Speed Likes ‘The Rock’

A unique twist to the ARCA season comes May 4 when the series visits Rockingham Speedway — the former North Carolina Speedway located about 75 miles east of Charlotte, N.C. Then and there, ARCA competitors will battle it out at a track that has baffled even the best stock car drivers for decades.

Rockingham, which hosted NASCAR events from 1965 to 2004, is no run-of-the-mill one-mile track. It’s high banked, nasty and known for munching rubber at an alarming rate. Yet Scott Speed got along with “The Rock” just fine over the weekend.

Speed, in the Eddie Sharp Racing Red Bull Toyota, posted the top speed of a two-day ARCA test Friday and Saturday, turning a lap at 144.335 mph (24.942 seconds). It sounds as if Speed already has a handle on priority No. 1 — tire management.

“The tires go away in a hurry,” Speed said. “They lose grip right away, so the drivers that manage their tires the most effectively will the guys you’ll see up front. You’ve got to slow yourself down as the tires lose grip.”

The top five (for the complete list, click here):
1. Scott Speed, Toyota, 144.335
2. Michael Annett, Toyota, 144.208
3. Justin Marks, Toyota, 143.472
4. Justin Allgaier, Chevrolet, 142.993
5. Joey Logano, Chevrolet, 142.885