The BeasleyAllen.com ARCA car was dialed in and Grant was hard on the acceleator at Texas Motor Speedway Thursday. Grant posted the 7th fastest practice time among 34 competitors on the 1 1/2 mile high speed track. Grant drew the 2nd qualifying spot and took the BeasleyAllen.com car to a ARCA track record speed of 187.4 miles per hour. What could have possible been a pole setting time was washed away by a brief rain shower which forced ARCA officials to cancel qualifying. Because all competitors did not have a chance to qualify, Grant’s record lap is not considered official and the starting grid for Friday’s race is set by owner points, meaning Grant will start the race in 14th position. More important than the spot where Grant starts the race, there are several drivers starting ahead of Grant whose cars are substantially slower than the BeasleyAllen.com Ford Fusion. 

Grant will be depending heavily on spotter Jeremy Lundy to help navigate through the first laps of the 150 mile race. “If we can avoid wrecking during the first 5 laps, we can take this car to the front of the field. The car was the best qualifying race car I have ever had on a big track. I appreciate all the hard work that Zach Ralston & Tom Bear have done in the shop and the great adjustments made by Howard and the crew at the track.” 

The practice session almost ended in disaster when a car immediately in front of Grant spun unassisted, causing Grant to immediately go high on the track to avoid a wreck. However, when Grant took that evasive action, the spinning car shot up the track, with Grant shooting the gap between the other car and the wall. “I didn’t miss the out of control car by more than 1 foot. There is not much you can do when that situation occurs at 185 miles per hour and we were lucky to not wad the car up. “ 

The Rattlesnake 150 ARCA race will be telecast live tonight on Speed TV at 6:30 pm CDT.