Patience became the key word at "The Rock"
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Carolina 200 winner Sean Caisse (25) battles for position with Alli Owens Sunday at the Rockingham Speedway.
In fact, the word patience was stenciled onto the dashboard of Nur Ali’s No. 14 Dodge.
In the end, it was the patience of Sean Caisse which allowed him to take Sunday’s checkered flag in the Carolina 200 at the Rockingham Speedway.
Unlike last year’s Carolina 500 when Joey Logano had the car to beat for Venturini Motorsports, it took some luck for the team to return to Victory Lane for the second straight year.
Ken Schrader, who was second to Logano last year, was ready to have his name etched onto the trophy before fuel mileage cost him the win. With three laps left in the race, Schrader was forced to dive down pit road for gas, allowing Caisse to take the lead and ultimately the victory.
“They (Caisse/Venturini Motorsports) were the best car for 200 laps and that’s what matters,” Schrader said. “I didn’t expect to go without a yellow (flag) for that long. I start conserving (fuel) with about 40 laps to go, but it wasn’t enough. I am proud of the show the ARCA Series put on today.”
Even Caisse’s owner, Billy Venturini, was not sure he was going to have the car to chase down Schrader.
“I really didn’t expect to win like this,” Venturini said. “With 40 laps left, we started to tell Sean to conserve fuel. I didn’t think we were going to run him (Schrader) down.”
Schrader dominated the race from the beginning. He led all but 15 of the 200 laps on the day. He was so dominate, like Logano, only six cars remained on the lead lap. The year before, five cars were still on the lead lap.
In fact, 31 of the 50 cars to start last year’s race were still running at the end. This year, the track was just as difficult, as 29 of 40 cars to start Sunday's race were still running.
Schrader’s inability to conserve enough fuel was a footnote to an otherwise perfect weekend for racing at Rockingham Speedway.
“It was a great weekend,” track owner Andy Hillenburg said. “This kind of side-by-side racing is what made this place famous. We are going to slowly fill it, seat by seat.”
ARCA will return to "The Rock" in October when it crowns its points champion in the Rockingham ARCA 200.
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