Connor Mosack made a three-wide move on teammate Lanie Buice and Thomas Annunziata on Lap 30 that enabled him to motor away with an ARCA Menards Series victory in the Ashley Furniture 150 at Chicagoland Speedway on Friday, July 3.
The 27-year-old Mosack from Charlotte, North Carolina, led a race-high 71 of 100 scheduled laps in an event where he started in sixth place and raced up front in the early stages. After two ensuing restarts, Mosack seized an opportunity to pounce for the lead during a Lap 29 restart. When he made a move beneath teammate Lanie Buice and Thomas Annunziata entering the frontstretch, he led his first lap (Lap 30) and proceeded to motor ahead of the latter two to retain the top spot for the event’s remainder, including a 42-lap dash to the finish. With Buice trailing and trying to reel in from behind in the runner-up spot, Mosack was not denied a victorious drive in the ARCA Menards Series’ return to Joliet, Illinois, following a seven-year absence.
The event’s starting lineup was determined by Friday’s practice speeds after qualifying was canceled due to inclement weather. As a result, Thomas Annunziata was awarded the pole position after he set the fastest practice speed at 174.300 mph in 30.981 seconds. Daniel Dye started alongside Annunziata on the front row with the second-fastest practice speed at 170.627 mph in 31.648 seconds.
When the green flag waved and the event commenced, Thomas Annunziata received a strong push from points leader Jake Bollman from the inside lane to motor ahead with an early advantage at the event’s launch. Annunziata maintained the lead over Bollman, Daniel Dye and the field for a full circuit as he led the first lap. During the second lap, Bollman got loose beneath Dye through the first two turns and both nearly got sideways, but both managed to proceed racing straight. Amid the contact, Lanie Buice and Connor Mosack overtook Dye for second and third, respectively, while Bollman dropped to eighth place. Meanwhile, Annunziata maintained the lead by nearly two seconds by the fifth lap mark.
Through the first 10 scheduled laps, Annunziata continued to lead by two seconds over Buice, Mosack, Dye and William Sawalich while Andy Jankowiak, Landon S. Huffman, Bollman, Kyle Steckly and Gavan Boschele were racing in the top 10, respectively. Meanwhile, Jade Avedisian, Isabella Robousto, Jason Kitzmiller, Tim Richmond, Morgen Baird, Bobby Earnhardt and Michael Maples were the last seven competitors from the field of 27 to be scored on the lead lap as Annunzianta had his advantage decrease to more than a second over Buice by Lap 15.
On Lap 19, the event’s first caution flew due to Bobby Earnhardt getting sideways and spinning to the bottom of the track in Turns 3 and 4. During the first caution period, some, including Bollman, Avedisian, Robusto, Jason Kitzmiller, Tim Richmond, Brayton Laster, Takuma Koga, Dustin Hillenburg and Alex Clubb, pitted while the rest, led by Annunziata, remained on the track.
The event’s next restart on Lap 24 did not last long when Sawalich, who restarted alongside Andy Jankowiak on the third row, made contact with Jankowiak before he cut a right-front tire, went dead straight into the Turn 1 outside wall and limped back to pit road with heavy right-side damage. At the moment of caution, Buice, who restarted on the inside lane and had Connor Mosack behind her, assumed the lead from Annunziata.
As the event restarted on Lap 29, Buice and Annunziata dueled for the lead through the first two turns and the backstretch. Then through Turns 3 and 4, Mosack made a move beneath the latter two. The trio remained dead even through the frontstretch before Mosack, who led the Lap 30 mark, just managed to motor ahead of Buice and Annunziata to assume the lead. As Mosack led just past the Lap 31 mark, Annunziata trailed in the runner-up spot while Buice battled Daniel Dye to maintain third place ahead of Landon S. Huffman, Jankowiak and Isabella Boschele.
By Lap 40, Mosack stretched his advantage to more than three seconds over Buice while Annunziata, Dye and Boschele occupied top-five spots ahead of Huffman and Jankowiak. Meanwhile, Bollman and Avedisian, both of whom pitted during the previous caution, trailed in eighth and ninth, respectively, while Kyle Steckly occupied the final top-10 spot over Kitzmiller, Robusto, Tim Richmond and Morgen Baird.
At the halfway mark on Lap 50, a competition caution flew, and the event reached a break period, with the field pitting for service non-competitively. At the moment of caution, Mosack was leading by more than three seconds over Buice while Annunziata, Boschele, Huffman, Bollman, Jankowiak, Avedisian, Michael Maples and Jason Kitzmiller were scored in the top 10, respectively.
