corr/Goshen NY | 75 | Running |
| 12 | 2 | 18 | Matt Tifft/Hinckley OH | 75 | Running |
| 13 | 32 | 33 | Justin Fontaine/Fletcher NC | 75 | Running |
| 14 | 18 | 7 | Codie Rohrbaugh/Petersburg WV | 75 | Running |
| 15 | 21 | 5 | Bobby Gerhart/Lebanon PA | 75 | Running |
| 16 | 13 | 83 | Derrick Lancaster/Christiansburg VA | 75 | Running |
| 17 | 35 | 48 | Brad Smith/Shelby Township MI | 75 | Running |
| 18 | 26 | 16 | John Ferrier/Middletown NY | 75 | Running |
| 19 | 17 | 15 | Leilani Munter/Rochester MN | 74 | Running |
| 20 | 39 | 02 | Andy Seuss/Salisbury NC | 73 | Running |
| 21 | 7 | 38 | Ray Ciccarelli/Reistertown MD | 73 | Running |
| 22 | 25 | 01 | Travis Braden/Wheeling WV | 73 | Running |
| 23 | 36 | 3 | Mike Senica/Doylestown PA | 71 | Running |
| 24 | 37 | 06 | Scott Edwards/Norfolk England | 70 | Running |
| 25 | 24 | 42 | Bo LeMastus/Louisville KY | 68 | Out |
| 26 | 33 | 55 | Noah Gragson/Las Vegas NV | 68 | Running |
| 27 | 8 | 28 | Michael Self/Draper UT | 67 | Out |
| 28 | 16 | 98 | Quin Houff/Mt. Sidney VA | 66 | Out |
| 29 | 23 | 9 | Thomas Praytor/Mobile AL | 65 | Out |
| 30 | 30 | 10 | Ed Pompa/Ballston Spa NY | 65 | Out |
| 31 | 15 | 66 | Mark Thompson/Cartersville GA | 49 | Out |
| 32 | 27 | 32 | Gus Dean/Bluffton SC | 49 | Out |
| 33 | 28 | 80 | Caesar Bacarella/Parkland FL | 49 | Out |
| 34 | 31 | 27 | AJ Fike/Galesburg IL | 49 | Out |
| 35 | 40 | 37 | David LeBeau/Daytona Beach FL | 49 | Out |
| 36 | 34 | 2 | Eric Caudell/Piedmont OK | 49 | Out |
| 37 | 11 | 6 | Michael Lira/Port Orange FL | 49 | Out |
| 38 | 3 | 11 | Bryan Dauzat/Concord NC | 44 | Out |
| 39 | 38 | 0 | Con Nicolopoulos/Columbus MI | 15 | Out |
| 40 | 5 | 34 | Willie Mullins/Fredericksburg VA | 13 | Out |
| 41 | 67 | Cody Lane/Port Richey FL | DNS | ||
| 42 | 71 | Gene Paul/Tarpon Springs FL | DNS | ||
| 43 | 20 | Zane Smith/Huntington Beach CA | DNS | ||
| 44 | 81 | Riley Herbst/Las Vegas NV | DNS |