Thomas Annunziata doubled down at a road course venue where he achieved his first career ARCA Menards Series victory a year ago. This season, he led all but nine of the 68 scheduled laps to win the Lime Rock Park ARCA 100 on Friday, July 3, for his second consecutive victory in the ARCA Menards Series.
The 21-year-old Annunziata from Colts Neck, New Jersey, started Friday’s main event on the front row and assumed command for the first time on the sixth lap. Despite nearly having his event go sideways during a Lap 18 restart that caused him to lose the lead to title rival Jake Bollman, Annunziata recovered and reassumed the lead by Lap 22. From there, Annunziata never looked back as he proceeded to claim the checkered flag by nearly 10 seconds over Andrew Ranger.
With on-track qualifying determining the starting lineup on Friday, Carson Brown secured pole position with a lap at 97.908 mph in 54.345 seconds. Thomas Annunziata, the reigning ARCA Lime Rock Park winner, qualified in second place with a lap at 97.793 mph in 54.409 seconds.
When the green flag waved and the event commenced, Carson Brown maintained a steady advantage through the main straightaway that led to the first turn. Brown, however, went up the track through the first turn and was overtaken by both Thomas Annunziata and Tristian McKee, with McKee assuming command through the first two turns (Big Bend) and leading to both a third left-hander turn and a fourth right-hander turn. As the field behind jostled for early spots, McKee fended off Annunziata through the remaining three turns and cycled back to the main straightaway to lead the first lap.
Over the next four laps, McKee maintained the lead by as high as four-tenths of a second over Annunziata while Brown, who dropped to fifth place during the opening lap, rallied his way up to third place. Behind, points leader Jake Bollman and Peter Portante were in the top five while Isabella Robusto, Andrew Ranger, Max Reaves, Ryan Gemmell and Stewart Friesen occupied the remaining top-10 spots over Jeff Anton, Dawson Sutton, Alex Quarterley, Andy Jankowiak, Isaac Kitzmiller, Graham Jacobson, Ty Fredrickson, Will Robinson, Jason Kitzmiller and Chase Buscaglia, respectively.
On the seventh lap, Annunziata overtook McKee through the main straight in between Turns 7 and 1 to assume the lead for the first time. As Annunziata proceeded to extend his advantage to more than a second by the 10th lap, Brown reeled in and intimidated teammate McKee for the runner-up spot while Bollman and Portante continued to occupy the remaining top-five spots over Ranger, Robusto, Gemmell, Reaves and Anton, respectively.
Following the event’s first caution that flew on the 12th lap due to debris that came off of Corey Aiken’s entry lying on the course, the event restarted on the 19th lap. At the start, Annunziata got sideways entering the first turn when he wheel-hopped the turn and was hit in the rear by Brown. As a result, Annunziata managed to keep his entry straight when he ran into the side of McKee, but the latter went off the course amid the contact as Brown also slipped and spun through the first turn. Amid the chaos and with no caution flying, Bollman maneuvered his way into the lead, and he led the next lap over Annunziata while Reaves, Gemmell and Anton were in the top five.
On Lap 22, Annunziata overtook Bollman to reassume the lead through the sixth turn. As Annunziata led the next lap over Bollman, Reaves and Gemmell battled closely behind for third place while Ranger was up into fifth place ahead of Anton, Portante, Quarterley, Friesen and McKee, respectively. Sutton, who spun on Lap 20, was in 19th place behind Brown. Robusto, who was pushed by a wrecker during the first caution period due to having no fuel pressure, was mired 10 laps down in 25th place.
At the halfway mark on Lap 34, a competition caution flew, and the event entered a five-minute break period. During this time, all competitors pitted non-competitively with the options to have tires changed along with a fill-up of fuel and adjustments/repairs needed. At the time of caution, Annunziata was leading by more than two seconds over Gemmell while Reaves, Bollman, Ranger, McKee, Portante, Anton, Quarterley and Ian Kitzmiller in top 10, with Brown mired in 15th and 19 of 29 starters scored on the lead lap.
