Sirius Speedway regular David Stremme dominated the ARCA RE/MAX Series “Hantz Group 200” at Michigan International Speedway Friday, lapping the entire field in the process. It marked the first time since 2002 that an ARCA race finished with just one car on the lead lap.“I used to do that a lot,” said Stremme of lapping the field. “But as you move up, there’s more competition. The ARCA series is tough, so this is pretty cool.”
He established a new race record of 145.956 mph -- eclipsing the old mark of 142.461 mph set by Ron Barfield in 1996 – taking the lead on the opening lap in his Rusty Wallace Incorporated Dodge and relinquishing it only on a lap 42 pitstop. By the halfway mark, he was one of only two drivers on the lead lap, along with Penske Racing South developmental driver Billy Wease. He lapped Wease just seven laps later.
Blake Bjorklund finished third; the only top-five finisher without a Nextel Cup or Busch Series affiliation. Evernham Motorsports’ driver Erin Crocker finished fourth, with Brewco Motorsports’ Brad Coleman rounding out the top-five. Two cautions slowed the race for a total of 14 laps.
I'm still waiting to see why this guy is in Cup.
ReplyDeleteYeah, he's really underachieved, compared to all the other FitzBradshaw Racing and Ganassi drivers...
ReplyDeleteYou think his cup season compares to Mears or Sorenson?
ReplyDeleteHow many top 10's does he have compared to those guys?
I think Mears has more top 5's than David has top 20's.
If he's really coming to the Oxford 250, it should be quite a show watching him bounce around.
Actually, Andy, let's compare apples to apples. In Casey Mears' rookie season of 2003, he finished 30th in points, with no top-10 finishes and a season-best 15th-place finish at Las Vegas in early March. Stremme is currently 36th in points, with no top-10s and a best finish of 19th, last Sunday at Michigan. By season's end, I expect their stats to be pretty similar. You can't compare a rookie to a third-year Nextel Cup driver.
ReplyDeleteSorenson has obviously had a better season than Stemme so far; with a fifth and two tenths. But if you watched Sunday's race, you know that Sorenson owes that fifth place finish to a timely rainstorm, not a fast racecar. In fact, he and Stremme ran together (11th to 15th place) most of the day. Stremme continues to get hosed on pit road, where his team regularly loses 3-7 spots per pitstop, while Sorenson's team usually gains him a spot or two.
They are both talented kids, in my opinion. You can't lap the ARCA field the way Stremme did -- no matter how good the equipment -- without a little bit of talent. Don't forget that there were 4-5 other Cup-affiliated drivers in the field, and none of them could touch him. He is also a former ASA champion, back in the days of the ASA National Tour. Again, you can't do that without talent.