TOLEDO, Ohio -- Nine-time ARCA Racing Series presented by Menards champion Frank Kimmel will usher the stock car tour back into his home state, Indiana, with an appearance in Avon Thursday evening.

Kimmel, driver of the No. 44 Ansell/Menards Toyota for ThorSport Racing, will greet fans, sign autographs, and pose for pictures at the Avon, Ind. Menards store from 6-7:30 p.m. Thursday. The 74-time winner will appear at the store to promote Friday's Messina Wildlife Animal Stopper 200 at Lucas Oil Raceway.

The store is located at 10555 U.S. 36 (Rockville Rd.) in Avon, a short distance from I-465 and Lucas Oil Raceway.

Guests who purchase a pair of Ansell gloves inside the store will receive a voucher for a free second pair of gloves, presented by Kimmel outside the store. While Kimmel and his No. 44 show car appear outside, race fans and store customers have the chance to "save big money" inside, as race tickets are available in 17 Menards stores at a discounted price.

Fans can now buy tickets for Friday's race at $18 each - a $7 discount from the at-track price - at 17 Menards stores throughout Indiana: Anderson, Avon, Bloomington, Camby, Carmel, Columbus, Danville, Fishers, Greenwood, Kokomo, Lafayette South, Lebanon, Muncie, Terre Haute, West Lafayette, and the East and South stores in Indianapolis.

The in-store ticket promotion will last until Thursday, July 26, one day before the race.

All on-track activity for the Messina Wildlife Animal Stopper 200 will take place Friday, July 27. Two practices will take place, from 1:35-2:30 and 3-3:45. Menards Pole Qualifying will start at 5:30, setting the field for the 200-lap race at 9 p.m. ARCARacing.com will feature live timing and scoring of all of the day's action, and SPEED will televise the 9 p.m. race live. The ARCA CRA Super Series will join the ARCA Racing Series at the track, giving fans in Indianapolis a double feature of ARCA divisions.

2012 is the ARCA Racing Series presented by Menards' 60th Anniversary Season, featuring 20 races at 18 tracks. The complete 2012 event schedule is available at ARCARacing.com.

The ARCA Racing Series presented by Menards has crowned an ARCA national champion each year since its inaugural season in 1953, and has toured over 200 race tracks in 26 states since its inception. The series has tested the abilities of drivers and race teams over the most diverse schedule of stock car racing events in the world, visiting tracks ranging from 0.375 mile to 2.66 miles in length, on both paved and dirt surfaces as well as a left- and right-turn road course in its most recent season. This year, the series visited Alabama's Mobile International Speedway and Minnesota's Elko Speedway for the first time.

Founded by John and Mildred Marcum in 1953 in Toledo, Ohio, the Automobile Racing Club of America (ARCA) is recognized among the leading sanctioning bodies in the country. Closing in on completing its sixth decade after hundreds of thousands of miles of racing, ARCA administers over 100 race events each season in three professional touring series and local weekly events.