Greg Van Alst came out as the surprise winner on Saturday at Daytona International Speedway after passing Jason White on the final lap to grab his first career ARCA victory. Van Alst, after starting seventh on the starting grid, led six circuits throughout the 80-lap season opener.
Van Alst showed plenty of emotion in his frontstretch interview with FOX Sports 1 after the race.
“We gave it everything we got and it’s the only speedway car we got,” exclaimed Van Alst. “There’s no way I was going to bring it home without the steering wheel and the trophy and that was it.”
Jason White went on to finish ninth after leading 14 circuits throughout the event in his No. 44 Ford with sponsor Power Ventures Excavating. White, from Canada, scores his second ARCA Menards Series top 10 finish.
In 32 ARCA starts, Van Alst holds two top-five and 15 top-10 finishes.
“This is for all the short track racers out there that don’t think you can get to this level,” the emotional Daytona winner added. “I worked my ass off to get here and we did it!”
Connor Mosack started on the pole and led the most laps of the day in the No. 18 Toyota. Mosack, having four top-five finishes in his ARCA career, finishes runner-up in the event with team Joe Gibbs Racing.
Sean Corr, Lavar Scott, and Mandy Chick, took home top-five finishes. Scott, making his ARCA debut, along with Chick, both earned their first career top-five finishes.
Amber Balcaen, Jesse Love, Jack Wood, Jason White and Dale Quarterley rounded out the top 10.
Actor and race car driver Frankie Muniz made his ARCA debut on the 2.5-mile oval piloting the No. 30 Ford with Rette-Jones Racing. Muniz paced the lone practice session atop the board on Thursday before qualifying 16th for the BRANDT 200. Muniz ends the exciting and nervous weekend finishing 11th.
Eight cautions slowed the field along with an 18 minute and 51 second red flag period.
The next race for the ARCA Menards Series will be March 10th at Phoenix Raceway. You can catch that event live on FOX Sports 2 and MRN Radio.
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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