After losing the Slinger Nationals earlier in the week due to a late race caution, it worked out for Luke Fenhaus at Iowa Speedway on Saturday night when the ARCA Racing Series came to town.
All night long Fenhaus just couldn’t quite get the lead from William Sawalich using the bottom groove, until the overtime restart where he sent it into turn one and cleared just enough to slide ahead for the lead. Sawalich led every lap of the 150-lap event until that point.
“I knew we had to get the lead there,” Fenhaus said in victory lane. “We got lucky with a restart and made the best of it”
It was déjà vu for the two drivers who had a similar race finish earlier this year at Nashville Fairgrounds in the East Series, and the first win for Fenhaus in the ARCA Menards Series. The disappointment was obvious for Sawalich who needed just a little bit more.
“We were really good at the bottom for about twenty laps then when we would have to move up and that’s where we would slow down a bit,” said Sawalich. “All in all it was a good night and we had a fast Soundgear Toyota Camry.”
Rounding out the podium was the series point leader, Jesse Love, who fought the balance of his car all day. Throughout the race Love bounced throughout the top-ten, making large adjustments during the breaks. At the end, Love worked his way to third.
“We did everything we could to keep getting better, we were just so loose on exit,” said Love. “With the rules change this year, when we get to a place like Phoenix or (Iowa) where it’s not intermediate but it’s not a short track, something with our balance is off but I have a lot of faith in my guys that we can figure it out.”
The race saw seven cautions, including the two caution breaks. Scott Melton went for a spin twice, but was able to continue. Rita Goulet had contact with another vehicle and went for a spin on lap 33, and the final caution was brought out by Conner Jones, who finished 8th.
The next ARCA Menards Series race takes place Friday, July 21st at Pocono Raceway.
Results
- 28 Luke Fenhaus
- 18 William Sawalich
- 20 Jesse Love
- 6 Lavar Scott
- 25 Toni Breidinger
- 2 Andres Perez De Lara
- 32 Christian Rose
- 15 Conner Jones
- 30 Frankie Muniz
- 66 Jon Garrett
- 11 Zachary Tinkle
- 69 Scott Melton
- 03 Alex Clubb
- 06 AJ Moyer
- 48 Brad Smith
- 31 Rita Goulet
- 10 Tim Monroe
- 98 Dale Shearer
- 12 Matt Kemp
- 01 Brayton Laster