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Ty Gibbs Leads List of ARCA Special Award Winners from Gateway

www.arcaracing.com June 25, 2019

World Wide Technology Raceway at Gateway has been known for producing some wild finishes over the years, and Saturday’s ARCA Menards Series race was no exception. When the dust settled at the end, Ty Gibbs (No. 18 Monster Energy Toyota) rose above the rest of the field and pulled into victory lane in the Day to Day Coffee 150. It was no easy task for Gibbs – he made the winning pass on Sam Mayer (No. 21 Chevy Accessories Chevrolet) in turns 3 and 4 on the final lap. With several fresh faces battling at the front of the pack, a variety of drivers split the ARCA special awards given out at Gateway.

Gibbs was making his superspeedway debut at the 1.25-mile oval and picked up his first victory in just his sixth AMS start overall. For his win, Gibbs earned Bounty Rookie of the Race honors, the second time he has done so this season. Christian Eckes (No. 15 JBL Audio Toyota) finished second to Gibbs yet was able to extend his lead in the Bounty Rookie Challenge. Eckes’ 294 points give him an 18-point cushion over current runner-up Tommy Vigh Jr. (No. 10 Extreme Kleaner Ford), who has 276 points. Vigh finished 19th at Gateway after a mechanical issue ended his day very early on. Tim Richmond (No. 06 Great Railing Chevrolet) is third in the rookie of the year chase with 188 points.

Mark McFarland landed the Cometic Crew Chief of the Race award for leading Gibbs to victory. Billy Venturini still leads the Cometic Crew Chief of the Year standings, but his lead shrunk after driver Chandler Smith (No. 20 Craftsman Toyota) experienced an axle issue early on in the race. Smith finished 16th, 59 laps down. Venturini does still have a solid lead in the standings, as his 79 points give him a healthy advantage over Kevin Reed’s 105 points. Reed called the shots for Christian Eckes’ second-place finish. Race winner McFarland is currently in fourth place with 123 points.

Michael Self (No. 25 Sinclair Lubricants Toyota) started his day very strong with the General Tire Pole Award, but a broken axle relegated him to a 13th-place finish after 85 laps. Self’s fast lap on 135.931 miles per hour gave him the nod to start first. Self now has four General Tire Pole Awards this year, the most of any driver. Teammate Chandler Smith is the only other competitor that has multiple pole awards with three. Self went on to lead the first 41 laps of the race, which turned out to be enough for the Valvoline Lap Leader award. Six different drivers took turns at the front of the pack. While Smith continues to head the yearly standings with 423 laps led, he never led at Gateway. Self has now led 390 laps, the second most in the series. Christian Eckes has 152 laps led and is the only other driver to have led a triple-digit number of laps.

Travis Braden (No. 27 MatrixCare Ford) was one of those six drivers that led laps at Gateway, spending 10 laps in first place. Braden led laps 51 through 60 and picked up the Richmond Water Heaters Halfway Leader Award for the first time this season. Seven different drivers have now led at halfway this season. Chandler Smith (twice) and Michael Self (four times) are the only drivers who have led at the crossed flags more than once.

Bret Holmes (No. 23 Holmes II Excavation Chevrolet), as the second-place driver in the overall championship standings, could have been the main benefactor of Michael Self’s Gateway woes. Instead, Holmes too had a day to forget. He was involved in two accidents and finished tenth, five laps down. The good news for Holmes is that he still has an 81-lap cushion in the S&S Volvo Laps Completed standings over Travis Braden. Holmes has completed 1416 out of a possible 1424 laps, while Braden has 1335 laps completed. Joe Graf Jr. (No. 77 Eat Sleep Race Ford) is third with 1280 laps completed.

The General Tire Superspeedway Challenge has entered the back half of its schedule with Chad Bryant’s No. 22 Ford leading the standings with 2140 points. Corey Heim (No. 22 Speedway Children’s Charities Ford) ran fourth at Gateway for Bryant. The closest competition to the No. 22 would be Billy Venturini’s No. 20 Toyota, which was driven by Chandler Smith at Gateway. Smith’s mechanical problems relegated him to a 16th-place finish and left the No. 20 team 80 points behind Bryant with 2060 total points. Even though third-place Coy Gibbs’ No. 18 Toyota won at Gateway, the team is still well behind the two leaders in the standings with 1915 points.

The next ARCA Menards Series event is race number 12 of 20 on the calendar– the Bounty 150 from Chicagoland Speedway on Thursday, June 27. The Bounty 150 will also serve as the next General Tire Superspeedway Challenge event and the seventh of nine superspeedway races on the schedule. FS1 will provide live television coverage beginning at 8:00 PM Eastern on Thursday night. Live timing & scoring and live chat will be available on ARCAracing.com free for all registered members.