JUSTIN LOFTON QUICK FACTS
O'Reilly Raceway Park
AAA Insurance 200
July 23, 2010
Another solid run: Last weekend's race in St. Louis provided yet another strong performance by the No. 7 Red Horse Racing team. On Friday, Lofton laid down his highest qualifying effort to date in fourth place. After taking the green flag a little over 16 hours late following a power outage at the track, Lofton maintained a strong run within the top-10 for the majority of the event. Help from his pit crew boosted him along the way, but in the end, the team couldn't do anything about mechanical trouble that crept up under the hood. Despite their efforts, the team was unable to finish the event, being scored in 27th at the end of the day. The finish dropped Lofton one position in the point standings. He enters this week's race at O'Reilly Raceway Park in 13th.
Wednesday Warrior: Wednesday marks a big day for Lofton and his production company, Weekend Warriors Productions. Specializing in concept and promotional videos, in addition to their bi-weekly web show, WWP also dabbles in music video development and production. Recently, the WWP crew filmed a country music video for rising star Tim Dugger. The video, Sunday Drive, is set to premier Wednesday night at Whiskey River in uptown Charlotte.
Short track stats: Lofton has an impressive short track record under his belt. Though he has yet to turn a competitive lap on the .686-mile Indianapolis short track, he has won on similar tracks in the past. In 2009, Lofton notched victories at Toledo, Berlin, and Salem while competing in the ARCA Racing Series. This season, he has had some of his best runs to date on shorter tracks.
Media matters: Lofton will have a busy week leading up to his run on Friday at the ORP short track. On Wednesday, he and teammate Timothy Peters will sit down with SPEED's Ray Dunlap for a one-on-one interview at the Red Horse Racing team shop. On Friday, he will participate in his weekly spot on Sirius Satellite Radio at 2:30 following final practice. And, time allowing, Lofton will be the rookie spotlight leading up to the AAA Insurance 200 on SPEED's pre-race coverage.
Justin Lofton on racing at O'Reilly Raceway Park: "I'm excited about running on a short track this weekend. I really enjoy racing on tracks like ORP. Though I haven't raced there before, I have had success on similar tracks. Mark has raced there many times before and I am excited about what we've put together for this weekend."
Crew Chief Mark Rette on O'Reilly Raceway Park:"We had a good truck the last two weeks. Justin is doing a really good job. We've had competitive runs, we just need to put them together. I'm excited to go to ORP. Justin is a good short track racer. That is where we won most of our races last year in ARCA. We are going to take the truck that we took to Martinsville. It hasn't been on the track since. Justin hasn't been to ORP yet, but I know he will adapt to it well."
Equipment Information: Lofton will race chassis RHR93 at ORP. It is the same truck that Lofton raced earlier this season on the short track at Martinsville. The team practiced within the top five, but their race ended early after contact with another truck halted their charge.
