Ty Majeski returned to the Chad Bryant Racing No. 22 Ford Friday night at Chicagoland Speedway and to no ones’ surprise, returned to victory lane for the third time this season.
The turning point came when Majeski made a gutsy call at the end to stay out on a late race pit stop.
“I’ll be honest, I was real nervous,” Majeski said in his post race interview with Fox Sports 1. “We had such a deficit or a gap on the field lap time wise. That was the same call by Paul (Andrews, Crew Chief) especially if we would have gotten a late caution, we would have set left lane.”
The Bounty 150 was delayed due to lightning in the area for well over an hour and a half.
When the race got started, Michael Self was on the pole. Christian Eckes and Travis Braden didn’t get to qualify due to mechanical issues, and both were forced to start in the back. Joe Graf Jr. also started in the rear due to being in a backup car.
As the green flag flew, the race was action-packed from the get-go. Morgen Baird was off pace early but then stalled on the bottom of Turn 4 to bring out the first caution of the night. The No. 1 of Jason Miles also had a flat left front tire go down on the lap eight restart which brought the caution out again.
Majeski started to come in to play on Lap 13, as he and Michael Self battled side-by-side for the lead. However, Majeski would have to wait a little bit before he could run away with the lead, as another caution came out on Lap 17 for the No. 7 of Eric Caudell who spun on the frontstretch grass.
Majeski would go on to lead until the caution flew once more on Lap 52, just past halfway for the No. 54 of Tanner Gray, who hit the wall in Turn 3 after having a flat tire go down. This would set up a round of pit stops and it would see Self stalling on pit road, but eventually got the car re-fired. Unfortunately for Gray, his night was done early.
After the pit stops, Harrison Burton was able to gain the lead and led for a little bit until the fourth caution came out on Lap 65 for Christian Eckes, as he would go spinning around after his left rear tire went down off Turn 2.
One more caution would occur on Lap 76, as Majeski’s teammate, Joe Graf Jr. had his tire go down and spinning on the backstretch. Self would also suffer another issue on his pit stop under caution, as he tried taking off when his left rear tire was not on properly. However, he escaped with any major damage and was able to get back on track.
While Self pitted, so did other racers who were in contention to win the race. However, one did not. Majeski stayed out in hopes of getting the track position he needed to propel him to the win.
Despite staying out and a late race restart, a five-car battle occurred for second, allowing Majeski to run away for his third win of the 2019 ARCA Menards Series season.
“This thing was so dominant, it’s cool,” Majeski added in his post-race interview. “We ran four times already and had different scenarios every race. You know, Charlotte, where we won on a late race restart, Pocono we won on a green flag pit stop and Michigan, we almost won on fuel strategy. This one, we straight up smoked them. I hope people are paying attention, realize that and find different ways to win races. Just a testament to everybody on my team, Paul Andrews (Crew Chief), Chad Bryant Racing, this Crestliner Ford Fusion was really fast tonight.”
This was Majeski’s third win of the season, which also marked his third of his career in the ARCA Menards Series.
There were six cautions for 31 laps, along with four leaders among six lead changes. Majeski led three times for 72 laps en route to his third career victory of the season. His next scheduled ARCA race is the season finale at Kansas Speedway in October.
Official Results
1. Ty Majeski
2. Harrison Burton, 9.179 seconds
3. Bret Holmes, 9.566 seconds
4. Michael Self, 10.528 seconds
5. Travis Braden, 10.607 seconds
6. Riley Herbst, 10.641 seconds
7. Christian Eckes, 12.104 seconds
8. Austin Wayne Self, 15.125 seconds
9. Thad Moffitt, 30.228 seconds
10. Scott Melton, One lap down
11. Joe Graf Jr., One lap down
12. Tim Richmond, Six laps down
13. Morgen Baird, 18 laps down
14. Eric Caudell, Out
15. Tanner Gray, Out
16. Brad Smith, Out
17. Tommy Vigh Jr., Out
18. Con Nicolopoulos, Out
19. Jason Miles, Out
20. Stefan Parsons, Out
Up Next: After a few weeks of racing in the summer stretch, the ARCA Menards Series will take a couple of weeks off before returning on track at Elko Speedway on Saturday night July 13 on MAVTV.
