Michael Self

Michael Self
Self at Madison International Speedway in 2019
Born	(1990-11-01) November 1, 1990 (age 34) Park City, Utah
ARCA Menards Series career
Debut season	2014
Current team	Venturini Motorsports
Car number	25
Engine	Toyota
Crew chief	Kevin Reed
Former teams	Ranier Racing with MDM, MDM Motorsports
Starts	59
Wins	9
Poles	6
Best finish	2nd in 2020, 2019
NASCAR Xfinity Series career
7 races run over 1 year
2015 position	40th
Best finish	40th (2015)
First race	2015 U.S. Cellular 250 (Iowa)
Last race	2015 Kansas Lottery 300 (Kansas)
Wins Top tens Poles 0 0 0
Statistics current as of October 4, 2020.
Previous series
2009–2013, 2017	NASCAR K&N Pro Series West

Michael Self (born November 1, 1990) is an American professional stock car racing driver. He last competed full-time in the ARCA Menards Series, driving the No. 25 Toyota Camry for Venturini Motorsports. He was a former development driver for Richard Childress Racing, and has made seven NASCAR Xfinity Series starts for JD Motorsports. He has eight wins in the NASCAR K&N Pro Series West, and nine wins in ARCA competition.

Racing career

Early years

Self started racing at age eleven in go-karts. Self was a Rotax Max driver and won a regional championship and finished well enough in the national championship to represent America in the world championships.^[1] He switched to open-wheel cars five years later and came to stock cars at age eighteen, debuting in late models.^[2] The stock car opportunity came around the time of the CART-IndyCar split; Self had scholarship money from Mazda waiting but passed on the opportunity.^[1] Throughout his early developmental career, Self's family funded his efforts; the family ran out of money around 2013.^[1]

K&N Pro Series West

In 2009, Self ran two races with Motorway Motorsports, starting and parking. After going full-time with Motorway in 2010, Self was signed by the Golden Gate Racing Team, a team owned by Jim Offenbach which was an affiliate of Richard Childress Racing, for the final two races of the season.^[3][4]

The partnership with GGRT extended into 2011, with Self driving top-tier equipment. However, there were missteps, like a crash in Sonoma qualifying that relegated him to the back of the field. With a car that his crew chief described as "winning", Self worked his way through the field using his car and crashed again, finishing 25th.^[5] He finished seventh in points with three top fives. The following year, Self broke out, winning three races and only finishing out of the top ten six times in a fifteen race season. He improved to sixth in points. In 2013, Self won three races in a row^[6] and never fell out of the top six in points to finish fourth. Despite the six wins, Self did not return to the RCR driver development lineup in 2014.

In 2017, Self returned to the West Series for a part-time schedule of races with Sunrise Ford Racing. He was contacted by team owner Bob Bruncati about running the car, and initially refused on a basis of a lack of sponsorship. Once Bruncati made it known that no sponsorship was needed, Self agreed to drive it for the rest of the season.^[7] He won the race at Meridian Speedway after Chris Eggleston was disqualified for jumping the final restart.^[8] He finished in the top ten in all of his starts and won another race, at All American Speedway.

ARCA Menards Series

With no ride in the K&N Pro Series West, Self joined Venturini Motorsports for two ARCA Racing Series events in 2014, the first at Mobile International Speedway.^[9] He failed to finish either of his starts due to mechanical issues. Again without a ride in any national series, Self partnered with Ranier Racing with MDM for a race at Kansas Speedway in 2016,^[10] in which he finished third. He spotted for Justin Haley in 2015 and 2016 at various races.^[11]

In January 2017, Self announced that he would return to the No. 28 for the renamed MDM Motorsports (due to Ranier leaving the team as a co-owner) for the season-opening race at Daytona.^[12] After running inside the top ten at Daytona, Sinclair Oil Corporation added more races with Self in both the ARCA series and K&N Series with MDM and Mason Mitchell Motorsports on the ARCA side and Sunrise Ford Racing on the NASCAR side.^[13] Self finished inside the top five in three of his next four races before he won the season finale at Kansas Speedway, beating out Ty Majeski in a five-wide race after the final restart. Self gave the credit to his spotter Derek Kneeland, who also was the spotter for NASCAR Cup Series driver Kyle Larson at the time.^[14]

