Andy Jankowiak secures emotional first career ARCA victory at Talladega

Andy Jankowiak won his first career ARCA Menards Series National Tour victory Saturday afternoon at Talladega Superspeedway. In a one-lap dash to the checkered flag, it was an emotional win in just his 48th career start.

“I thought there was one more lap, the radio was super static, Jankowiak told Fox Sports 1 in his post-race interview. “I’m still waiting to wake up here for a second. This effort that got me here to ARCA and everything after that’s come with Kevin Lapierre, Andy Seuss (Team Owners of KLAS Motorsports), and Mike Dayton, there’s been no greater team combination. I had so much help from so many people that helps make this happen.

“There’s just never been more of a team effort standing in victory lane at Talladega Superspeedway. What an adventure. This one is for my best friend, Steve Mendoza. I wanted to win for him. I’m wearing a green bandanna for him. I love him so much, I know he is at home watching. I can’t believe the race is over. That’s the most Andy J thing ever.

“Thanks to all my sponsors and partners. I’m the luckiest guy in the world. People don’t realize how many little things that took to get to this step. It’s such a team effort. I wanted to win this more for Andy, Mike, and Kevin than myself. Wow, did this just happen? I’m going to wake up in a minute, right? I’ve done this before, I just always wake up. I don’t even know what to say.”

Talladega Superspeedway marked the fourth race of the 2026 ARCA Menards Series national tour on Saturday afternoon. 76 laps was the distance with a halfway race break at Lap 41. Owner points determined the starting lineup. Daytona and Kansas winner, Gio Ruggiero, started on the pole. Although there was no qualifying, a practice session was held on Friday afternoon. Nitro Motorsports took the top five spots. Gus Dean and the No. 25 CAB Installers Toyota set the pace with a lap time of 52.349 seconds at 182.926 mph.

The race went green on Lap 1 with Ruggiero leading the way through the first caution at Lap 30. Alli Owens, in the No. 93 entry, wrecked on the frontstretch in the tri-oval after contact with another car, smacked the wall, destroying her car. As a result, she was unable to continue in the race. During the caution, the race leaders pitted.

At Lap 36 for the restart, Ryan Huff stayed out to assume the lead with Ruggiero, Jack Wood, Thomas Annunziata, Taylor Reimer, Jason Kitzmiller, Garrett Mitchell, Bobby Dale Earnhardt, Jake Finch, and Jake Bollman were in the Top 10.

Coming to the restart, both Reimer and Wood received penalties for moving out of line before the start/finish line. The two drivers would get penalties again while coming down to pit road for being too fast, which then ended up being a pass-through penalty.

The race resumed for just a few laps before the halfway race break at Lap 41. Ruggiero, Mitchell, Finch, Dye, Will Kimmel, Kitzmiller, Steve Lewis Jr, Annunziata, Bollman, and Jankowiak rounded out the Top 10.

The green flag flew once more at Lap 46 and a few laps later at Lap 48, Mitchell took the lead and led the very first laps of his ARCA career. Two laps later, a caution would fly for debris in Turn 3. Following the cleanup, the restart came with 22 laps to go, with Mitchell and Ruggiero on the front row.

The race remained green for a brief period before a massive crash with 18 laps to go. The No. 7 of Eric Caudell and the No. 75 of Bryan Dauzat wrecked with each other. Caudell was already spinning in Turns 3 and 4 before Dauzat came in at a fast pace and plowed into the back of Caudell, causing big damage to his car.

The next restart came with 11 laps to go, with Mitchell and Ruggiero again on the front row. Then, two laps later, at nine laps to go, the action intensified. As Bollman was passing Mitchell on the outside of Turn 2, he was sent spinning off the nose of both Ruggiero and Mitchell. Bollman then spun to the inside of the track, but no caution flag was flown.

A much bigger incident came three laps later for a multi-car pileup off Turn 4 with seven laps to go. Annunziata was turned around off the nose of Kimmel, and set off a big crash. Many cars were involved in the wreck. They included Bobby Dale Earnhardt, Bryce Haugeberg, Huff, George Siciliano, Andrew Patterson, Ron Vandermeir Jr, Michael Maples, and Tim Richmond just to name a few. This would prompt a brief red flag period for clean-up.

Following the cleanup, there would be a one-lap dash to the checkered flag. Meaning, once the race leaders took the restart, the green and white flag would come out at the same time. Isabella Robusto, Ruggiero, Kimmel, Mitchell, Jankowiak, Dean, Finch, Reimer, Sean Corr, and Ryan Vargas were the Top 10 for the restart.

In the final lap dash to the checkers, Robusto got far out in front of Kimmel and Dean. Dean was pushing Kimmel and when they caught her going into Turn 3, Kimmel had momentum and passed Robusto on the outside to take the lead with Dean behind him. Dean then got off the back bumper of Kimmel in Turn 3 to try and battle for the win. While doing so, Mitchell found momentum on the outside and potentially had a shot for the win as well.

Coming to the tri-oval, Mitchell and Robusto was battling it out for the win. Mitchell came down on Robusto to block for the win. Robusto went down below the double yellow line for a brief period, not passing anyone before coming back up the track, still having a shot at the win. At one point, Robusto, Mitchell, and Jankowiak were three wide for the victory.

However, Jankowiak blew past both Robusto and Mitchell and went on to claim his first career win. Mitchell, Dean, Robusto, Ruggiero, Reimer, Corr, Vargas, Wood, and Dye rounded out the Top 10 finishers.

By claiming second place, it would be Mitchell’s best career ARCA Menards Series National Tour finish in his seventh career start.

“I think I needed to back up a smidge to get that help that was behind me,” Mitchell said to Fox Sports 1 after the race. ” He added, “I kind of left the 71 (Andy Jankowiak), I’m pretty sure. I tried to go down and didn’t have enough room to get past Will (Kimmel). We started beating each other up. Andy passed us and got the W. Congratulations to him.

“What an insane day of racing at the greatest race I’ve ever been a part of in my life right there. My team, Kevin Hamlin, did such a good job right there. He added, “That was honestly the most fun I ever had with clothes on. It was freaking insane.”

Meanwhile, Robusto was close to claiming her first career win before having to settle for a disappointing fourth-place finish.

“That was hard,” Robusto said to Fox Sports 1 on pit road. “Just wanted to be the lead car there in case the caution came out, similar to last year in what I thought was going to happen. I got too far out there and didn’t get the push I needed down the backstretch. I feel really bad or my team. We had a really fast Mobil 1 Toyota Camry all day. I feel like we executed really well, kept the nose clean, and got into position there at the end. I just wasn’t able to execute there on the last lap.”

There were five cautions for 26 laps and eight lead changes among five different drivers. Jankowiak led one lap en route to victory.

The next ARCA Menards Series National Tour race is slated for Friday, May 8, at Watkins Glen International Raceway, live on Fox Sports 2 and MRN Radio. The next ARCA Menards East Series race is Saturday, May 2, at the Nashville Fairgrounds at 9 p.m./ET, while the ARCA Menards West Series race is also that same night at Shasta Speedway, live at 11:30 p.m. ET, both live on Flo Racing.

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