Another superspeedway race for the ARCA Menards Series saw yet another Ty Majeski (No. 22 Crestliner Boats Ford) win in Thursday’s Bounty 150 at Chicagoland Speedway. Unlike his first two victories, which saw him take the lead late in the going, Majeski was out front for much of the running at Chicagoland and took home the majority of ARCA’s special awards as a result.
The evening’s proceedings were kicked off with General Tire Pole Qualifying, where Michael Self (No. 25 Sinclair Lubricants Toyota) won the pole for the fifth time this season. All five of his General Tire Pole Awards have come in the last seven races. Self’s mark leads the series by a healthy margin; Venturini Motorsports teammate Chandler Smith (No. 20 Craftsman Toyota) is the only other driver to have won multiple pole awards this season with three.
Despite a rash of early cautions to start the Bounty 150, Ty Majeski made the most of the brief green flag runs and passed Michael Self for the lead on lap 15. Majeski would not relinquish the top spot until lap 55 during a round of pit stops under caution. By virtue of leading at lap 50, Majeski earned the Richmond Water Heaters Halfway Leader Award for the first time this season. Self (four times) and Chandler Smith (two times) are the only drivers to have led at halfway in multiple races this season. By the time Majeski took the checkered flag, he had led 72 laps in total, the most of anyone in the field. He picked up the Valvoline Lap Leader award and moved to fourth on the season leaderboard with 112 laps led. Smith leads the series with 423 laps led, though Self is in hot pursuit with 404 laps led. Christian Eckes (No. 15 JBL Audio Toyota) is the only other driver to have led over 100 laps in 2019 with 157 laps led.
Majeski’s win gave his team owner, Chad Bryant, a leg up in a pair of yearlong awards chases. Bryant’s No. 22 Ford continues to lead the R.E. Lightning Challenge, a championship hunt that counts race points only for participating teams. Bryant’s No. 22 has 2465 points, 175 more than Stacy Holmes’ No. 23 car driven by Bret Holmes. Bryant and the No. 22 team also lead the General Tire Superspeedway Challenge with only two superspeedway races remaining on the schedule. The closest competition for Bryant there is Billy Venturini’s No. 20 Toyota, 95 points behind in the standings.
As Majeski qualified second and won the race, his crew chief Paul Andrews was named the Cometic Crew Chief of the Race. Andrews is currently second in the Cometic Crew Chief of the Year standings, 28 points behind Billy Venturini. Venturini has led the standings the entire season and called the shots for Harrison Burton (No. 20 Ruud Toyota) to finish second at Chicagoland.
The day may not have resulted in a win for Harrison Burton, but his runner-up finish was enough to net him the Bounty Rookie of the Race honors. It was Burton’s first race at Chicagoland, and he was running the Bounty 150 in order to gain more track time ahead of the NASCAR Gander Outdoors Truck Series race the following night. The extra experience paid off for Burton as he finished fourth in the Gander Trucks race. Christian Eckes extended his lead in the Bounty Rookie Challenge standings by finishing seventh, a solid recovery after spinning out on lap 64. Eckes has a comfortable cushion over the other Bounty Rookie of the Year competitors, with Tommy Vigh Jr. (No. 10 Extreme Kleaner Ford) and Tim Richmond (No. 06 Great Railing Toyota) rounding out the current podium.
Bret Holmes (No. 23 Techworks Trailer Sales Chevrolet) added another impressive finish to his resume at Chicagoland by finishing in third place. Holmes maintained his lead in the S&S Volvo Laps Completed standings, having completed 1516 of a possible 1524 laps in the 2019 season. Travis Braden (No. 27 MatrixCare/Consonus Ford) ran fifth and is still in second in the standings, having completed 1435 laps this year. Joe Graf Jr. (No. 77 Eat Sleep Race Ford) is the only other driver within a race’s worth of laps of the leaders, having completed 1379 laps this year.
After seven races in as many weeks, the ARCA Menards Series will be taking a much-needed one-week break before the next race. The Menards 250 at Elko Speedway is the next event on the 2019 calendar. The series will be back in action at the tight Minnesota bulling on Saturday, July 13, at 10:00 PM Eastern. MAVTV will provide live television coverage while live timing and scoring can be found on ARCAracing.com. A live chat will also be provided to all members on the website. If you do not already have an ARCAracing.com account, registration is free and only takes a minute to sign up so you can follow all the ARCA action in real time. Â
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