Schrader Captures Nashville Inaugural Event

A new track opened its gates Friday as the ARCA Re/Max Racing Series hit the concrete banking of Nashville Superspeedway for the PFG Lester 150. It may be a new track, but it was an old NASCAR veteran, Ken Schrader, who took the checkered flag to become the track's first winner. Schrader, who drove his own Federated Auto Parts Pontiac, followed his plan of getting to the front and staying out of trouble to outdistance Frank Kimmel and Shawna Robinson. That wasn't particularly easy on the slick new concrete surface that saw five incidents involving six cars during the event. The veteran of 500 Winston Cup starts said after the race, "I'm not a big fan of concrete tracks. Concrete is for driving big trucks on to get to the race track... It's gripping, it's gripping, it's gripping … Oh, darn, it ain't!" were his words to describe his car's reaction on the turns on the new track.

Turn two proved to be the most exciting place on the track Friday as several of the incidents occurred in that corner. Just five laps after taking the green flag Chase Montgomery became the speedway's first victim as he and Anthony Hill got together. "Turn 2 was slick all week. They just smoothed it out too much," Montgomery said. "There just haven't been enough cars on this track to hold." Several other drivers echoed his sentiments, as did drivers from the Busch Grand National Series who shared the track this weekend for a race on Saturday.

The only female driver at Nashville, Shawna Robinson, fell victim to the slick turns in Busch practice as she wrecked her primary car. She stuck tight enough during the ARCA event, however and came home with a solid third place finish. Until two weeks ago, she hadn't planned on running the ARCA event, but sponsorship was found and she used the day to silence critics of her driving ability. Robinson's skills have been under attack recently since she was named to drive a Winston Cup car in selected races this season.

She stayed near the front the entire day, and it wasn't until two laps to go that she was finally passed by veteran ARCA champion Frank Kimmel for second place in the event. Kimmel started on the pole for the event and led the 38 starters to the green flag for the first time at Nashville after posting a qualifying speed of 151.453 mph.

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