Bret Holmes celebrated his first career victory at Kansas Speedway on Friday following a dominating performance in the Dawn 150. Holmes, driving the No. 23 Chevrolet, led 82 of the 100 laps to earn the top spot.
“We’ve been working so hard for this,” said Holmes. “I’ve been working my whole life for this. My team did this for me. It’s been a long tough road. I just thank my family and my friends. They believed in me when I didn’t.”
The win was far from a surprise for the Alabama native.
Holmes came into the race with four top five finishes in the last five ARCA Menards Series races. His only finish outside the top 10 was a 15th-place finish at Phoenix in March. The series will re-visit Kansas for the season finale in October … something that Holmes is looking forward to.
“It’s a good feeling. The temperature will be a lot different so will be the main thing,” said Holmes. “It’s not too big of a set-up change for what we did last year to here. If it comes down to the wire I’m feeling pretty confident.”
The Alabama native holds 19 top five and 51 career top 10 finishes through 69 career ARCA starts. He leaves Kansas sitting 19 points behind standings leader Michael Self.
Ryan Repko sat 14.458 seconds behind Holmes at the checkered flag. Repko started the evening second on the leaderboard and will leave with his second top five of the season through four starts.
Riley Herbst started on the pole and rounded out the top three finishers. Herbst, piloting the No. 18 Toyota in the place of Ty Gibbs, led the first 18 laps of the Dawn 150 before eventual race winner Bret Holmes took the top spot.
Corey Heim and Tanner Gray rounded out the top five.
Rounding out the top 10 were Michael Self, Drew Dollar, Derek Griffith, Hailie Deegan and Thad Moffitt.
Other than the two scheduled breaks at lap 30 and 60, only one on-track incident occurred throughout the 150-mile event. On lap 12 Russ Lane got loose off turn two and took a hard impact into the inside retaining wall. Lane was done for the evening and finished 18th in the 18-car field.
The ARCA Menards Series travels to Toledo Speedway for a pair of events. Race one of the double-header will take place on July 31st at 8:00 p.m. ET. while race two will take place on August 1st at 6:00 p.m. ET. Both events will air live on MAVTV and NBC TrackPass Gold.
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.
- NCTS: Eckes Scores Second Victory of 2024 at Martinsville - April 5, 2024
- NWMT: Justin Bonsignore Noses Ron Silk for 41st Career Victory at Richmond - March 29, 2024
- NCS: William Byron Scores EchoPark Automotive Grand Prix Victory in Austin - March 24, 2024