MOORESVILLE, N.C. (Aug. 29, 2017) – Returning to Road America for the first time since 2013, Cunningham Motorsports drivers Shane Lee, Dalton Sargeant and Austin Cindric turned heads in the Road America 100 this past weekend. From leading laps to making last chance pit stops, all three Cunningham drivers had a storyline of their own in the one road course race of the 2017 ARCA Racing Series presented by Menards season.
Shane Lee, No. 22 Big Tine Ford Fusion
- Start: 8th / Finish: 4th
- Starting on General Tire rain tires, Lee made a green flag pit stop on lap eight to change all four tires to slicks and fill up on Sunoco fuel.
- On lap nine Lee reported dragging in the left front of the car. He came down pit road under a full-course caution (lap 13) to make adjustments and assess the issue and restarted 14th (lap 15).
- With a restart on lap 23, Lee took the green flag in 10th and worked his way into the top-five with just two laps left to finish fourth in his first road course start.
- Lee: “I was a little unsure of what to expect since I’ve never raced on a road course before, but this was a lot of fun and I’m really happy with our finish. We took the race in strides and handled everything that came at us well. The last two races have been on track types that I’ve never raced on and we’ve gotten great finishes out of them. This 22 team hasn’t given up throughout the season and we keep getting better which is great to see and I’m excited for our next race.”
Dalton Sargeant, No. 77 Big Tine Ford Fusion
- Start: 4th / Finish: 8th
- By lap three Sargeant had the lead until he came down pit road under green (lap nine) to exchange his General Tire rain tires for slicks, fill up on Sunoco fuel and make slight adjustments.
- Moving back into the fourth position, Sargeant held that until deciding to return to pit road under a full-course caution on lap 21 for fresh General Tires and fuel.
- Restarting in the 14th position, Sargeant made his way to first and finished in fourth-place after falling behind in a few turns. That fourth-place finish would be moved to eighth after Sargeant was penalized four spots for jumping the last restart.
- Sargeant: “Overall it was a weekend we can take a lot of positives away from…we ran up front with some really strong road course drivers and that’s great. The guys worked so hard on our No. 77 Big Tine Ford all weekend and we had a really fast car on race day. We had the lead and could have gotten the win, but it was just an error on my end that took it from us, but we led some laps and were in contention all day. We’ll move on from here and work on getting this No. 77 its fourth win of the season.”
Austin Cindric, No. 99 Menards Ford Fusion
- Start: 1st / Finish: 12th
- Cindric started the weekend off strong by recording the fastest laps in two practice sessions. With General Tire Pole Qualifying cancelled from rain, the No. 99 Menards team started in the first position based off of those times.
- After losing the lead to Sargeant on lap three, Cindric came down pit road on lap five to change all four General Tires from rain tires to slicks. Cindric regained the lead by lap nine once all green flag pit stops were complete.
- Cindric held the lead until the last lap and was poised for the win until another car made contact with the No. 99 in turn one, spinning Cindric around and out of contention for the win.
- Cindric: “We definitely had the car to beat this weekend and this was such a great learning experience for me. I wish we could have gotten the No. 99 Menards Ford to victory lane and keep the streak alive for Cunningham Motorsports on road courses. We were able to lead some laps and run up front from the very first practice which is great. It was really good practice for me to have this opportunity and I can’t thank ARCA and Road America enough for helping the guys who were pulling double-duty to be able to compete in both races this weekend.”
Keep up with Cunningham Motorsports on Facebook and Instagram (@CunninghamRace) and on Twitter (@Cunningham_Race). Head to www.cunninghamrace.com for more news.
You can follow Shane and Dalton on social media as well. Follow Shane on Facebook/Twitter (@ShaneLeeRacing) and on Instagram (@Shane_Lee00). You can find Dalton on Facebook (@DaltonSargeantRacing) and Twitter/Instagram (@DaltonSargeant). Follow Austin on Facebook (@Austin.Cindric) and on Twitter/Instagram (@AustinCindric).