On January 8, 2018, it was announced that Self and Sinclair partnered with Venturini Motorsports for half of the 2018 ARCA Racing Series schedule.^[15] The schedule includes races at Daytona, Nashville, Talladega, Charlotte, Michigan, Chicagoland, Lucas Oil Raceway, Salem and Kansas.^[16] Both driver and sponsor had previous experience with Venturini, as Self had raced with the team in ARCA and the Venturini family had operated Sinclair gas stations.^[17]

Self began the 2018 ARCA season by winning the season-opening Lucas Oil 200 at Daytona.^[18] He followed up with a win at Chicagoland in late June, avenging a near-loss in the 2017 edition of the event. Self beat Riley Herbst and Sheldon Creed on the final restart to secure the victory.^[19] At Salem Speedway in fall, Self and Zane Smith got in a racing incident early in the race, leading Smith to retaliate by intentionally destroying Self's car later in the race. Smith was later penalized by ARCA for the incident.^[20]

On January 11, 2019, Self and Venturini announced a full schedule for the 2019 ARCA Menards Series season in the team's No. 25 entry.^[21] He won the series' first trip to Five Flags Speedway since 1996 in March, outlasting Kaden Honeycutt and Ty Gibbs during the final green-flag run.^[22] He followed that up with a win in the season's third race at Salem Speedway after rain arrived after 101 of 200 laps, ultimately handing him the win. At Charlotte Motor Speedway in May, Self won the pole, led the most laps and at one point had over a 10-second advantage over the field, but slapped the wall in the closing portion of the race and faded to fifth.^[23] He continued his tear in the front half of the season by leading 85 or 100 laps and winning at Michigan International Speedway in June,^[24] but was penalized after the race, keeping his points lead small.^[25] At the Allen Crowe 100, Self claimed his first dirt triumph, beating Venturini teammate Christian Eckes on a late restart.^[26] Late-season mechanical failures and a lack of restart speed in the season finale at Kansas Speedway, dropping Self to second in the season-long points tally behind Eckes.^[27]

After originally only securing enough funding for a partial season, Self returned full-time to Venturini Motorsports in 2020.^[27] He began the season by winning the Lucas Oil 200 at Daytona.^[28] Self won his second race of the season at the General Tire 100, the series' inaugural race on the road course layout at Daytona.^[29] He finished second in the championship to Bret Holmes.^[30]

Xfinity Series

Self made his first Xfinity Series start in 2015, replacing Landon Cassill at Iowa Speedway in JD Motorsports' No. 01 entry. In doing so, Self became the first driver from Utah to compete in a NASCAR national series.^[31] After crashing in his first start, Self ran six other races for JD, culminating in an eleventh-place finish at Road America driving the No. 4.

Personal life

Self attended the University of Utah.^[3][32] He later attended Central Piedmont Community College, UNC Charlotte^[11] and UNC Greensboro.^[33] When he is not racing, he is a road racing coach and has worked with Chip Ganassi Racing.^[11] Self moved from Utah to California at the genesis of his K&N career and then later to North Carolina around 2014.^[1] Self and his wife Dana married in 2017.^[33][34]

Images

• 
  Self in the West Series race at Sonoma in 2011
• 
  Self in the No. 9 for Sunrise Ford at Sonoma in 2017
• 
  Self in the Venturini No. 15 in 2018 at Michigan
• 
  Self standing beside his Venturini No. 25 before the race at Madison in 2019
• 
  Self drove the No. 0 for JD Motorsports at Mid-Ohio
• 
  Self drove the No. 4 for JD Motorsports at Road America
• 
  Self and his wife Dana at Talladega in 2019

Motorsports career results

NASCAR

(key) (Bold – Pole position awarded by qualifying time. Italics – Pole position earned by points standings or practice time. * – Most laps led.)

