TALLADEGA, Ala: Greg Van Alst is still smiling.
The ARCA Menards Series winner of the season-opening BRANDT 200 Supporting Florida FFA at Daytona (Fla.) International Speedway heads to Talladega (Ala.) Superspeedway looking to sweep the superspeedway season in Saturday’s General Tire 200.
Van Alst and his Anderson, Ind.-based Greg Van Alst Motorsports team are bringing the same No. 35 Chevrolet rocket that carried the sophomore ARCA Menards Series driver to his stunning first career win two months at the “World Center of Racing.”
Carrying the momentum of a win and a solid showing at Phoenix (Ariz.) Raceway, Van Alst was able to leave the desert with another top-10 in the books and still in control of the championship points lead.
This weekend at Talladega, Van Alst is hungry for ARCA win number two and to keep his dream season alive.
“Things are great,” said Van Alst. “I cannot tell you how good the past couple of months has been for our Greg Van Alst Motorsports team. We are still getting a lot of attention from our Daytona win and Phoenix was pretty solid for us. But now, it is time for us to refocus and try and go win Talladega.”
Van Alst has two prior starts at the 2.66-mile superspeedway with his debut landing him in the garage after being collected in a late race accident. Last April, Van Alst had a strong car but was shuffled out of the top-10 in the closing laps and finished 11th.
Back for a third time, Van Alst hopes the experience that he has inhaled over the past two years will prove to be pivotal for his return visit to the famed Alabama race track.
“We could have won Talladega last year,” Van Alst recalled. “I honestly believe that. We were really patient and bid our time climbing through the field and I felt like we were one move or two from taking the race lead, then it all fell apart. That’s just part of racing though – especially at Talladega.”
“Without a doubt, I learned so much over the past couple of years between Daytona and Talladega and feel incredibly blessed to have another opportunity to apply everything to continue our team’s journey Saturday.”
Chris Barkdull’s CB Fabricating, a longtime partner with Greg Van Alst Motorsports has boosted its commitment to the team for his 34th career ARCA start and will serve as the primary marketing partner of Van Alst’s No. 35 Chevrolet.
Headquartered in Anderson, Ind., CB Fabricating offers a complete list of fabricating from design, laser cutting, CNC punching, forming, welding, powder coating, and assembly.
Their 26,000-square-foot facility allows them to service the needs of many different industries. Everything from the Automotive, agricultural, aquatic, medical, transportation, electrical enclosures, and much more.
“Chris has done so much for our organization and I’m glad to have CB Fabricating back on board as our primary partner at Talladega,” added Van Alst. “We would not have won Daytona without him. We would not be leading the ARCA points standing without him. His support has meant so much to our team and I’d love nothing more than take him back to Victory Lane on Saturday.”
Back on a superspeedway has brought plenty of support for Van Alst in the third ARCA Menards Series start of the season, but Van Alst will also continue to promote SponsorTeam35.com, a website dedicated to offering potential marketing partners opportunities to pledge their support to the family-owned team during the course of the 2023 ARCA Menards Series season.
“SponsorTeam35.com is a concept that I thought of before Daytona,” explained Van Alst. “After our success of pulling together nearly 20 companies to make our win happen there – I felt like launching this site early in the season was extremely important.
“The site is very simple and I believe easy to use and very self-explanatory. We had a lot of help for Daytona and because of the site we had more help for Talladega and I hope we’ll have more help throughout the season – but there are plenty of races that are unsold in various locations and I’m hoping this platform will allow us to fill that space.”
Along with CB Fabricating and SponsorTeam35.com, the team welcomes the additional support of Athletes Corner, Bassin Habits, Grass Guru, Hawg Tide BBQ, Johnson Family Plumbing, Moore Brothers, Nexxtcar, Rhino Trucking, Riggins Renovations, SkyBoundDev.com, Striped Bananas, Swag Guys, TV Cop and Verns Concrete.
“Everyone makes a difference and I’m thankful to have over 15 companies leaving their mark on our car this weekend at Talladega,” sounded Van Alst. “We had a career moment at Daytona and with the support of all of our partners from top to bottom, we’ll have that opportunity again.”
Since 2002, Van Alst has 33 ARCA Menards Series starts to his credit with a career-best finish of first (win) at Daytona (Fla.) International Speedway (Feb. 2023). Overall, he has earned three top-five and 16 top-10 finishes and holds an average series finish of 13.3. He finished a career-high fifth in the championship standings in 2022.
For more on Greg Van Alst and Greg Van Alst Motorsports, please visit GregVanAlst.com, like them on Facebook (Van Alst Motorsports) and follow him on Twitter (@GregVanAlst35).
The General Tire 200 (76 laps | 202 miles) is the third of 20 races on the 2023 ARCA Menards Series schedule in the 71st consecutive ARCA season. Practice begins Fri., April 21 with a one-hour group session from 3:00 p.m. – 4:00 p.m. The field will be set by the 2022 ARCA car owner standings. The race is set for the following morning on Sat., Apr. 22 to take the green flag shortly after 11:30 a.m. CT (12:30 p.m. ET). The event will be televised live on FOX Sports 1 (FS1) with the Motor Racing Network (MRN) and SiriusXM Satellite Radio (XM channel 391 | online channel 981) handling the radio waves. ARCARacing.com will also stream live timing and scoring throughout the entire weekend festivities
