Dan Falloon
Steve Arpin wasn’t quite as shifty as he needed to be in his opening race of the 2010 ARCA Racing Series season.
The local driver finished 10th at the Lucas Oil Slick Mist 200 on Saturday at Daytona.
It was an improvement from his 26th place finish at the same race a year ago, but Arpin felt his jump up the standings could have been even higher.
“It’s definitely not what we wanted. We definitely had a better car than that,” he remarked.
There were four major crashes during Saturday’s race, which has gained a reputation for being an accident-prone event.
The high-flying action didn’t benefit Arpin, who said that with the race under a caution flag for 36 of the 80 laps, he was unable to break through to the lead pack from his 10th-place starting position.
“For the first half of the race, we had a lot of caution so that really hurt our track position,” he sighed.
“It didn’t give us time to race back to the field, and where everyone just started to get a little antsy, we got a little caught up,” he added.
The race drew some extra attention with a inclusion of IndyCar driver Danica Patrick, who recorded a sixth-place finish in her ARCA debut.
Arpin said that through his team, Venturini Motorsports, he was able to get to know Patrick leading up to the race, and the two exchanged racing tips over the weekend.
“It was really cool,” he enthused. “We’ve been talking all weekend and comparing notes back and forth.
“I tried to help her out the best I could, and we’ve developed a pretty good relationship over there with Danica,” he noted.
“We’re going to keep on working with her as she keeps on going to the Nationwide series,” Arpin added.
Nearly overshadowed by Patrick’s presence, veteran driver Bobby Gerhart won the race for a record sixth time.