Xfinity Series

NASCAR Xfinity Series results
Year	Team	No.	Make	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	20	21	22	23	24	25	26	27	28	29	30	31	32	33	NXSC	Pts	Ref
2015	JD Motorsports	01	Chevy	DAY	ATL	LVS	PHO	CAL	TEX	BRI	RCH	TAL	IOW	CLT	DOV	MCH	CHI	DAY	KEN	NHA	IND	IOW 32								KEN 36	DOV	CLT					40th	108	[35]
		0																					GLN 37	MOH 27	BRI				CHI 25				KAN 32	TEX	PHO	HOM
		4																								ROA 11	DAR	RCH

K&N Pro Series West

NASCAR K&N Pro Series West results
Year	Team	No.	Make	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	NKNPSWC	Pts	Ref
2009	Viva Motorsports	84	Chevy	CTS	AAS	PHO	MAD	IOW	DCS	SON	IRW	PIR 23	MMP 25	CNS	IOW	AAS			43rd	182	[36]
2010		88		AAS 14	PHO 10	IOW 13	DCS 17	SON 5	IRW 11	PIR 11	MRP 8	CNS 7	MMP 28						8th	1552	[37]
	Richard Childress Racing	21	Chevy											AAS 12	PHO 8
2011				PHO 15	AAS 14	MMP 8	IOW 8	LVS 4	SON 25	IRW 5	EVG 11	PIR 8	CNS 13	MRP 5	SPO 6	AAS 20	PHO 32		7th	1807	[38]
2012				PHO 18	LHC 4	MMP 18	S99 20	IOW 4	BIR 1	LVS 17	SON 6	EVG 2	CNS 4	IOW 1	PIR 2	SMP 12	AAS 22	PHO 1*	6th	541	[39]
2013				PHO 3	S99 15	BIR 1	IOW 1*	L44 1	SON 3*	CNS 6	IOW 3	EVG 16	SPO 6*	MMP 4	SMP 5	AAS 4	KCR 2	PHO 9	4th	598	[40]
2017	Sunrise Ford Racing	9	Ford	TUS	KCR 6	IRW 6	IRW 3	SPO 5	OSS 8	CNS 8	SON 4	IOW 6	EVG 4	DCS 7	MER 1	AAS 1*	KCR 4		4th	522	[41]

ARCA Menards Series

(key) (Bold – Pole position awarded by qualifying time. Italics – Pole position earned by points standings or practice time. * – Most laps led.)

ARCA Menards Series results
Year	Team	No.	Make	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	20	AMSC	Pts	Ref
2014	Venturini Motorsports	66	Toyota	DAY	MOB 18	SLM	TAL	TOL	NJE 22	POC	MCH	ELK	WIN	CHI	IRP	POC	BLN	ISF	MAD	DSF	SLM	KEN	KAN	63rd	260	[42]
2016	Ranier Racing with MDM	28	Chevy	DAY	NSH	SLM	TAL	TOL	NJE	POC	MCH	MAD	WIN	IOW	IRP	POC	BLN	ISF	DSF	SLM	CHI	KEN	KAN 3	88th	215	[43]
2017	MDM Motorsports		Toyota	DAY 27	NSH	SLM	TAL	TOL	ELK															24th	1135	[44]
	Mason Mitchell Motorsports		Chevy							POC 3	MCH	MAD	IOW 4
	MDM Motorsports													IRP 2	POC	WIN	ISF	ROA	DSF	SLM			KAN 1
	Mason Mitchell Motorsports	88	Chevy																		CHI 17	KEN
2018	Venturini Motorsports	15	Toyota	DAY 1			TAL 3	TOL	CLT 21	POC	MCH 3	MAD	GTW	CHI 1									KAN 3	15th	1985	[45]
		55			NSH 4	SLM									IOW 18	ELK	POC	ISF	BLN	DSF	SLM 16	IRP 11
2019		25		DAY 31	FIF 1	SLM 1*	TAL 5	NSH 15	TOL 4	CLT 5*	POC 11	MCH 1*	MAD 2	GTW 13*	CHI 4	ELK 4	IOW 3	POC 3	ISF 1*	DSF 4	SLM 14	IRP 6	KAN 2*	2nd	5020	[46]
2020				DAY 1*	PHO 2	TAL 5	POC 5	IRP 8	KEN 3	IOW 6	KAN 6	TOL 5	TOL 4	MCH 3	DAY 1	GTW 15	I44 6	TOL 7	BRI 5	WIN 2	MEM 6	ISF 9	KAN 5	2nd	941	[47]

