Grant was looking forward Tuesday to his best night’s sleep in the past several weeks. He has worked long hours every day and night since leaving the BeasleyAllen Conference & Expo several weeks ago. He and the Bragg Racing crew have worked 48 hours non-stop a few times leading up to the Snowball Derby. After the race Sunday night, Grant drove the race rig to the Bragg shop in Mississippi where the Derby car was unloaded and the BeasleyAllen ARCA car was rolled in the trailer, along with most of the equipment and tools used for the Derby. Grant slept a few hours Sunday night before driving the Kenworth to the North Carolina shop Monday. Upon arriving at the shop, Grant began work preparing the ARCA superspeedway car for yesterday’s chassis dyno test which could only be scheduled for Tuesday.

Grant will spend the next several days preparing the speedway car for next weekend’s ARCA test at Daytona, in order to be ready for the season opener. The race is scheduled for February 6th and will likely be the most viewed race in ARCA history, due to yesterday’s announcement that IRL racer Danica Patrick will make her stock car racing debut in the ARCA Daytona race. Even the December 18-20 test session is being promoted, as Danica-mania has hit the stock car world. Danica must compete in the ARCA race before being approved to compete in the NASCAR Nationwide series which she is planning on doing with the help of JR Motorsports, a team headed by Dale Earnhardt, Jr. Daytona Speedway is opening the grandstands for fans to watch the testing free, and will be conducting tours of the pits during the test weekend.

Grant has never raced on the Daytona track, which is slightly smaller and slower than Talladega where he finished 3rd earlier this year. Daytona Speedway is a rougher, narrower track which, combined with high banks and 175 mph+ speeds makes driving and drafting difficult. The January 2009 ARCA race had several multi-car crashes which eliminated many of the cars which started the race. 

For that latest information and details on the Daytona test and Danica Patrick’s plans for stock car racing, visit www.arcaracing.com.