Nashville, Tenn. – In 52 combined starts across the ARCA Menards Series platform, Zachary Tinkle registered nine top 10s but zero top fives.
Until Saturday (May 11) at Nashville Fairgrounds Speedway in the ARCA Menards Series race.
Tinkle, back full time in the East with Fast Track Racing for a second straight season, steadily improved his performance throughout the day, capping it off with a fourth-place finish.
He was eighth quickest in practice and then qualified fifth, his second-best start and his best-ever qualifying result.
Throughout the 150-lap race, Tinkle raced Tyler Scofield and Andrew Patterson for fourth-sixth positions.
In the end, he prevailed, and his jubilation was palpable.
“Just I saw the work in this team,” Tinkle told Frontstretch post-race. “This team was really thrashing on this car after Dover [Motor Speedway] to try and get it right, get our motor fixed, and so for me, just trying to keep on top of my tires. And I learned a lot from here last year. I felt like I didn’t manage my tire’s weight and from Pensacola [Five Flags Speedway] earlier this year and so we did really good. I felt like I kept on top of tires really good in this race.
“But I can’t take all the credit. Andy [Hillenburg, FTR team owner], Todd [Parrott, Tinkle’s crew chief] and John [Szulczewski] on top of the spotter’s stand tonight all did an incredible job. It’s a real team effort and I’m really grateful for Andy Hillenburg and Fast Track Racing for their continued faith in me and, you know, it’s all a combination […] this ain’t easy, you know, we’ve come a long way since 2021 when I first dropped in Wayne’s car. And man, this feels pretty fricking awesome, I won’t lie. I’m very grateful for this.”
Fifth place went to Patterson, who debuted driving a second entry for MAN Motorsports.
“Yeah I had a really good car,” Patterson said. “These MAN Motorsports guys brought me a really fast racecar, made it easier on me. Just survived, got laps underneath me. That was the biggest thing, figuring how the car was going to race on the long runs so that was the biggest learning curve. Learning how to keep the tires on it; I feel like I did a pretty good job. Really should’ve run fourth, I just needed a little something at the end, clean up my driving a little bit and we’ll be right there so that was…
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