(Mooresville, NC, August 24, 2015–) Austin Wayne Self (AWS) driver of the No. 98 AM Technical Solutions Chevrolet for Mason Mitchell Motorsports (MMM) positioned himself for a solid top-five finish in the ChevySuperStores.com 100 at the Illinois State Fairgrounds Sunday afternoon.
Self was battling for a top-five finish on the final lap when mayhem ensued in the final corner. The 2014 Scott Rookie of The Year was caught up in a last lap incident relegating him to 10th in the final running order.
“I knew it was going to get crazy during that restart with two laps to go,” Self stated. “Anything goes on the final lap and everyone was battling hard in turn four and a couple of guys made contact and unfortunately we got caught up in the wreck. Our car was really good on the long runs, I wished we had a long green flag run to finish the race.”
“It’s unfortunate, we positioned ourselves inside the top-five all day long and to have it slip away in the final corner is very disappointing. These guys at MMM work around the clock to prepare good racecars.”
“We still have four more races to get back to victory lane in 2015. I think we’re going to be pretty strong down the stretch.”
Rain was the name of the theme Sunday morning at the 1.0 mile dirt track shortening ARCA practice by 25 minutes and canceling Menards pole qualifying. That meant the field would lineup based off of 2015 owners points placing Self fifth on the grid for the 100 lap event.
When the green flag waved on the 16th race of the 2015 season the caution quickly waved as the field was slowed by two early cautions in the first 12 laps.
On the ensuing restart at lap 14 Self would get trapped on the outside line and lose three spots pushing him back to the seventh position. The Austin, Texas native would exert patience and worked his way around the 69 and 16 to move back into the top five before the caution waved for the third time at lap 31.
Crew chief Danny Johnson brought Self down pit-road for four Hoosier racing tires and fuel. The No. 98 team sent AWS back to the track in the sixth spot.
Self spent the second half of the race saving his equipment positioning himself for a sprint to the finish. Self began catching Frank Kimmel and Josh Williams for the runner-up spot at lap 75. Self was able to move around Kimmel before smoke erupted from the back of the No. 25 car which would bring out the caution.
A series of late race cautions set up a two lap sprint to the checkered flag. Self was battling for a top-five finish in turn four on the final lap when drivers made contact and the second year driver got caught up in the incident. Self’s No. 98 would sustain right front damage and would cross the finish line in the 10th spot.
With his 12th top-10 finish of the 2015 season Self was able to gain valuable championship points on leader Grant Enfinger who finished 21st and now trails Enfinger by 180 points with four races remaining in the 2015 season.
The ARCA Racing Series will enjoy a weekend off before gearing up for the final dirt race of the 2015 season at the “Magic Mile” the DuQuoin State Fairgrounds for the Southern Illinois 100 on Monday, September 7th. The race will be live on the ARCA Radio Network beginning at 2:30 p.m. ET.. ARCA will also have live timing and scoring for all on-track activity presented by AM Technical Solutions and Pirate Energy.
Follow Austin on Social Media: To keep up-to-date with the latest, news, information and race updates, follow Austin on his personal Twitter page at @AustinWSelf also follow Austin on his Facebook Austin Wayne Self and his personal website at https://www.awsracing.com/
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