Kansas: Justin Lofton preview

Lofton looks to Kansas to extend points lead

Despite the off week, Justin Lofton was unable to escape his racing reality. He enters this weekend's Kansas Lottery 150 at Kansas Speedway with a mere 25-point lead in the championship standings. With two races remaining, Lofton is on the verge of possibly scoring his first stock car championship.

"The off week was nice. I went home to California and caught up with my family and friends. It was relaxing for a while but I'm ready to get back in the car this week, that's for sure," said Lofton, who won the last race at Salem Speedway.

The race at Kansas is a welcome one for the 23-year-old since it mimics Chicagoland Speedway, the last 1.5-mile track that the ARCA RE/MAX Series visited. The track produced a win for Lofton.

"Kansas reminds me a lot of Chicagoland. We've got a lot of momentum going for us and we want to see if we can make up some ground on Parker (Kligerman, second in points) heading into the finale at Rockingham.

"It's hard to believe we only have two races left this season but it's been a good one. As a team, we've accomplished a lot. We're going after the win this weekend. We want that championship," Lofton added.

Lofton leads the way atop the standings courtesy his six race wins and a series-leading 13 top-five and 17 top-10 finishes after the first 19 of 21 races.

His record on intermediate tracks is impressive on its own, having won the last race (on a 1.5-mile track) in Chicago and finishing third prior to that, at Kentucky.

Lofton will continue his championship charge on Thursday as the series takes to the Kansas Speedway track.

-credit: esr