Russ Dugger Steals The Spotlight at ARCA Kansas Lottery 150

Oct. 1, 2010 - PRLog -- Behind the wheel of an immaculately prepared race car on the pace laps prior to the start of the Kansas Lottery 150, Russ Dugger said to the team via radio "I understand this car's name is 'Rooster'?  Let's see if he'll crow."

All race cars need nicknames, and the Accell Construction Chevrolet that Russ Dugger drove in Kansas didn't get one until the morning of the race.  "Rooster" saw the kind of attention to detail and careful preparation that is typically only employed by race teams at the highest level of the sport.

What resulted was proof that Russ Dugger has found his calling.

A loose condition in qualifying trim cost the #12 car some time out of turn 4, and resulted in a 19th place starting position.  In race trim though, the car handled perfectly.  In fact, Dugger called for no adjustments the entire race, using left and right blowers and adjustments to driving style to maintain an impressive pace throughout long green flag runs.

As dedicated ARCA Racing Series fans know, success in this series with its relatively short races means you have to qualify well, and you cannot make any mistakes.  On this day, both of those rules would come into play.  

The 19th starting position meant Dugger and his extremely quick car were mired behind drivers who were not as good on restarts early in the race, and dropped back to 24th having lost momentum avoiding contact on the first restart.  But it did not take Dugger long to put his talent on display, and he began working the #12 through traffic and passing cars seemingly at will - including a scorching pass on the inside of Tim George, Jr. in the 31 through the first turn complex captured by the TV cameras.

By the half-way point when the second caution flag came out, Dugger had charged up to 12th place.  His lap times were consistently among the top six drivers, and occasionally faster than the leaders.  

The DGM Racing crew executed an absolutely blistering stop at the midway caution, and the #12 gained three positions on pit road to exit in 9th.  The team and Dugger's guests in attendance began to get a sense that, given a good restart and another long green flag run, they just might be able to sneak into the top 5 - or even win the whole thing.

Dugger was challenged by two drivers after the restart.  First, the #22 of Dakoda Armstrong began to apply pressure looking inside on the entry of turns, but Dugger calmly ran the outside line where he had been fast as well, and extended the gap on the exit of each turn.  After a few laps, Armstrong began to fade back and was replaced by championship contender Tom Hessert in the #77.  He too was unable to find a way to get past Dugger on the exit of the turns, and like Armstrong, began to fade back as Dugger continued to charge on long runs.

Later in the race, with just over ten laps to go, another caution flag came out.  Dugger had held onto 9th despite challenges from Hessert and Amrstrong, and was reeling in the 8th place car before the yellow lights flashed.  It was gut check time - if they stayed out, they could possibly be in the lead of the race with less than 10 laps to go.  But if they did not take tires, they might be a sitting duck and end up further back.  It was a gamble, but the team wisely decided to come with the leaders and take new tires.

Unfortunately, Dugger entered the pit stall long by less than 6 inches, and the time the crew spent pushing him back cost them two positions on pit road.  At that point in the race, Dugger had moved all the way up to 9th and was chasing down 8th place just before the race's last caution - he would exit that pit cycle in 11th.

Then again as before, a poor restart in front of him left Dugger no choice but to go low to avoid contact.  in the process, he gained two positions and had to give them back - a move that required him to slow down enough to lose all of his momentum and any chance at a top-10 finish.

It's tough to imagine that a driver with only two previous ARCA starts and no regular racing schedule would be disappointed with a 12th place, lead-lap finish at a fast 1.5 mile track where only 13 cars stayed on the lead lap.  This was after all only the second time Dugger has competed at a 1.5 mile track, ever.  But both Dugger and the DGM team knew that they had a car capable of running up front, and while proud of their showing, are left to think about what might have been.

"I'm happy and disappointed at the same time, because we were so close.  If that last caution hadn't have come out, we were 7th or 8th at worst," said crew chief Mario Gosselin after the race.  "We had a couple little mistakes here and there; as a team we finished 12th but I feel like overall we had a top-5 car," he said.

For now, the Russ Dugger Racing team goes back to work looking for their next opportunity to hit the track and show the world what he's capable of accomplishing behind the wheel.




About DGM Racing

Team owner Mario Gosselin and his DGM Racing team has been fielding winning cars in the ARCA Racing Series since 1999. It has two poles, four wins and multiple top 10’s to its credit. In addition to fielding entries in ARCA, DGM Racing also competes in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series with Gosselin behind the wheel of its No. 12 Chevy Silverado.



About Accell Construction

Accell Construction is a Claremore, OK company specializing in excavation with operating capabilities across the United States, and is owned & operated by Stephen Todhunter.  Accell is a proud sponsor of Russ Dugger and Mario Gosselin in both the ARCA Racing Series Presented by Re/Max and Mendards, and the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series.



On The Web

http://www.RussDugger.com
http://www.MarioGosselin.com
http://www.AccellConstructionInc.com
http://www.AD-Racing.net

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Russ Dugger is a professional racing driver. His goal is to provide organizations a better way to energize their marketing efforts, by blending the excitement of motorsports with first-class, unparalleled customer experiences.