ARCA Menards Series East

ARCA Menards Series East results
Year	Team	No.	Make	1	2	3	4	5	6	AMSEC	Pts	Ref
2020	Venturini Motorsports	25	Toyota	NSM	TOL	DOV	TOL 7	BRI 5	FIF	17th	78	[48]

^* Season still in progress
¹ Ineligible for series points

References

1. "Episode 77: Michael Self". SoundCloud. Davey Segal. October 14, 2020. Retrieved October 15, 2020.
2. "Michael Self". hometracks.nascar.com. Retrieved January 9, 2018.
3. "GGRT Returns To Action With Michael Self | NASCAR Home Tracks". hometracks.nascar.com. Retrieved March 24, 2017.
4. "WS: GGRT/RCR sign Michael Self". Motorsport.com. Retrieved March 24, 2017.
5. "Self Tackles Learning Curve In NASCAR | NASCAR Home Tracks". hometracks.nascar.com. Retrieved March 24, 2017.
6. Inc, K&N Engineering. "Michael Self Wins Third NASCAR K&N Pro Series West Race in a Row at Lebanon I-44 Speedway". K&N Filters Product and Racing News. Retrieved March 24, 2017. {{cite web}}: |last= has generic name (help)
7. "Michael Self Makes Most of Opportunity for Sunrise Ford Team in NASCAR K&N Pro Series West". K&N Filters. August 22, 2017. Retrieved September 8, 2020.
8. "Michael Self Awarded Meridian Victory - NASCAR K&N Pro Series News - MRN.com". www.mrn.com. Retrieved January 9, 2018.
9. "ARCA: Self ready for Venturini, ARCA debut". Race Chaser Online. March 20, 2014. Retrieved March 24, 2017.
10. "Michael Self Debuts With Ranier Racing At The Kansas Speedway ARCA Race". Working On My Redneck ™. October 13, 2016. Retrieved March 24, 2017.
11. "Multi-tasker Michael Self tests with MDM at LOR; Iowa next". ARCA Racing. Retrieved January 9, 2018.
12. "Michael Self Racing Sinclair Racecar - Daytona Debut - ARCA Racing Series". Racing News. January 28, 2017. Retrieved March 24, 2017.
13. "SELF AND SINCLAIR PARTNER FOR EIGHT ADDITIONAL RACES, NASCAR DEBUT IN 2017". Sinclair Oil Corporation. June 5, 2017. Retrieved January 9, 2018.
14. "Michael Self wins career-first ARCA race at Kansas; Austin Theriault clinches championship". Autoweek. Retrieved January 9, 2018.
15. "Michael Self, Sinclair Oil Partner with Venturini Motorsports for 2018 ARCA Season". Sinclair Oil Corporation. January 8, 2018. Retrieved January 9, 2018.
16. "Michael Self, Sinclair Oil partner with Venturini Motorsports for 2018". ARCA Racing. Retrieved January 9, 2018.
17. Wilson, Steven B. "Michael Self, Sinclair Oil Partner with Venturini Motorsports for 2018 ARCA Season". Retrieved January 9, 2018.
18. Utter, Jim (February 10, 2018). "Michael Self escapes carnage, wins ARCA season-opener at Daytona". Motorsport.com. Motorsport Network. Retrieved February 11, 2018.
19. "Michael Self wins big in ARCA at Chicagoland". Autoweek. June 28, 2018. Retrieved January 20, 2019.
20. Niehaus, Matt. "ARCA Hands Zane Smith A Light Penalty For Intentionally Wrecking Michael Self At Salem". Apex Off. Retrieved January 20, 2019.
21. "Self & Sinclair Team Up For ARCA Championship Run". Speed Sport. Retrieved January 20, 2019.
22. Keith, Bryan (March 10, 2019). "ARCA Breakdown: 2019 Pensacola 200". Frontstretch. Retrieved March 10, 2019.
23. Allaway, Phil (May 23, 2019). "Michael Self Embarrassed With Himself After Unforced Error". Frontstretch. Retrieved May 24, 2019.
24. Kristl, Mark (June 7, 2019). "Michael Self Wins VizCom 200 in Fuel-Mileage Race". Frontstretch. Retrieved June 10, 2019.
