A month ago, Ty Gibbs earned a victory in his NASCAR Xfinity Series debut. On Friday, he reaffirmed himself as the favorite to take this season’s ARCA Menards Series championship.
The 18-year old Joe Gibbs Racing driver dominated the 150-lap race at Phoenix, and holding off Corey Heim on a one-lap shootout to close out the victory.
The race was riddled with a rain delay and a multitude of different caution periods, but none of it affected Gibbs.
The youngster’s victory is his ninth ARCA Menards Series national tour win and his first in the 2021 season.
Defending ARCA West Champion Jesse Love Jr. came home P6, after moving up inch-by-inch on Friday, but he ultimately didn’t have the speed to show his skills.
The 16-year old is trying to repeat his championship, and Friday served as a combination race to open the ARCA West season. He was the highest finishing full-time West series driver in the event, which will prove to be big in such a short season.
Heim, finishing right behind Gibbs, has a streak of three straight top-two finishes, dating back to last year’s season finale.
The ARCA Menards Series national tour will be back on the track next month as it runs its third event of the year at Talladega Superspeedway on April 24. The West tour will not be back until June 5, when it takes to Sonoma ahead of the NASCAR Cup Series race that weekend.
ARCA Phoenix Results
1. Ty Gibbs
2. Corey Heim
3. Thad Moffitt
4. Kyle Sieg
5. Derek Kraus
6. Jesse Love
7. Drew Dollar
8. Todd Souza
9. Taylor Gray
10. Trevor Huddleston
11. P.J. Pendroncelli
12. Cole Moore
13. Joey Iest
14. Tim Richmond
15. Mark Lowrey
16. Dean Thompson
17. Tony Toste
18. Jake Drew
19. Richard Garvie
20. D.L. Wilson
21. Nick Sanchez
22. Bridget Burgess
23. Takuma Koga
24. Bobby Hillis
25. Bryce Haugeberg
26. Brad Smith
27. Gracie Trotter
28. Zane Smith
29. Jack Wood
30. Toni Breidinger
