Another Milestone for Alli Owens
Driver of No. 19 ElectrifyingCareers.com Toyota Notches First-Career Top-10

Talladega, AL (April 24, 2009) – Alli Owens reached another milestone in her quickly growing career.  The driver of the No. 19 ElectrifyingCareers.com Toyota achieved her first top-10 finish in ARCA RE/MAX Series competition.  Owens sixth place finish in the ARCA RE/MAX 250 at Talladega Superspeedway eclipsed her previous best, 12th place, which she recorded last weekend at Rockingham Speedway.

The No. 19 D'Hondt Motorsports entry started the event in sixth place. When the race went green, Owens quickly took over fourth place and held the position until the team's first pit stop, lap 45. The ElectrifyingCareers.com Camry was "easy to drive" and could "go wherever it needed to," so crew chief Jerry Pitts called for a two tire pit stop, without any adjustments to the chassis. The crew blitzed through the service and got Owens out of the pits in first place.  Unfortunately, the team had a miscue and allowed Owens to leave the box before the car was full of fuel. Pitts decided to leave Owens on the track and make an additional pit stop in the latter stages of the race.

Owens assumed the lead when the race went green on lap 50.  The ElectrifyingCareers.com Toyota showed the way for two laps before getting shuffled back to 15th place.  Owens fought her way into ninth place before the next yellow flag, lap 70, halted the action. Pitts used the caution period to change the left-side tires of the No. 19 car and top off the fuel cell.  Following the pit stop, Owens rejoined the field in 19th place.

Green flag action resumed on lap 76. Owens found a drafting partner, series veteran Frank Kimmel, for the final quarter of the race.  Wherever, Kimmel's No 44 car went, Owens followed in his tire tracks. The tandem broke into the top-10 before the next caution flag, lap 85, slowed the field.  Owens was in ninth place on the ensuing restart and quickly picked off the car in front of her when the race went green.  Another caution flag waved for a spinning vehicle on lap 92, setting the stage for a two lap shoot out.

The green flag waved for the final time on lap 96 with Owens in eighth place.   With her spotter Eddie D'Hondt guiding her through traffic, Owens claimed two more positions to finish the race in sixth place.  Owens was the thirteenth female driver in ARCA RE/MAX Series history to finish inside the top-10 and the sixth female driver to lead a race in ARCA RE/MAX competition.

"I learned a lot today," said Owens after the race.  "The ElectrifyingCareers.com team overcame adversity today.  When we didn't get the car full of fuel on our first pit stop, it forced us to make an unscheduled stop later in the race.  I'm glad that it worked out that way, though because I got to draft with Frank Kimmel. When you're a champion like Frank, you can teach a class on superspeedway racing.  I felt like I went to school when I was following him.  I pushed him and he pulled me through.  It was probably the most fun I've had in a race car.

"I'm so proud of my team.  We had an awesome car and never gave up.  It seems like we get better and better each week and I can't wait until we go racing again."