ARCA/W: Ty Gibbs Wins Combination Event at Phoenix

The ARCA Menards Series joined the ARCA Menards Series West for a combination event at Phoenix Raceway. The General Tire 150, an entry list of 30 drivers, included a little bit of everything from a red flag to rain to chaos all Friday afternoon and evening. 

Ty Gibbs scored the victory at Phoenix Raceway on Friday by holding off eventual second-place finisher Corey Heim in a one-lap shootout. Gibbs, winning the pole after rain washed out qualifying at the one-mile paved oval, led the field for 124 of the 150 circuits.

“In those moments I just … God blessed me a lot with my driving ability and I’ve got clean tires and somehow I drove through it,” said Gibbs on navigating the sprinkles and one-lap shootout. “It was raining pretty hard there for a little bit but once it cleared off, we went back to green. It was a fun time and I had a blast!” 

Gibbs leaves the track with his ninth career ARCA Menards Series victory.

The winner of the event gave credit to God after climbing from his No. 18 Toyota.

“First of all, thank the man above,” said Gibbs. “He’s put me here, and he’s put me in this situation and I’m serving for God and I’m chained to his faith forever. I’d do anything for him and I can’t thank him enough and give him enough glory. He blessed me so much and I’m so thankful to be in this situation and where I am. Not a lot of kids really get to do what I get to do and I’m very thankful for that and I really love driving race cars.”

Heim, leader of only one circuit, placed second in the General Tire 150. The Georgia native leaves the track in the desert with his 12th top-five and 17th top 10 finish. 

Thad Moffitt rounded out the top three on Friday. The driver of the No. 46 Clean Pacs Ford led the field for five circuits after starting ninth on the leaderboard.

Kyle Sieg and Derek Kraus took home top-five finishes.

The rest of the top 10 included Jesse Love, Drew Dollar, Todd Souza, Taylor Gray, and Trevor Huddleston. 

Taylor Gray led the field for 15 laps before being hit with a two-lap penalty on pit road at the middle portion of the race. The No. 15 crew added fuel while taking tires … which is a no-no under ARCA rules. They do not allow teams to engage the fuel can while taking tires at the same time. 

Eight caution flags slowed the event in addition to an 11-minute and 9-second red flag period. 87 of the 150-laps were under green while the remaining 63-laps were under yellow.

The first yellow took out four notable contenders as the race went green. The incident involved Gracie Trotter, Jack Wood, Zane Smith, and Toni Breidinger and forced all four to the garage. 

They could not continue.

The next race for the ARCA Menards Series will be at Talladega Superspeedway on April 24th. Coverage of the General Tire 150 will air live on FS1. 

The ARCA Menards Series West will return at Sonoma Raceway on June 5th.

Brett Winningham
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