When the event resumed with 30 laps remaining, Annunziata fended off Ryan Gemmell through the first turn to maintain the lead. As the field bumped and jostled for late spots through the course’s turns, Annunziata led the next lap over Gemmell and Bollman while Ranger and Reaves were in the top five ahead of Peter Portante, McKee, Alex Quarterley, Stewart Friesen and JeffAnton. Annunziata, who stretched his lead to more than a second with 29 laps remaining, increased his lead to more than two seconds with 25 to go.
Then with 23 laps remaining, the caution flew due to debris on course, and it evaporated Annunziata’s lead of more than five seconds. During the next restart with 18 laps remaining, Annunzaiata fended off Ranger through the first four turns to maintain the lead while a variety of on-track bumps and jostling of spots, including one that involved McKee running into the side of Portante through the first turn, ensued. Annunziata led the next lap, and he grew his lead over Ranger to eight-tenths of second with 15 laps remaining.
Down to the final 10 laps, Annunziata grew his late lead to more than two seconds over Ranger while Bollman, Brown and Reaves trailed in the top five, respectively. By then, Gemmell dropped to sixth ahead and was racing ahead of McKee as Annunziata extended his lead to more than six seconds with five to go.
When the white flag waved and the final lap started, Annunziata remained in the lead by nine seconds over Ranger. With no challenges reeling in close enough, Annunziata cycled around Like Rock Park smoothly for a final time before he cycled back to the main straightaway and claimed the checkered flag by more than nine seconds over Ranger.
With the victory, Annunziata, driver of the No. 70 Toyota Camry entry for Nitro Motorsports, scored his second ARCA Menards Series career victory in his 18th series start, both of which have occurred at Lime Park. He also notched his sixth top-five result through 12 ARCA events in 2026 and he trails points leader Jake Bollman by eight points with only eight events remaining on the 2026 schedule. Annunziata’s ARCA victory completed half of his double-duty roles this weekend at Lime Rock as he will also drive TRICON Garage’s No. 1 Toyota Tundra TRD Pro entry on Saturday, July 10.
“I grew up doing this kind of stuff. A lot of these guys didn’t,” Annunziata said. “I have an advantage when it comes to the road courses. We started getting hot there the last couple of races. We weren’t able to execute a victory there, but I feel like we deserved one for a while. We worked hard for this. It means so much to get the first win for Nitro Motorsports in 2026. Yeah, it’s been a while [since I won], so I’m happy. You got to just keep digging. [I] Just don’t have quite the race craft yet, so we’re getting closer, but I know what I’m doing here.”
Andrew Ranger, a three-time NASCAR Pintys Series champion from Quebec, Canada, finished in the runner-up spot over Carson Brown, Max Reaves and Jake Bollman. Ryan Gemmell, Tristan McKee, Isaac Kitzmiller. Dawson Sutton and Jeff Anton completed the top 10 in the final running order.
This event saw four lead changes among three leaders and three cautions over 15 laps. In addition, 19 of 29 starters finished on the lead lap.
Results:
- Thomas Annunziata, 59 laps led
- Andrew Ranger
- Carson Brown
- Max Reaves
- Jake Bollman, three laps led
- Ryan Gemmell
- Tristan McKee
- Isaac Kitzmiller
- Dawson Sutton
- Jeff Anton
- Peter Portante
- Will Robinson
- Stewart Friesen
- Andy Jankowiak
- Ty Fredrickson
- Graham Jacobson
- Jason Kitzmiller
- Chase Buscaglia
- Takuma Koga
- Bobby Earnhardt, two laps down
- Alex Quarterley, four laps down
- Alex Clubb, seven laps down
- Michael Maples, eight laps down
- Nate Moeller, nine laps down
- Isabella Robusto, 18 laps down
- Corey Aiken – OUT, Mechanical
- Brad Smith – OUT, Mechanical
- Ed Pompa – Did Not Start (DNS)
- Jef Maconi – Did Not Start (DNS)
Next on the 2026 ARCA Menards Series schedule is the LiUNA! 150 at Lucas Oil Indianapolis Raceway Park in Brownsburg, Indiana, an event that will also serve as a shared event that will feature competitors competing in the ARCA Menards Series and ARCA Menards Series East divisions. The event is scheduled to occur on July 24 and air at 5 p.m. ET on FS1.
