The ARCA Menards Series schedule has quite a bit of diversity to it. In any given year, the KLAS Motorsports team will haul their #73 racecars to superspeedways, intermediate tracks, short tracks and even road courses. Each track has its own personality.
Even so, there is no place on the schedule like the high-banked, concrete-lined, racing stadium that is Bristol Motor Speedway (TN). This Thursday, September 11th, KLAS Motorsports driver Andy Jankowiak will race in the Bush’s Beans 200 at the facility and he is ready for the challenge.
“There is no place like Bristol,” said Jankowiak. “The walls there just speak to you. You walk in, look around and think of the Cup night races that have been held there. You think of everything that has happened in those races. That was always the race that everyone had circled on their calendars because they knew something was going to happen. Bristol is definitely a challenge. It is unique.”
Last season at Bristol, Jankowiak drove the #73 to a tenth-place finish. This year, he knows that the KLAS Motorsports team has progressed to the point of potentially finishing even higher.
“We have struggled a little bit there in the past trying to find speed, but we’ve managed to finish decent,” said Jankowiak. “We’ve held it together for top ten finishes. Now, we want to get there and get going right away (in practice), so I think we will be good.”
The KLAS Motorsports team has not competed in the ARCA Menards Series since Watkins Glen last month – where they fielded two entries – with Glen Reen finishing fourth and Jankowiak finishing seventh.
Jankowiak has not been idle during that time. He has raced his own Modified, Sportsman Modified and Midget on the short tracks of New York throughout the waning days of summer. That stretch was highlighted by winning the RoC Modified tour event at Chemung Speedrome (NY) on the night after the Watkins Glen ARCA race. He has also finished strong in several other short track races as well.
“That was a cool win,” said Jankowiak. “The Modified has been running really well and the Sportsman has also been really good. We’ve just been coming up one spot short. I’ve been finishing second a lot lately. We’ve had a little trouble with the Midget engine, but now that is back together and we’ve finished second with that. I haven’t been bored.”
Florida Safety Systems will be the primary sponsor of the #73 team at Bristol. Earlier in the season when the team was expanding their schedule, the long-time marketing partner of Jankowiak and KLAS Motorsports stepped up their involvement to include this race.
SunTric Renewable Energy and MikeSellsGolfCarts.com will be presenting sponsors for the race.
Additional marketing partners for the event include DaK’s Market, Acacia Energy, Automotive Consultants, Wordsmith Fence, Ryan Bronson Music, Ranch Fuel, Phillips 66 Lubricants and Yukon Creek Sportsman Club.
The Bush’s Beans 200 at Bristol Motor Speedway (TN) will be broadcast live on Fox Sports 1 starting at 5:30pm ET on Thursday.