Gibbs crowned 37th ARCA champion, Sanchez emerges at Kansas
KANSAS CITY, Kan. – The king of the ARCA Menards Series put on his own coronation in Saturday night’s Reese’s 150 at Kansas Speedway but not everyone was ready to kiss the ring by night’s end, as ARCA champion Ty Gibbs was passed late for the win by first-time winner Nick Sanchez.
Sanchez earned his first career ARCA Menards Series win after making a three-wide pass on Gibbs and Corey Heim – the top 2 in the ARCA championship – during an overtime restart.
The overtime restart was set up by a caution with six laps to go for Eric Caudell, who blew a right-front tire.
On the restart, Sanchez made a three-wide, frontstretch pass on Heim and Gibbs. Sanchez cleared them exiting turn two and held on to join the likes of Landen Lewis, Daniel Dye and Jesse Love who each won their first ARCA Menards Series race in 2021.
The Top 10 finishers were as follows: Nick Sanchez (led 2 laps), Ty Gibbs (led 100 laps), Corey Heim, Drew Dollar, J.P. Bergeron, Kris Wright, Kyle Sieg, Dean Thompson, Rajah Caruth, Parker Chase.
Dollar, Bergeron, Wright and Thompson each earned their best-career ARCA Menards Series finish – finishing 4th, 5th, 6th and 8th, respectively.
Connor Mosack finished 11th and also earned his best-career ARCA Menards Series finish.
Race winner Nick Sanchez, in 2022, will run full-time for REV Racing in the ARCA Menards Series full-time and part-time for B.J. McLeod Motorsports in the NASCAR Xfinity Series.
Although Gibbs finished second and did not cap off his historic season with win No. 11, he finished the season with 1590 laps led which broke Tim Steele’s 1996 modern-era record of 1514 laps led.
Gibbs, in 2021, broke the record despite running 758 fewer laps than Steele in 1996.
Corey Heim finished the season 2nd in points with 6 wins, 16 Top 5s, 20 Top 10s, 3 poles, 405 laps led and 1004 points.
Had Heim done this in 2020, he would have won the championship over Bret Holmes by 1 point.
The full 2022 ARCA Menards Series schedule has yet to be announced but MAVTV confirmed Daytona will be run as the opener and, Talladega and Toledo are back on the schedule. MAVTV also confirmed Toledo will host the finale for the first time since 2011.
In 2008, Ricky Stenhouse Jr. and Scott Speed exacted retaliation on each other while racing for the championship at Toledo, which took them out of the race and paved the way for Justin Allgaier to win the championship.
SOURCES:
ARCA Racing
Racing-Reference.Info
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Jonathan Fjeld View All
Jonathan Fjeld is the co-owner of the The Racing Experts, LLC. He has been with TRE since 2010.
A Twin Valley, MN, native, Fjeld became a motorsports fan at just three years old (first race was the 2002 Pennsylvania 500). He worked as a contributor and writer for TRE from 2010-18. Since then, he has stepped up and covered 24 NASCAR race weekends and taken on a larger role with TRE. He became the co-owner and managing editor in 2023 and has guided the site to massive growth in that time.
Fjeld has covered a wide array of stories and moments over the years, including Kevin Harvick's final Cup Series season, the first NASCAR national series disqualification in over 50 years, Shane van Gisbergen's stunning win in Chicago and the first Cup Series race at Road America in 66 years – as well as up-and-coming drivers' stories and stories from inside the sport, like the tech it takes for Hendrick Motorsports to remain a top-tier team.
Currently, he resides in Albuquerque, N.M., where he works for KOB 4, an NBC station. He works as a digital producer and does on-air reports. He loves spending time with friends and family, playing and listening to music, exploring new places, being outdoors, reading books and writing among other activities. You can email him at fjeldjonathan@gmail.com