SPARTA, Ky. - It wasn't a win, but for Chad Blount and his ML Motorsports team, it was the next best thing.

Driving for the Warsaw-based stock car team, Blount finished second in Sunday's Harley-Davidson of Cincinnati 150 ARCA RE/MAX Series race at Kentucky Speedway.

Blount, in just his fourth race with the team since taking over for the departed Jason Jarrett, entered the 100-lap event at the 1.5-mile speedway in search of his third straight win.

For much of the race, it looked as if he would be pulling the No. 67 Mary Louise Miller-owned Monte Carlo into victory lane again.

It didn't happen, and a second-place finish to six-time ARCA champion Frank Kimmel left the 25-year-old driver from Walkerton somewhat disappointed.

"I'm happy we had a good points day, but I'm upset we came up one spot short," said Blount, who local race fans may remember growing up and driving street stocks and late models with his father Bob Blount at Plymouth Speedway and New Paris Speedway. "We had a really good car, it was just getting tight in the center (of the turn)."

While the rain slowed down the weekend's events, postponing qualifications and the race until Sunday, Blount couldn't be slowed.

He was the dominant car in qualifying, capturing the pole with a speed of 172.883 mph. No other driver qualified with a speed faster than 171.5 mph.

At the start of the race, Blount quickly took the lead, as second-place qualifier Stuart Kirby's car spun, setting off a domino effect of spinning cars behind him. The first-lap accident badly damaged 2004 Rookie of the Year T.J. Bell's car, which started in the 16th position.

Like it was in qualifying, Blount's car proved to be the class of the field early, as he raced out to a comfortable lead and led the first 36 laps.

Blount and other drivers running near the front of the field pitted on lap 37, with Blount's ML Motorsports crew giving him two fresh tires, fuel and a chassis adjustment.

Blount's was the first car off pit road, putting him in fourth position on the restart, as Brandon Knupp, Terry Jones and Frank Kapfhammer gave up a trip to pit road for track position.

"Through the race I was getting tight in the center (of the turn) and I needed more grip," said Blount. "We put on some tires and made a slight track bar adjustment, which helped."

Blount worked his way up to second on the restart, and the caution flag flew one lap later for another accident.

The race went green again on lap 46, and Blount passed Knupp for the lead two laps later.

Blount paced the field for the next 19 laps, the latter of which turned into a two-car battle between his and the No. 46 Ford of Kimmel.

Kimmel got around Blount on lap 67 as the frontrunners were working their way past slower cars.

Once Kimmel got around Blount, he was able to build up somewhat of a comfortable lead and led the final 34 laps en route to the win.

"The car wasn't bad," said Blount. "There toward the end I was giving everything we had. It just wasn't enough to keep up with Frank in those last laps."

In all, Blount led 55 of the 100 laps. Kimmel, who qualified 17th and was able to work his way through the field after a much-needed pit stop, led 34 circuits, while Knupp paced the field for 11 laps.

Following Kimmel and Blount in the top five were Joey Miller, Ken Weaver and Kevin Hamlin.

"We're happy with it," crew chief Tom Sokoloski said of the runner-up finish. "You can't win them all. We've got some notes, and we'll come back here the second time and be even better."

Sokoloski won three ARCA championships and 42 races with Tim Steele, including the inaugural event at Kentucky Speedway.

In three ARCA appearances at Kentucky Speedway, Blount has a win and two runner-up finishes.

After four events on the 23-race ARCA schedule, Blount is now third in the season standings.

Despite entering the weekend after back-to-back wins, Blount was fourth in points because of an accident at Daytona that left him with a 33rd-place finish.

With his wins at Nashville Superspeedway and Salem Speedway and his second-place run Sunday, Blount is now just 70 points out of the lead.

Kimmel is currently first in the season standings, followed by Miller, Blount and Weaver.

"The team had a good weekend, we were strong in qualifying and all through the race," said Sokoloski. "We picked up a lot of points this weekend and we just need to keep up the momentum."

Blount and Team 67 are testing Toledo Speedway today.

The ARCA RE/MAX Series will race at the half-mile Ohio track Sunday. The 200-lap short-track battle will be shown live on the Speed Channel. [[In-content Ad]]