Sage Karam to make ARCA Menards Series West debut for Strike Mamba at Sonoma

Sage Karam will drive the No. 72 Chevrolet for Strike Mamba Racing, for his ARCA Menards Series West debut at Sonoma Raceway for the General Tire 150.

Strike Mamba is currently fielding two cars full time in the west series, and Karam will be the fifth driver to take a turn driving the No. 72 this season.

Karam will be paired with teammate Tyler Tomassi who’ll be driving the No. 51 for the team. Tomassi has run every race this season except for the season opener at Kevin Harvick’s Kern Raceway. Karam will have Al Lebert serving as his crew chief and sponsorship from Shelby Park Management and Fireside RV Rentals.

The 31-year-old from Pennsylvania has previously competed at Sonoma in the NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series where he’s made three attempts on the 1.99 mile road course.

Karam in NASCAR has made 36 starts in the O’Reilly series and two in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series. He has a road racing background which is where some of his best runs have occured. Such as at Road America in 2023, where he nearly won battling for the win on the final restart but finished in fourth.

Karam’s first start at Sonoma in the O’Reilly Series was in 2023, when he drove the No. 44 Chevrolet for Alpha Prime Racing. He qualified in 21st, but unfortunately fell out with a transmission issue and finished 34th.

His second attempt came in 2024, driving the No. 35 Toyota for Joey Gase Motorsports. Unfortunately he missed the race by less than a tenth of a second in qualifying.

Karam did make the race at his third attempt at Sonoma where he qualified in 26th driving the No. 53 Toyota this time for Gase. Unfortunately he fell out again with a transmission issue and finished 36th.

Karam is also a veteran in Indycar where he competed part time from 2014 to 2022. His best finish came at Iowa Speedway in 2015 when he finished third driving the No. 8 for Chip Ganassi Racing. He also has eight starts in the Indianapolis 500 with a best finish of seventh in 2021.

Karam also made a start at Sonoma in 2011, in what is now the USF Pro 2000 Championship. He finished in fourth driving for Andretti.

Karam will be one of the most notable names in the field for the ARCA Menards Series West’s annual trip to Sonoma Raceway on Friday, June 26.

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