Grant drove his first laps on the 2 mile Michigan International Speedway Tuesday at the ARCA open test session. When the competitors return for the June 11th race, there will be only 2 hours of pre-race practice, making yesterday’s test session crucial to dial in the cars for the 200 mile race. The BeasleyAllen.com car posted the 6th fastest time, of 29 competitors, during the afternoon session, posting lap speeds of more than 180 miles per hour. “The Michigan track is almost as big as Talladega, but relatively flat. While we reach speeds of approximately 205 miles per hour entering the turns, we must back off the gas in the turns instead of staying on the gas like we do on the high banks of Talladega.”

ROUSH YATES ENGINE BUILDER NICK RAMEY UNDER THE HOOD AT MICHIGAN TUESDAY

Grant and other racers experienced “tight” conditions during the test session. “Tight” or “Pushing” means that when the driver turns the steering wheel left, the car fails to respond as it should, causing the driver to turn the wheel more than should be done. If the front of the car doesn’t turn quick enough, the car can head up the track during the turn and hit the wall. That is what happened to one unfortunate racer Tuesday, causing a big crash. “We ran well on new tires, but old tires caused us problems with being too tight. Others reported the same thing, but we have to figure this situation out before return in a few weeks, as we are determined to continue driving the BeasleyAllen.com car to the front.”

GRANT PREPARING TO TEST AT MICHIGAN TUESDAY

The 200 mile race at Michigan will be televised live on Speed Channel June 11th.

Grant & Zach are driving from the North Carolina shop to Michigan Internatinal Speedway today for testing tomorrow at the 2 mile high banked track. Other ARCA competitors will be testing and tuning their race cars for the June 11th race, which will be televised live on Speed TV. Crew chief Howard Bixman, along with crew members Jim & Doug, live in Michigan and will be working throughout the day tomorrow adjusting both the Michigan car and the car which will be run at Iowa Speedway in July.

Grant spent Friday & Saturday in Atlanta, participating in the wedding of his cousin Jonathon King. Grant made a brief stop at the reception Saturday night before heading back to the Charlotte area. He could not spend the evening partying, as he had to be up early Sunday to take the speedway car to a show in Mooresville. RoushYates Performance Parts hosted an open house/car show at its Mooresville North Carolina facility. “RoushYates Performance Parts is our source of high performance parts for the BeasleyAllen.com ARCA car. We know that when we buy components from RoushYates that we are putting the best engineered, highest quality components on the car. Advice from RoushYates has been invaluable. I was happy to help RoushYates Sunday and look forward to putting a RoushYates engine in victory lane at Michigan.”