Ty Gibbs (No. 19 Monster Energy/ORCA Coolers/Advance Auto Parts Toyota) made a late charge through the field at Pensacola to finish second at the ARCA Pensacola 200 Presented by Inspectra Thermal Solutions. Gibbs is the leader of the Sioux Chief Short Track Challenge after the first of eleven races following a penalty to race winner Michael Self (No. 25 Sinclair Oil Toyota). Self’s car was found to be too low in post-race inspection by ARCA Menards Series officials.
Gibbs also earned Bounty Rookie of the Race honors narrowly over Christian Eckes (No. 15 JBL Audio Toyota) when Gibbs pulled off the pass for second place on the final lap of the race. Eckes maintains the lead in the season-long hunt for the Bounty Rookie Challenge title.
Gibbs, the 16-year old grandson of legendary NFL coach and NASCAR team owner Joe Gibbs, was making his ARCA Menards Series debut and had his work cut out for him early on after qualifying tenth. The young wheelman was up to seventh when the first caution flew not long before the halfway mark. He came out of the pits in the same spot and ramped up his intensity on the ensuing restart. He quickly found himself inside the top five and drove all the way up to a distant second behind leader Raphael Lessard (No. 19 FRL Express Chevrolet) when the second and final caution flag waved for debris.
Gibbs led a lap during the yellow flag period but dropped to sixth coming out of the pits and found himself stuck behind a multicar battle for several laps following the restart. Gibbs finally got underneath Chandler Smith (No. 20 Craftsman Toyota) with 13 laps to go and made a herculean effort to catch and pass Eckes for the runner-up spot, erasing a gap of two and a half seconds in that time.
Eckes leads the season-long Bounty Rookie Challenge standings with 60 points. Tommy Vigh Jr. (No. 10 Extreme Kleaner Ford) is the closest competition in second with 54 points. Corey Heim (No. 22 Speedway Children’s Charities Ford) enters the standings in third with 28 points after a top five at Pensacola. Brenden Queen (No. 35 DuraGloss Toyota) drops to fourth with 26 points. Paul Williamson (No. 36 FV Recycling Toyota) and Tim Richmond (No. 06 GreatRailing.com Dodge) are tied for fifth with 24 points. Last year’s Bounty Rookie of the Year was Zane Smith.
Gibbs leads the Sioux Chief Short Track Challenge standings with 220 points heading into the second round of the award chase at Salem. Eckes is second with 215 points, while Self and Chandler Smith are tied for third with 210 points. Heim rounds out the top five with 205 points. Only the ten best short track finishes are considered when calculating the points standings at the end of the year for the Sioux Chief Short Track Challenge. The defending Sioux Chief Short Track Challenge champion is 2018 ARCA Menards Series champion Sheldon Creed.
The ARCA Menards Series will visit the high banks of Salem Speedway for the next series event on April 14. This will be the first of the two AMS races annually scheduled at Salem. In the spring running a year ago, Christian Eckes won the Bounty Rookie Challenge for the day to go along with his race victory. Chandler Smith pulled off the same sweep by dominating the fall race at the southern Indiana short track.
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