Van Alst tops journeymen, young guns in hard-fought ARCA opener

DAYTONA BEACH, FLA. — Journeymen and young guns battled through several cautions and various calamity to race for the win in the 2023 ARCA Menards Series opener at Daytona.
In the end, Greg Van Alst emerged the winner over Connor Mosack after making a final-lap move on Canadian Jason White to earn his first career ARCA win.
“This one is for the short track guys who never made it. I worked my ass for this and we won at Daytona!” Van Alst said, excitedly, on the frontstretch.

Other drivers weren’t as cheerful, like Van Alst who upset White.
“That last lap is one I’ll be walking through my head forever. They hung me out to dry. I’ve been on the simulator a thousand times and that’s never happened. My spotter said back it down, back it down, back it up and I felt the wind slow down. I could’ve gone up to block but I didn’t want to cause a big wreck,” White said after finishing ninth.
White said he worked well with Van Alst, at least until the final lap. Still, he had a fast car that we may see again.

“Jeff McClure and the guys worked hard. This car was ready for three weeks and they were still working on it for five hours every night. He’s a mad scientist and he’s got it going on,” White reflected. “I hope to run this again at Talladega in April.”
VIDEO: Canadian Jason White talks coming up short in ARCA opener at Daytona
Taking his place near Van Alst in the ultimate finish was Connor Mosack, who nabbed second.
“We had a good start there leading the map and hoping we could wrap the yellow line and hold the lead. Then, the 97 passed us and we got in traffic and we got shuffled around, got spun.We didn’t hit anything and came back P2, wish we had one more lap,” Mosack said.
VIDEO: Connor Mosack on 2nd-place ARCA run at Daytona

Mosack raced with Dale Quarterley, who was up front multiple times throughout the race. Quarterley described the car as “killer” with help from Chad Bryant, a familiar face in the ARCA garage.
“It didn’t seem like it had any weaknesses but I made a couple of stupid moves at the beginning and lost some spots then said, ‘Okay I gotta let the car do the work,’ just started floating between lanes and got to 8th, started overheating. We tore off some tape and drove back up to 3rd.”
Quarterley was turned on the frontstretch but then drove from 23rd to 10th on the final lap.
“It was a good day, the sponsor got airtime, everybody was happy.”
But not everyone was happy with Quarterley.
“I didn’t really like working with Dale Quarterley too much, he’s the one who wrecked me. He was shoving a little too hard a little too early but it’s alright,” Mosack said.
“I was yelling in the radio early on but the 4, he was literally just plowing into us. We were so squirrel-y, we almost wrecked like 10 times, I know he wrecked like 3 other guys,” Muniz said.
Still, Quarterley remains a veteran of the sport and sees Daytona as “just an 8-hour drive” he has done since 1973.
“It’s a blast. It’s stuff you can’t find in the normal world,” he reflected.
FULL RESULTS
Finish | Start | Car | Driver | Team | Laps | Status |
1 | 7 | 35 | Greg Van Alst * | Vern’s Concrete/CB Fabricating/Sam Pierce Chevy | 80 | Running |
2 | 1 | 18 | Connor Mosack * | Mobil1 Toyota | 80 | Running |
3 | 39 | 8 | Sean Corr | The Trans Group Chevrolet | 80 | Running |
4 | 11 | 2 | Lavar Scott * | Max Siegel Inc. Chevrolet | 80 | Running |
5 | 25 | 74 | Mandy Chick * | Rose Hulman Institute of Technology Chevrolet | 80 | Running |
6 | 35 | 15 | Amber Balcaen * | ICON Direct Toyota | 80 | Running |
7 | 2 | 20 | Jesse Love | Yahoo Toyota | 80 | Running |
8 | 36 | 6 | Jack Wood * | WB/Velocity Racing/Max Siegal Inc. Chevrolet | 80 | Running |
9 | 19 | 44 | Jason White | Powder Ventures Excavating Chevrolet | 80 | Running |
10 | 15 | 4 | Dale Quarterley | Van Dyk Recycling Solution/Motul/Walker Furn | 80 | Running |
11 | 16 | 30 | Frankie Muniz * | Hair Club/Ford Performace Ford | 80 | Running |
12 | 13 | 32 | Christian Rose * | West Virgina Tourism #AlmostHeaven Ford | 80 | Running |
13 | 24 | 62 | Steve Lewis, Jr * | Telco Construction/Jeffery Machine Chevrolet | 80 | Running |
14 | 17 | 53 | Natalie Decker | SPLAT Ford | 80 | Running |
15 | 28 | 45 | Tony Cosentino * | BYB Extreme Chevrolet | 80 | Running |
16 | 14 | 11 | Bryce Haugeberg * | Magnum Contracting/Haugeberg Farms Toyota | 80 | Running |
17 | 6 | 42 | Robby Lyons | Sun West Construction/MMI Services Chevrolet | 80 | Running |
18 | 9 | 63 | Logan Misuraca * | CELSIUS Chevrolet | 80 | Running |
19 | 3 | 97 | Jason Kitzmiller | A.L.L. Construction Inc Chevrolet | 80 | Ruru |
20 | 21 | 3 | Willie Mullins | CorvetteParts.net/Crow Wing Recycling Chevrolet | 80 | Running |
21 | 27 | 75 | Bryan Dauzat | Brother-In-Law Motorsports Chevrolet | 80 | Running |
22 | 30 | 10 | Ed Pompa | Hytorc of New York/Double H Ranch Chevrolet | 80 | Running |
23 | 12 | 55 | Toni Breidinger * | FP Movement Toyota | 80 | Running |
24 | 34 | 93 | Caleb Costner * | Innovative Tiny Houses/Lickety Lew’s Chevrolet | 80 | Running |
25 | 23 | 66 | Jon Garrett | The Camping Crew Chevrolet | 80 | Running |
26 | 37 | 68 | Gage Rogers * | SEKISUI Voltek Ford | 80 | Running |
27 | 20 | 03 | Brayton Laster * | Indy Auto Recyclers/Autorepairvinstickers.com Ford | 80 | Running |
28 | 29 | 87 | Chuck Buchanan Jr. | Spring Drug Pharmacy Chevrolet | 80 | Running |
29 | 32 | 06 | A.J. Moyer * | River’s Edge Cottages & RV Park Chevrolet | 79 | Running |
30 | 33 | 48 | Brad Smith | Copraya.com Chevrolet | 74 | Running |
31 | 38 | 02 | Miguel Gomes * | Smiththunder Chevrolet | 69 | Running |
32 | 5 | 73 | Andy Jankowiak * | Whelen Ford | 62 | Accident |
33 | 31 | 12 | Zach Herrin * | Lambda Legal Toyota | 62 | Running |
34 | 26 | 7 | Eric Caudell | Bellator Cyber Guard/Red Tide Canopies/Cobel | 43 | Engine |
35 | 10 | 25 | Gus Dean | JBL/Dean Custom Air Toyota | 33 | Fuel Line |
36 | 18 | 27 | Tim Richmond | Latino Immigration and Legal Center Toyota | 30 | Accident |
37 | 4 | 36 | Ryan Huff * | Southeastern Services Ford | 16 | Clutch |
38 | 8 | 69 | Scott Melton | Melton McFadden Ins/Donna’s Donuts Ford | 11 | Accident |
39 | 22 | 57 | Hunter Deshautelle | Brother-In-Law Motorsports Chevrolet | 3 | Radiator |
40 | 40 | 01 | Andres Perez de Lara * | FastTrackRacing.com Chevrolet | 80 | DNS |