Lucas Punkari
It had been a near-perfect debut into the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series for Steve Arpin at the Texas Motor Speedway on Friday night as he ran near the front of the pack during the WinStar World Casino 400k.
But as the race reached its late stages, a small mistake on the final pit stop proved to be the undoing of a strong run for the Fort Frances native.
“We were running a little bit hot at the time, so we had to pull some tape off of the front of the truck, which takes away front downforce, and to counter act that, we needed to take some rear traction away,” Arpin explained.
“We ended up missing the tape on that stop, which threw the balance of the truck completely out of whack, but it still should have been something that I should have adjusted for,” he admitted.
With 31 laps to go, and an opportunity for a top 10 finish still hanging in the balance, Arpin’s #32 Mike’s Hard Lemonade-sponsored Chevrolet Silverado got loose as he exited the fourth turn. As he wrestled to regain control, he made contact with Austin Dillon.
Both trucks went sliding through the frontstretch infield as result of the contact. And while Arpin got back into the race, he ended up finishing one lap down in 23rd place.
“By all rights, we should have had a top-five run,” Arpin said.
“I learned a lot of lessons all race long, and each lap I learned something,” he noted.
“It was just unfortunate that I had to learn one of those lessons the hard way,” he sighed.
Before his late-race mishap, Arpin had been running in the top 10 for most of the 168-lap affair after qualifying in fourth spot—and even led six laps during the early going.
“It was really cool to lead in my first race because not many people even get a chance to go up front during their first year in that level,” he stressed.
“It was really neat to be racing up there with guys like Ron Hornaday, Todd Bodine, and Johnny Sauter, and to be right there in the mix with them was awesome,” he enthused.
Arpin also was noticeable on the 1.5-mile high-banked oval during restarts as he powered his way to the high side of the track to move his way through the field.
“That just comes from all of the years of dirt racing,” he reasoned.
“I remember when we used to run back at Emo that the higher that we got on the track, the better we would be sometimes, and I would end up hanging my right rear tire over the edge of the track while taking the fast way around.
“It’s just something that I’ve always been comfortable with, and I’ve always been able to capitalize on the restarts in every series that I’ve raced in,” Arpin said.
Friday night’s race also marked the inaugural appearance in the Truck Series for the 27-year old driver, with Thursday’s opening practice being the very first time he had ever sat behind the wheel of a race truck.
“They are so different than anything that I have ever driven before,” he noted.
“The trucks are so much taller compared to the cars, and it disturbs the air so much that it really affects how the trucks handle behind one another.
“There is such a learning curve as to where you place yourself on the track, your position and timing when you make a pass,” he added. “And there’s so much to it from a strategy and a planning standpoint on each lap.
“It was something that I completely never expected.”
After running in 21st place in the first practice session, Arpin improved to a 10th-place showing in the final practice before qualifying fourth later on Thursday.
“In that first practice, we didn’t worry about where our position was on the board as it was all about me getting comfortable out there,” Arpin explained.
“I did around 10-15 laps and talked things over with my crew chief [Doug George] about what I need to be more comfortable on the track, and things just got steadily better and better form there.”
Besides the on-track activities, it also was a busy week for Arpin off it in Texas as he was involved in a number of pre-race sponsor appearances after arriving in Dallas-Fort Worth on Sunday.
“We had appearances straight through from seven in the morning to eight at night,” he recalled.
“We got to see all of the people that makes the company [Mike’s] that it is, from the people involved in sales to the distributors, and it was such an eye-opening experience to see what makes them successful.”
But even before he made his way to the Lone Star state, Arpin played a key role in helping his Turner Motorsports teammate, Justin Allgaier, take the checkered flag in a Nationwide Series event at the Chicagoland Speedway on June 4 while situated high over top of the track in the spotter’s stand.
The finish ended up being a memorable one as both Allgaier and current NASCAR Sprint Cup points leader Carl Edwards ran out of gas on the backstretch of the final lap of the race while battling for the lead.
“Carl had run out of gas going into Turn 3 and the next thing you know, Justin’s on the radio going, ‘God, guys, I’m out of gas,’” Arpin recalled.
“I just told him, ‘Bud don’t worry, he is, too.’
“I was looking through my binoculars to see where the third-place car [Trevor Bayne] was running, and he was so far back of those guys that I told Justin, ‘Bud, if you just keep this thing rolling, you’re going to win this thing,’” Arpin added.
It was an extremely successful debut for Arpin in his first-ever NASCAR race as a spotter, but don’t expect him to be taking up the position again anytime soon.
“I think I’m going to call it quits now while I’m up top,” he laughed.
With the next race in Arpin’s five-race schedule not taking place until Thursday, July 7 at the Kentucky Speedway in Sparta, the next little while will be spent dissecting everything that took place at Texas on Friday—both on and off the track.
“We spent all day on Monday going over things with the crew chief [George] over our practice and race notes, and on Tuesday we went over things from a business end,” Arpin explained.
“On the competition side, we discussed what we need to improve on and what we need to do better to capitalize on our finishes, and on the business end of things, we’re looking at what we did right and wrong there.
“It was the debut for a lot of things last weekend, not just for me in the truck but for the Mike’s Hard program in NASCAR, and overall it was huge success for us,” Arpin said.
Besides the truck schedule, Arpin will be returning to his dirt track roots on Wednesday, July 13 when he travels to the Deer Creek Speedway in Rochester, Mn. to be a part of the annual Gopher 50 event.
“You have no idea how much I’m looking forward to going there,” Arpin enthused.
“We’re going have our show truck there and everything, and Mike’s is going be doing some big stuff there for all of the Canadian fans who want to come down and see us, too,” he added.
And while the rest of his summer schedule, besides the Truck Series events, have yet to be put in place, the Arpin is hoping to make an appearance back at his old stomping grounds.
“We’re definitely trying to do something to possibly run at Emo later this year,” he revealed.
