The ARCA Menards Series returned to Kentucky Speedway Saturday afternoon for the first time in over three years as Joe Gibbs Racing driver Ty Gibbs grabbed the General Tire 150 checkered flag after a fierce battle with Michael Self and Bret Holmes. Gibbs picked up his second ARCA Menards Series victory of the season.
Last week’s winner Chandler Smith did not compete as he was focused on the Truck Series, which left the field wide open. Three segments broke up the 150-mile race. The segment breaks were at Lap 30, Lap 60 and Lap 100.
As the green flag flew, Self was able to lead Lap 1. A short green flag run was seen until Lap 17 when the first caution came out when Scott Melton in the No. 69 hit the wall to bring out the yellow.
After the restart on Lap 22, Gibbs took the lead from Self and led until the first segment break on Lap 30. Bret Holmes, Self, Hailie Deegan, Ryan Repko, Sam Mayer, Drew Dollar, Thad Moffitt, Tanner Gray, and Derek Griffith were the top 10 at the time of the break.
From Laps 35-60, the General Tire 150 was mainly caution-free. Self fell back on the initial restart for the second segment, but found his rhythm and continued to make a charge toward Ty Gibbs before the segment ended. However, Gibbs was able to fend off Self when the second break pursued.
Things started to look a little hairy for Gibbs and his No. 18 Joe Gibbs Racing team. As the restart flew, he and Michael Self got together and almost saw their day go up in smoke in Turn 4. A few moments later, Gibbs retaliated with payback to Self, causing Self to go up the track. With the contact, Gibbs fell back to seventh and allowed Mayer to take the lead. However, Mayer’s lead was short-lived, as Holmes wrestled the lead away on Lap 68.
Two cautions flew before the checkered flag. Thad Moffitt wound up hitting the wall hard in Turn 2 after getting loose. Moments later after a restart with 24 to go, Moffitt’s teammate Hailie Deegan, wrecked off the front nose of Dollar’s car on the backstretch causing the final caution of the event. Before the incident, Mayer was penalized for jumping the restart and had to serve a pass through penalty and start at the tail end of the field on the next restart with 18 to go.
On the final restart, Gibbs restarted in the second position and grabbed the lead aggressively from Holmes. After taking the lead, Gibbs checked out and took home the checkered flag by 1.247 seconds.
There were five cautions for 22 laps and four leaders among four different lead changes.
Official Results
- Ty Gibbs, led 59 laps
- Bret Holmes, led 17 laps
- Michael Self, led 23 laps
- Sam Mayer, led 1 lap
- Drew Dollar
- Ryan Repko
- Derek Griffith
- Ryan Huff
- Tanner Gray
- Jason Kitzmiller
- Willie Mullins, 2 laps down
- Brad Smith, 9 laps down
- Dick Doheny, 19 laps down
- Hailie Deegan, OUT, Accident
- Thad Moffitt, OUT, Accident
- Don Thompson, OUT
- Scott Melton, OUT, Crash
Up Next: The ARCA Menards Series heads to Iowa Speedway on Saturday, July 18 live on MAVTV.