When the event restarted with 42 laps remaining, Mosack launched ahead from the outside lane, and he maintained the lead over Buice, Dye and the field for a full cycle. As Mosack set a reasonable advantage by leading by more than a second while setting fast lap times over Buice and Dye over the next two laps, Annunziata was mired in fourth place in front of Huffman, Jankowiak, Bollman, and Avedisian. Mosack then proceeded to add another second to his advantage as he led Buice by more than two seconds with 35 laps remaining.
Down to the final 25 laps of the event, Mosack stabilized his advantage to nearly three seconds over Buice while Dye, Huffman and Annunziata trailed in the top-five mark, respectively, with Annunziata trailing by more than seven seconds. Meanwhile, Bollman settled in sixth place in front of Jankowiak, Avedisian, Kyle Steckly and Jason Kitzmiller as Mosack continued to lead by more than two seconds with 20 laps remaining.
With 10 laps remaining, Mosack extended his late advantage by more than three seconds over Buice while Huffman occupied third place despite trailing the leader Mosack by more than four seconds. Dye and Annunziata trailed in the top-five mark by single-digit marks while sixth-place Avedisian trailed by double-digit marks. While Bollman was mired in seventh place behind Avedisian, Mosack, who had his lead decrease to over a second, maintained the top spot over Buice.
When the white flag waved and the final lap started, Mosack remained in the lead by more than two seconds over Buice. With Buice unable to reel in from behind, Mosack steered his No. 28 Friends of Jaclyn/Pinnacle Racing Group Chevrolet entry smoothly around Chicagoland for a final circuit before he cycled back to the frontstretch to claim both the checkered flag and the victory by two seconds over Buice.
With the victory, Mosack, who competes on a part-time basis in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series division with Spire Motorsports, notched his third ARCA Menards Series career victory and his first since he won at Kansas Speedway in May 2024. He recorded the third ARCA victory of the 2026 season for Pinnacle Racing Group, and he became the 20th competitor overall to win an ARCA event at Chicagoland.
“It always means a lot to win with these [No. 28] guys,” Mosack said on the frontstretch on FS1. “Just to see where they’ve come from in the last few years. It’s always fun racing with these guys that make my job a lot easier out here with these kind of cars. Obviously, we’ve been really, really good on all the mile-and-a-halves this year. [I] Finally got one where we didn’t have any late cautions, which is nice. It hasn’t been as many [wins] for [Pinnacle] this year, but at least we got one tonight.”
Lanie Buice, Mosack’s teammate at Pinnacle Racing Group, achieved a career-best runner-up result and joins Isabella Robusto, Hailie Deegan, Erin Crocker and Shawna Robinson as the highest-finishing female competitor in the ARCA Menards Series division. She also notched her fourth top-five result in four ARCA starts this season.
Landon S. Huffman finished in third place ahead of Daniel Dye and Thomas Annunziata. Jade Avedisian, Andy Jankowiak, points leader Jake Bollman, Jason Kitzmiller and Kyle Steckly completed the top 10 in the final running order. With his eighth-place result, Bollman continues to lead the championship standings by 16 points over Annunziata as the 2026 ARCA Menards Series season is nine races away from concluding.
The 2026 ARCA Menards Series’ return to racing at Chicagoland generated two lead changes for three different leaders, and three cautions for 17 laps.
Results:
- Connor Mosack, 71 laps led
- Lanie Buice, five laps led
- Landon S. Huffman
- Daniel Dye
- Thomas Annunziata, 24 laps led
- Jade Avedisian
- Andy Jankowiak
- Jake Bollman
- Jason Kitzmiller
- Kyle Steckly, one lap down
- Tim Richmond, one lap down
- Gavan Boschele, one lap down
- Isabella Robusto, one lap down
- Morgen Baird, two laps down
- Landon Brown, three laps down
- Takuma Koga, seven laps down
- Dustin Hillenburg, eight laps down
- Jeff Maconi, 10 laps down
- Bobby Earnhardt, 11 laps down
- Brayton Laster, 15 laps down
- Michael Maples, 17 laps down
- Alex Clubb – OUT, Mechanical
- Tim Monroe – OUT, Mechanical
- William Sawalich – OUT, Accident
- Brad Smith – OUT, Mechanical
- Matt Kemp – OUT, Mechanical
- Nate Moeller – OUT, Mechanical
Next on the 2026 ARCA Menards Series schedule is Lime Rock Park for the Lime Rock Park ARCA 100. The event is scheduled to occur next Friday, July 10, and air at 4 p.m. ET on FS2.
