It took 69 starts, but Munford, Alabama native Bret Holmes notched his first career ARCA Menards Series victory Friday night at Kansas Speedway.
Holmes started fourth based on owner’s points but didn’t waste any time getting to the front. He took the lead after the segment two restart on Lap 19 and led the rest of the race for a total of 82 laps. No one proved a match for his No. 23 machine as Holmes easily took the checkered flag by 14.458 seconds over Venturini Motorsports driver Ryan Repko.
“We’ve been working so hard for this,” said Holmes. “I’ve been working my whole life for this. My team did this for me. It’s been a long tough road. I just thank my family and my friends. They believed in me when I didn’t.”
There were three segment breaks that made up the Dawn 150. The first segment break was on Lap 30, the second was on Lap 60 with the race ending on Lap 100.
The first segment was relatively caution free with just one incident slowing the field on Lap 13. Russ Lane in the No. 8 had a scary moment off Turn 2 when the Overland Park, Kansas native got loose and smashed the inside wall hard.
Besides the incident involving Lane, there were a couple of other close moments during the second segment as Drew Dollar and Hailie Deegan almost wrecked in Turns 3 and 4. However, both of them somehow saved their vehicles without incident.
The only driver that could battle for the lead was Corey Heim who was making his first ARCA Menards start of 2020. Helm ran in the second position, just two seconds back from Holmes. But, Holmes’ car was so dominant that he began to check out from the field and his lead continued to climb.
The victory was a long time coming for Holmes, as he would claim the first checkered flag of his ARCA career.
Holmes led 82 laps with Riley Herbst being the only other driver to lead laps with 18. There were three cautions for 10 laps. Two of those were for stage breaks and the other for the Russ Lane incident.
With the victory, Holmes has decreased Michael Self’s points lead down to nine.
Official Results following the Dawn 150 at Kansas Speedway.
- Bret Holmes, led 82 laps
- Ryan Repko
- Riley Herbst, led 18 laps
- Corey Heim
- Tanner Gray
- Michael Self
- Drew Dollar
- Derek Griffith
- Hailie Deegan
- Thad Moffitt, 1 lap down
- Jason Kitzmiller, 2 laps down
- Eric Caudell, 5 laps down
- Ryan Huff, OUT, Overheating
- Tyler Hill, 7 laps down
- Con Nicolopoulos, OUT
- Brad Smith, OUT
- Mike Basham, OUT
- Russ Lane, OUT, Crash
