The ARCA Menards Series invaded the Charlotte Motor Speedway Friday for the General Tire 150. Serving as the sixth race on the series calendar in 2024, it featured 31 entries.
Tanner Gray led the opening practice Friday morning at the 1.5-mile North Carolina oval posting a fast time of 30.874 / 174.904 mph. Lavar Scott, Amber Balcaen, Kris Wright, and Gus Dean sat top five.
Qualifying began 20 or so minutes after practice concluded. Andres Perez earned his second career ARCA pole with a quick time of 30.340 / 177.983 mph. Gus Dean, Tanner Gray, Kris Wright, and Carson Kvapil rounded out the top five starters.
The field later went green just after 6:00 p.m. ET. with Andres Perez leading the way up front. It was not long until yellow slowed the field with three laps complete for the 11 of Jayson Alexander.
On lap seven, with Perez leading, the field returned to green flag conditions.
Tanner Gray took the lead away from Perez to hold the spot over the next 20 circuits.
The Caution again flew for Alexander in turn four giving Ryan Roulette the free pass. This later created a fun battle between Gray and Carson Kvapil upfront for the restart.
Green waved with Kvapil quickly taking the lead away from Gray with 71 laps remaining. Kvapil led through the halfway break at lap 50 and a restart at lap 86.
Gray, piloting the No. 18 Toyota for owner Joe Gibbs Racing, was not settling for second, however.
With 12 laps remaining the driver of the No. 18 Toyota passed Kvapil for the lead to score his first career ARCA victory – leading 32 of 100 circuits.
Kvapil finished second followed by Perez, Will Kimmel, and Lavar Scott.
Taking home top 10 finishes were Gus Dean, Dean Thompson, Lawless Alan, Jason Kitzmiller, and Sebastian Arias.
The series heads next to Iowa Speedway on June 14th. Coverage of the Atlas 150 airs live on FOX Sports 1 and MRN Radio at 8:00 p.m. ET.
About Me: Brett has been following the sport of NASCAR since the beginning of the 2006 NASCAR Sprint Cup season. Since Brett was 13, he has had a passion of chasing a job in sports that not many get the opportunity of doing. He has been in the NASCAR media since the middle of the 2010 season. Since then, he has been a part of many racing podcast shows to improve his talents. He has written for racingonfuel.com and theracingwheel.com. Currently, Brett writes for motorsportsnat.com and TracksideChatter.com. You can find him on twitter @NASCAR_Brett.
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