25. Weaver, Matt (June 12, 2019). "ARCA penalizes points leader after Michigan win". Autoweek. Retrieved June 14, 2019.
26. Tomlinson, Joy (August 18, 2019). "Michael Self Wins 4th Race of 2019 in Overtime at Illinois State Fair". Frontstretch. Retrieved August 19, 2019.
27. Bearden, Aaron (February 8, 2020). "Michael Self cherishing second chance after a narrow ARCA title loss". Motorsports Beat. Retrieved February 28, 2020.
28. Bonkowski, Jerry (February 8, 2020). "Michael Self, Hailie Deegan finish 1-2 in ARCA season opener". NBC Sports. Retrieved February 8, 2020.
29. Winningham, Brett (August 15, 2020). "ARCA: Michael Self Claims Victory on Road Course at Daytona". speedwaydigest.com. Retrieved February 3, 2021.
30. Gillispie, Zach (October 16, 2020). "Corey Heim Wins Kansas, Bret Holmes Completes Dream Season to Claim 2020 ARCA Championship". Frontstretch. Retrieved October 16, 2020.
31. "MICHAEL SELF JOINS JD MOTORSPORTS". teamjdmotorsports.com. Retrieved March 24, 2017.
32. "Michael Self". www.spiresportsinc.com. Retrieved March 24, 2017.
33. Krall, Charles (March 28, 2020). "Self Reflection: ARCA Menards Points Leaders Focusing On Normal Routine". ARCA Menards Series. NASCAR Digital Media, LLC. Retrieved May 10, 2020.
34. "Wedding Vows for Today's Modern Racer; Until Death Do We Part, Unless of Course I'm Racing". Venturini Motorsports. Digital Momentum. October 1, 2018. Retrieved September 9, 2020.
35. "Michael Self – 2015 NASCAR Xfinity Series Results". Racing-Reference. Retrieved February 29, 2020.
36. "Michael Self – 2009 NASCAR Camping World West Series Results". Racing-Reference. NASCAR Digital Media, LLC. Retrieved September 9, 2020.
37. "Michael Self – 2010 NASCAR K&N Pro Series West Results". Racing-Reference. NASCAR Digital Media, LLC. Retrieved September 9, 2020.
38. "Michael Self – 2011 NASCAR K&N Pro Series West Results". Racing-Reference. NASCAR Digital Media, LLC. Retrieved September 9, 2020.
39. "Michael Self – 2012 NASCAR K&N Pro Series West Results". Racing-Reference. NASCAR Digital Media, LLC. Retrieved September 9, 2020.
40. "Michael Self – 2013 NASCAR K&N Pro Series West Results". Racing-Reference. NASCAR Digital Media, LLC. Retrieved September 9, 2020.
41. "Michael Self – 2017 NASCAR K&N Pro Series West Results". Racing-Reference. NASCAR Digital Media, LLC. Retrieved September 9, 2020.
42. "Michael Self – 2014 ARCA Racing Series Results". Racing-Reference. NASCAR Digital Media, LLC. Retrieved September 9, 2020.
43. "Michael Self – 2016 ARCA Racing Series Results". Racing-Reference. NASCAR Digital Media, LLC. Retrieved September 9, 2020.
44. "Michael Self – 2017 ARCA Racing Series Results". Racing-Reference. NASCAR Digital Media, LLC. Retrieved September 9, 2020.
45. "Michael Self – 2018 ARCA Racing Series Results". Racing-Reference. NASCAR Digital Media, LLC. Retrieved September 9, 2020.
46. "Michael Self – 2019 ARCA Menards Series Results". Racing-Reference. NASCAR Digital Media, LLC. Retrieved September 9, 2020.
47. "Michael Self – 2020 ARCA Menards Series Results". Racing-Reference. NASCAR Digital Media, LLC. Retrieved October 5, 2020.
48. "Michael Self – 2020 ARCA Menards East Series Results". Racing-Reference. NASCAR Digital Media, LLC. Retrieved September 13, 2020.

External links

• Michael Self driver statistics at Racing-Reference