Last year, Michael Ostdiek was in a tough battle with Justin Mondeik and John DeAngelis Jr. for the 2017 ARCA Midwest Tour presented by SCAG Power Equipment Rookie of the Year title.
It came down to the final laps in the final race of the season for him to secure that title and adding his name to a list that includes: Jonathan Eilen, Nick Murgic, Jacob Goede, Ross Kenseth, Skylar Holzhausen, Matt Tifft, James Swan, Ty Majeski, Austin Nason and Casey Johnson.
In the last week, the Lakeville, Minnesota driver has been busy at Iowa State University where he had to study for four final exams as he is going for a marketing degree, part of the #1 seed team in the conference La Crosse tournament over the past weekend, and…oh yeah…turned 21-years-old.
“I’m ready to get behind the wheel,” Ostdiek said while on a study break earlier this week.
Last year, Ostdiek was not only running for the Rookie of the Year title in the Midwest Tour, but was also competing in the Kulwicki Driving Development program, where he finished second in the national standings.
One of the biggest lessons he gained during the 2017 season was competing for the first time at many of the tracks that the Midwest Tour competes at throughout the season. He feels that what he learned in 2017 will help him in the 2018 season.
“Yeah, I’m looking forward to it because we have a baseline notebook for the new tracks we went to for the first time,” Ostdiek explained. “I’m also hoping to have some better luck but also will be looking to have better runs as well.”
He had three top-ten finishes last season.
Ostdiek is eager to return to Madison International Speedway this weekend for the Joe Shear Classic 200 after having a non-memorable debut last year.
“Well for it being my first Tour race it was pretty cool to qualify in on time even it was by .001 of a second,” Ostdiek recalled. “The race didn’t really go our way last year. Flat tire early on hurt us as well as the chain reaction deal that sent me spinning down the backstretch; but I think this year we will be able to manage our race better because of running the Tour fulltime last year.”
While he was reflecting back on his Rookie of the Year season in the ARCA Midwest Tour, Ostdiek is constantly looking forward to what he and his team can do next in the series.
“These last few years the Midwest Tour has evolved into one of the most well-known series across the nation. It’s pretty neat, hopefully one day I can be a champion but I’ve gotta focus on consistently having top-five runs because those eventually get you wins and lots of win eventually leads to championships,” Ostdiek said. “One step at a time, but Rookie of the Year was definitely a step in the right direction.”
Ostdiek will be part of a high-quality field of drivers competing this Sunday afternoon at Wisconsin’s Fastest Half-Mile Oval.
Make your plans to join us for the Joe Shear Classic 200 at Madison International Speedway. The 12th season opening event for the ARCA Midwest Tour presented by SCAG Power Equipment. The Midwest Truck Series and Mid-American Stock Car Series will also be in action.
Qualifying is at 12:45pm with racing at 2pm.
Visit midwesttour.racing for a full schedule and be sure to follow the ARCA Midwest Tour on Facebook (/midwesttour) and Twitter (@MidwestTour).
