This week's edition of Racecar Graveyard takes us back to 2010, when Steve Arpin was thrown into the deep end of the pool in his Xfinity Series debut and nearly escaped the clutches of Talladega Superspeedway.
Driver: Steve Arpin
Car: No. 7 JR Motorsports Chevrolet Impala
Track: Talladega Superspeedway (April 25, 2010)
Bio: Steve Arpin joined JR Motorsports in 2010 as a fill-in for Danica Patrick in the team’s No. 7 Chevrolet Impala, and his first race was the Aaron’s 312 at Talladega Superspeedway in Alabama. Nothing like stepping off the deep end first time in the pool, eh?
The then-26-year-old Canadian, who was running full-time in the ARCA Racing Series then, did well most of the day until lap 114, when everything went sideways on the front straightaway. As the pack blazed toward the start/finish line, Arpin and Colin Braun made contact, which turned Braun’s car across Arpin’s nose in the midst of a 24-car pack.
By the time the field came to rest, seven cars were involved, including Arpin. The contact had damaged both front fenders and dirtied up the other sheet metal on the white Impala. After several trips to pit road to see what could be salvaged, Arpin eventually called it a day and finished 26th.
The race, originally set for 117 laps, went three circuits over the scheduled distance and Brad Keselowski was the winner, despite another huge crash in Turn 4 coming to the checkered.
Arpin ran seven races that season for JRM, two in the No.88 with and two more the following season for another team. Arpin had a best finish of 10th at Daytona in his JRM career. The No. 7 sits forlornly in a glade with several other cars of that era, white paint still incongruously shiny amid the foliage at Dirty Mo Acres.