Concord, N.C. – Parker Chase made the first of five ARCA Menards Series starts for 2021 in the 100-lap General Tire 150 at Charlotte Motor Speedway. Chase gained experience at the 1.5 mile oval at the series test held a few weeks prior to the event. This experience was put to use as Parker grabbed an exciting second place starting position in the combined practice/qualifying session that set the grid for the evening event.
“This is my first oval race weekend in the ARCA Menards Series and I am out here to gain experience and make laps. The Venturini Motorsports team prepared a fast Toyota Camry, and it was awesome to have such a good qualifying session to set the stage for the race that evening,” said Chase.
It was an evening of firsts for the New Braunfels, Texas native as he made his first front row start and first start on a one and a half mile oval. Chase settled into a rythmn in the top 5 and ran competitive lap times throughout the first half of the race. He narrowly avoided a few moments with other competitors on track and stayed out of trouble to bring the car to the Venturini crew for tires and fuel at the pit stop. He kept running in and around the top 5 for the majority of the second half of the race, even with a slightly damaged car from a brush with the Turn 4 wall.
The most exciting moment of the evening was a strategy call by crew chief Kevin Reed to bring Chase down for a new set of tires with 2 laps remaining in the race. On the final two laps, Parker sliced his way back up the field to finish in fourth position. He made a pass on two competitors coming out of Turn 4 and ended up sliding sideways across the finish line.
“We came out here to run all the laps and stay out of trouble, and we accomplished that. I really enjoyed my first ARCA Menards Series oval event and was glad to grab my first top 5 finish in my first start. I am looking forward to putting what we learned here at Charlotte to work in my next starts with Venturini Motorsports. We couldn’t be here without the support of NXTLVL Marine, Eagle Marine, and VerticalBridge and thanks to them for making this possible.”
Parker Chase’s next start in the NXTLVL Marine number 25 Toyota Camry will be on July 31 at Winchester Speedway in the Winchester 200.