• Johanna Long has a strong 15th place finish on Friday night at Richmond. How impressed are you with driving ability driving for ML Motorsports? Do you think she is capable of winning a Nationwide race?
Erin Crocker Evernham: For sure. I think she does an excellent job. I know ML Motorsports does the best they can but if they could get more funding or she could get in a top ride, she definitely has the potential to win races in my opinion.
Chris Knight: I’ve always been a fan and supporter of Johanna Long. She has done some great things for the sport and ML Motorsports has given her the opportunity to show that several times. While she is not driving for a certified underfunded team in the series, she doesn’t have the funding of someone like KBM, JGR or RCR, so she is strained to a certain extent. If they are able to find that additional funding and able to put Long on the circuit full time, I think she can be a contender every week.
Adam Niemeyer: I met Johanna last year at Kentucky Speedway (and she was nice enough to guest star at my tweetup, along with Chris) and I followed her throughout the race. She impressed me so much that I pointed out to numerous folks just how much more talented I felt she was than the other female driver in the field that day. I think she’s more than capable of winning a race, but I’m just not sure she’s got a great chance at ML Motorsports against the likes of the Gibbs cars and some of the other top cars in the Series. But the fact that she can hang with those cars in the equipment she’s in is impressive to me, and I wish people would recognize just how good she is.
Jason Sciavicco: Johanna always does well on short tracks. She is a good short track driver in good equipment. She’s not running for an underfunded team like most think. ML Motorsports is a strong team that is spending the money to compete at this level.
AnnMarie Strawhand: I am pulling for her. I think she is a good racer and I would love to see her win. I think this would open a lot of doors for more girls working their way up in late models.
Lori Tyler: Great run for this team. I do believe that it’s possible for her to win a race, and I look forward to seeing their progress the rest of the season.
• The Aarons 312 is on deck on Saturday afternoon from Talladega (Ala.) Superspeedway. Who do you like? Who’s a potential sleeper?
Erin Crocker Evernham: It’s so hard to pick a sleeper on a superspeedway. I feel like anyone who completes all the laps, has a chance to get to victory lane.
Chris Knight: If you’re in the draft and can avoid the “big one”, you may have a shot at winning the Aaron’s 312. I’ll be keeping an eye on Johanna Long, Brian Scott, Alex Bowman and Kyle Larson. Oh, I’m not forgetting Jason’s guys too (Blake Koch and Jason White).
Adam Niemeyer: I’m going to have my eyes on Kyle Larson on Saturday. I think he’ll do well and maybe Parker Kligerman. Both of them did surprisingly well at Daytona, and I would think that gives them some confidence going to Talladega.
Jason Sciavicco: Nationwide Series is still about finding friends! 2 car tango! The best sleeper will be the one who stays out of trouble early and is there late. Watch out for the 24 and 00 I’m just saying!
AnnMarie Strawhand: Love to see Alex Bowman get the win. I met his team this weekend – class act group.
Lori Tyler: I’d like to pick Kyle Busch, but he’s not running this weekend! So, I’m guessing that it’s anyone’s game! It should be a fun race to watch.
ARCA Racing Series presented by Menards
• Tom Hessert scored the win for Cunningham Motorsports Sunday afternoon at Salem Speedway producing the third different winner this season in as many races. John Wes Townley and Grant Enfinger were the other two. Your take on the 2013 ARCA Racing Series season thus far and as a whole.
Erin Crocker Evernham: Unfortunately, I haven’t been able to catch any of the races this year other than Daytona.
Chris Knight: It’s great to see two first-time winners in the series this year in John Wes Townley and Grant Enfinger. Tom Hessert III also did a nice job denying Spencer Gallagher his first ARCA win by a last-lap pass at Salem Speedway this past Sunday.
I think the ARCA Racing Series is a great series. I’ve covered it and been fortunate enough to work in it and even win an ARCA Racing Series championship, I just wish there were a bit more teams on the schedule to make it even more competitive. Hopefully, we’ll see the car count increase, because the past three races, we haven’t seen a full field. That’s a much different factor then what we saw nearly five or six years ago.
Adam Niemeyer: Admittedly I don’t follow the ARCA Series as much as I probably should, but I’m always interested to look back and find out who the past NASCAR stars are that were racing in this series just a few years ago. I did see some of Townley’s win at Daytona though and I’m interested to follow the ARCA Series a little more closely when I can.
AnnMarie Strawhand: Love the fact that ARCA still puts on a great show at Salem, one of my favorite tracks. This is where the best drivers shine in this series, at Toledo too. This is where ARCA can leverage themselves as a true development series to show it is talent driven, and keep the costs down for more drivers to advance through the series – and feel that they have an actual shot at winning. More ARCA at Salem and Toledo and Kentucky and places like these are a good way to showcase serious talent, true developing/advancing drivers who are also developing their sponsors. We need less of the jump in and buy a ride here and there thing we keep seeing that does not help the series or the drivers that do it in any positive or long term way.
