ARCA Menards Series Salem Speedway Recap
- Kody Swanson made just his second career ARCA Menards Series start on Saturday at Salem Speedway driving the GMS Racing No. 21 Chevrolet. The Sioux Chief PowerPEX 200 was an opportunity for Swanson to showcase his abilities behind the wheel of a stock car, after primarily cutting his teeth in asphalt open wheel midgets and sprint cars for the majority of his career.
- Swanson qualified the No. 21 Chevrolet in the 11th starting position, citing that he struggled to learn what he needed the car to handle like to gain raw speed early on. Regardless, he remained confident that his prior track experience would come into play during the 200-lap race around the 0.555-mile high banked short track, as he won in numerous types of cars over the years at Salem.
- In the first segment of the race, Swanson was faced with the challenge of managing tire wear with a heavy stock car, something that he had not been very accustomed to with his past experience. Salem’s old, wore out surface was tough on equipment all night, prompting Kody to lose two laps to the leader with a corded right front tire. He nursed the car to the first pit stop of the night on lap 101, where crew chief Chad Bryant was able to make several adjustments to help the handling, in addition to bolting four tires on in an effort to gain a lap back on the leaders who mainly took two tires.
- For the second segment of the race, Swanson became more comfortable with his No. 21 Chevrolet as he learned to manage the weight and save tires over the course of a run. Unfortunately for the Indiana native, however, he was trapped two laps down, and was in need of a few cautions to get back on the lead lap. The second segment of the race would run caution free, setting up a 50 lap dash to the finish.
- As the night went on, Swanson’s lap times dropped, but by the time the final segment rolled around, he was unable to gain many positions due to the fact that he was still trapped two laps down. While the majority of the field took four tires on the final pit stop, Swanson was limited to take just two, however the 33-year-old was able to hold his own for the final run to the checkered flag. As the field crossed the line, Kody Swanson finished in the ninth position, earning his second career Top-10 finish in ARCA Menards Series in just two career starts. The run also marked GMS Racing’s ninth Top-10 finish of the 2021 ARCA season.
Quote: "I’m incredibly grateful for the opportunity to have driven the GMS Racing No. 21 Chevrolet at Salem. I certainly wish that our final result would have been better, but I’ve raced long enough to know that not every race goes your way. I learned a few things the hard way in the first 100 laps, and hate that those mistakes prevented us from having a chance at a good finish. I’m thankful for Chad Bryant, and the continued effort from the team to work through our struggles, and help us improve throughout the rest of the race to finish as well as we could. While I was disappointed that our chance at a good finish had passed, I was encouraged by the progress we made over the final two runs: I was able to apply what I was learning, to pass cars, and show improvement from the beginning of the race. Thank you again to Mike Beam, Maury Gallagher, Chad Bryant and GMS Racing for the opportunity, and Harvest Supply, Rosewood Machine & Tool, Lyons Transportation, Radio Hospital and RAMS Racing for the support!"
