Camping World 200 at Gateway International Raceway Preview

OVERVIEW

posted on September 02, 2008

Marc Mitchell Gateway International Raceway Fast Facts

-Marc Mitchell has two previous starts at Gateway International Raceway (ARCA, NNS)
-In Craftsman Truck Series competition, Mitchell has five starts at intermediate tracks with a best finish of ninth (Kentucky)
-Mitchell's best start at an intermediate track was at Kansas Speedway (5th)
-In Craftsman Truck Series competition at intermediate tracks Mitchell has an average start of 14.8 and an average finish of 19.8
-Billy Ballew Motorsports has competed in seven Truck Series events at Gateway, posting a best finish of 12th in 2003 with Mike Skinner

Marc Mitchell Comments on Gateway:

"I'm really looking forward to this race. I've always felt comfortable at Gateway (International Raceway). In my first race there, I was competing in the ARCA Series. I qualified on the front row and ran in the top-five for most of the race. A wreck ended up taking us out of contention about the halfway point, but we were moving. I raced there in a Nationwide event in 2005. I was driving with a part-time team and we qualified 39th. We wound up finishing in 41st-place, but it was a big accomplishment to make the race with a team running a limited schedule. I can't wait to go back and race with the Truck Series. I know the competition is going to be harder, but I think we have what it takes for this to be one of our best finishes of the season.

"I've got a lot of confidence going into this weekend. I've got two races under my belt there. That's two more races than I have at most tracks. That really helps level the playing field with some of the veterans who have more than a dozen starts there. I know how I need the Ergon truck to handle. I know the line around the track. I won't have to spend our practice time learning those things. Hopefully we'll unload fast of the truck and spend our time fine tuning the Ergon Toyota.

"Gateway can be a tricky place to race. The turns are mostly flat and that makes it easy to overdrive the corners. The key is to roll through the center of the corners and get back on the gas early. If you screw up a turn, you get punished for it because you'll lose so much speed on the straights. You've got to hit each turn perfectly to make the straightaways as long as possible.

"Johnny Benson is the defending champ of this race. He's been on a hot steak lately and I'm sure he's going to be contending for the win this weekend. It would be a real accomplishment for us to race up front with him and know that we can mix it up with the best. I'm hoping that we prove that we have what it takes to do that this weekend."