Mikey Kile paced the field at the Texas Motor Speedway practice session for the Rattlesnake 150. (Photo: arcaracing.com)

"You always hear about the racing going on in Texas," veteran ARCA Racing Series driver Patrick Sheltra said. "To come here and experience that is amazing. To come back here for the first time since 1998, you really see how far Texas Motor Speedway has come. It's a blessing for ARCA to come back here."

For a pair of Texans, today's test session was more than just about logging laps.

Lance Fenton, of nearby Tyler, and Nur Ali, of Fort Worth, took their cars around Texas Motor Speedway for the first time. Ali, who has raced on Texas Motor Speedway's road course while competing in the Star Mazda Series, has yet to compete on the 1.5-mile oval. Ali, who moved from Pakistan to Fort Worth in 1983 and graduated from Trinity High School, is looking forward to the opportunity to race in front of the hometown crowd next month.

"It's been exciting," Ali said. "I've always wanted to be in NASCAR. I've grown up in Texas for the last 27 years and Fort Worth is home. I'm very excited that the ARCA Series is now participating at Texas during the NASCAR weekend. We are excited about racing here at home in front of the home crowd."

For Fenton, racing close to home provides some added pressure to perform but is definitely looking forward to his first opportunity to compete at Texas Motor Speedway.

"We are really stoked about being close to home and getting to come back to home turf," Fenton said. "I tell everyone that I get to race, but none of them get to see it at the other tracks so it will be cool to bring the entourage and make it a local event for me."

The test session marked yet another opportunity for former Formula One driver Nelson Piquet Jr. to gain more track time. Piquet Jr., the son of three-time Formula One champion Nelson Piquet, is making the transition from the open-wheel discipline to stock cars. To ease into his transition, Piquet Jr. is running a limited number of ARCA and NASCAR Camping World Truck Series events this year. That schedule includes two stops at Texas Motor Speedway, the first being the Rattlesnake 150 and then the WinStar World Casino 400k NASCAR Camping World Truck Series race on June 4. For Piquet Jr., the test session offered him yet another opportunity to enhance his learning curve as he makes the transition.

"Every day I've been learning about a lot, hearing stories," said Nelson, who made his debut in both the ARCA Racing Series and Camping World Truck Series at Daytona in February. "The driving part is taking a bit of awhile because I'm not in a car every day. For me, it's tougher to run these kinds of cars than a normal road course. Hopefully slowly, I'll get more and more use to it. Today is a big day for me."

The Rattlesnake 150 race caps off The Dallas Morning News Qualifying Days on Friday, April 16, that will feature qualifying in the NASCAR Sprint Cup and Nationwide Series for the Samsung Mobile 500 and O'Reilly Auto Parts 300, respectively. The ARCA Racing Series presented by RE/MAX and Menards kicks off the race week action for the Samsung Mobile 500 with practice and qualifying for the Rattlesnake 150 on Thursday, April 15.