Special Award Graphic Iowa.jpg

Clean Sweep of Special Awards for Chandler Smith, VMS No. 20 Team at Iowa

www.arcaracing.com July 23, 2019

Another ARCA Menards Series short track race, another night Chandler Smith (No. 20 Craftsman Toyota) pulled into victory lane – this time at Iowa Speedway. Smith ran a dominant race en route to his fourth consecutive short track victory, having won every short track race since Toledo in mid-May. Smith and his No. 20 Venturini Motorsports team pulled off a clean sweep of ARCA’s special awards in the Fans with Benefits 150 on Friday night.

Smith kicked off his evening by winning his fourth pole of the season in General Tire Pole Qualifying. Smith didn’t run away from the field on his hot lap, though – his lap of 24.182 seconds was just one one-thousandth of a second quicker than teammate Michael Self’s (No. 25 Sinclair Lubricants Toyota) fast lap of 24.183 seconds. Self has five General Tire Pole Awards this year himself, leading the series. Behind Self and Smith, only fellow Venturini Motorsports stablemate Christian Eckes (No. 15 JBL Audio Toyota) has multiple poles on the year, with two to his credit.

Smith went on to lead the first 105 laps of the race and 140 laps in total, only losing the lead during the round of pit stops under the third caution flag of the day. Smith was the Richmond Water Heaters Halfway Leader for the fourth time this season, putting him in a tie with Michael Self as the drivers who have led at halfway the most times this season. Self and Smith are the only drivers that have led at halfway multiple times in the 2019 season. Smith continues to top the Valvoline Lap Leader standings with 658 laps led this year. Self is the closest competition to Smith with 433 laps led. Christian Eckes is in third place with 236 laps led and Ty Majeski (No. 22 Crestliner Boats Ford) is the only other driver to have led over 100 laps in 2019 with 112 laps led.

For his win, Smith was named the Bounty Rookie of the Race. Venturini Motorsports teammate Christian Eckes finished second and further extended his lead in the Bounty Rookie Challenge standings. Eckes has 380 points, leaving him with a 38-point advantage over second-place Tommy Vigh Jr. (No. 10 Thomas Coffee Ford), who finished 19th at Iowa. Vigh has 342 points. Tim Richmond (No. 06 GreatRailing.com Toyota) is third in the standings with 256 points. Teenagers Carson Hocevar (No. 28 GMPartsNow.com Chevrolet) and Corey Heim (No. 22 Speedway Children’s Charities Ford) round out the top five rookies with 220 and 216 points, respectively.

Smith continues to pace the Sioux Chief Short Track Challenge, extending his lead to an even 100 points over second-place Ty Gibbs (No. 18 Monster Energy Toyota). Gibbs finished fifth at Iowa. Michael Self rounds out the podium in third place, 120 points behind Smith. It should be noted that as of now, neither of the dirt races (Springfield and DuQuoin) are on Chandler Smith’s planned schedule. Smith will have to run at least one of those tracks if he wants to retain his chance of claiming the Sioux Chief Short Track Challenge title.

Smith’s victory earned crew chief Billy Venturini the Cometic Crew Chief of the Race award. Venturini also leads the Cometic Crew Chief of the Year standings with 96 points. Paul Andrews, crew chief of the Chad Bryant Racing No. 22 Ford, is in second place with 132 points. Shannon Rursch, crew chief for the Venturini Motorsports No. 25 Toyota, is in third place with 145 points.

In the R.E. Lightning Challenge, Chad Bryant’s No. 22 Ford remains atop the standings with 2870 points. Corey Heim drove the No. 22 to a sixth-place finish at Iowa. Stacy Holmes’ No. 23 car is in second place with 2665 points and Don Fike’s No. 27 car is in third place with 2630 points.

Bret Holmes (No. 23 Holmes II Excavation Chevrolet) had a challenging day at Iowa Speedway before coming home in eighth place. Holmes was on top of the leaderboard in practice when he crashed hard, forcing him to go to a backup car and miss the rest of practice as well as qualifying. Holmes persevered and wound up on the lead lap at the end of the race thanks to receiving the free pass twice. Holmes was able to exit Iowa still in the lead of the S&S Volvo Laps Completed standings with 1916 laps run on the season. Travis Braden (No. 27 MatrixCare/Consonus Ford) is in second with 1834 laps completed while Joe Graf Jr. (No. 77 Eat Sleep Race Ford) is in third with 1778 laps completed. Corey Heim, running a partial schedule, is in fourth place with 1355 laps completed and Tommy Vigh Jr. is in fifth with 1238 laps completed. 1924 total laps have been contested so far in the 2019 season.

On the strength of their eleventh victory of the season, Toyota continues to run away with the manufacturer’s title. Toyota has 115 points, followed by Ford with 79 points and Chevrolet with 72 points. Dodge brings up the rear with 18 points, with their bodies only being legal at short track events.

The next race for the ARCA Menards Series sees the series head back to Pocono Raceway for the second race of the year at the “Tricky Triangle.” The FORTS USA 150 is scheduled for Friday, July 26 at 4:00 PM Eastern. Ty Majeski held off Riley Herbst to win the 200-miler at Pocono held in May, but neither driver is expected to compete in Friday’s 60-lap affair. FS1 will carry live television coverage while ARCAracing.com will provide live timing and scoring as well as a live chat free for all registered site members. The FORTS USA 150 will be the penultimate race in the General Tire Superspeedway Challenge before the season finale at Kansas Speedway in October. Stay tuned to ARCAracing.com so you won’t miss any of this weekend’s action from Pocono.