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Ty Gibbs Caps Off Salem Win with Special Awards Sweep

www.arcaracing.com September 18, 2019

Ty Gibbs (No. 18 Monster Energy Toyota) spun out and finished sixth in his first ARCA Menards Series start at the Salem Speedway in April. Gibbs vowed to avoid that in his return to the high-banked Indiana short track last week and instead put up a performance reminiscent of Chandler Smith’s (No. 20 Craftsman Toyota) thorough domination of last fall’s Salem race. Gibbs led 196 laps from the pole and ensured that this week’s ARCA special awards would be decidedly Monster-flavored, with the No. 18 team pulling off a clean sweep of the race awards.

Gibbs began his day as the fastest car in practice and kept up the pace in General Tire Pole Qualifying, topping the leaderboard with a fast lap of 116.535 miles per hour. It was the first General Tire Pole Award of Gibbs’ career as he became the tenth different driver to win a pole this season. Michael Self (No. 25 Sinclair Lubricants Toyota) leads the series with five pole awards, though his younger teammate Chandler Smith is hot on his tail with four pole awards. If Self wins the pole for the next race at Lucas Oil Raceway – or if Smith does not win the pole – he will clinch the season-long award for most General Tire Pole Awards in the 2019 season.

Gibbs got out to a fast start once the race was underway and never lost the lead on the racetrack. Gibbs led 196 laps, only dropping from the top spot when Christian Eckes’ (No. 15 JBL Audio Toyota) pit crew got the No. 15 out ahead of Gibbs under caution. Gibbs quickly passed Eckes when the race restarted. Gibbs collected the Valvoline Lap Leader award for his feat while bringing his season total to 284 laps led, the fourth-highest total in the series. Chandler Smith leads all drivers in laps led for the second year in a row with 659. Teammates Michael Self and Christian Eckes are right behind him with 480 and 357 laps led, respectively, before Gibbs slots in at fourth. Should Smith leave the next race at Lucas Oil Raceway having led 100 or more laps than Self, he would clinch the season-long Valvoline Lap Leader award. Smith failed to lead a lap at Salem. He won the award last year by leading 763 laps.

Gibbs was also the Richmond Water Heaters Halfway Leader for the first time in 2019. He is the eleventh different driver to have led at halfway this year. Michael Self and Chandler Smith are tied atop the leaderboard in that category, having led at halfway four times each this season.

Gibbs’ victory from the pole earned crew chief Mark McFarland the Cometic Crew Chief of the Race award. McFarland currently sits fourth in the Cometic Crew Chief of the Year standings with 182 points. Billy Venturini and his No. 20 team continue to lead the way there with 141 points, holding an advantage of 25 points over Kevin Reed with 166 points. Paul Andrews is third with 174 points.

Gibbs was named the Bounty Rookie of the Race for the win. In the Bounty Rookie Challenge yearly standings, Christian Eckes continues to lead the standings with 448 points. Tommy Vigh Jr. (No. 10 Extreme Kleaner Ford) is second with 376 points while Tim Richmond (No. 06 GreatRailing.com Dodge) is third with 350 points. An interesting caveat to note is that if Eckes wins the overall ARCA Menards Series championship, he will not be able to win the Bounty Rookie Challenge as well. The Rookie of the Year title would then come down to a fight between Vigh and Richmond in that scenario.

Gibbs’ win boosted his standing in the Sioux Chief Short Track Challenge to sixth place. Michael Self currently leads with 2060 points while Corey Heim (No. 22 Speedway Children’s Charities Ford) is in second with 1975 points. However, due to the rules of the Sioux Chief Short Track Challenge that only count a driver’s ten best short track results, only three drivers have a mathematical possibility of winning the title following the last short track race of the year at Lucas Oil Raceway. Self, fourth-place Christian Eckes (1930 points) and sixth-place Gibbs (1865 points) will duke it out at LOR as they attempt to take home the championship-within-a-championship.

The CGS Imaging Four Crown was settled at Salem, with the Kentuckiana Ford Dealers Fall Classic 200 making up the short track leg of that schedule. Combining results from four distinctly different types of tracks on the schedule – Talladega Superspeedway (won by Todd Gilliland), Michigan International Speedway (Michael Self), the Illinois State Fairgrounds (Self again) and Salem Speedway – the Four Crown was won by Bret Holmes (No. 23 Holmes II Excavation Toyota). Holmes’ finishes of 14th, 3rd, 3rd and 4th in the Four Crown races was enough to earn him the title despite coming into the race at Salem as a longshot underdog in that award race. When Self encountered suspension problem and took his car to the garage, Holmes was able to control his own destiny and clung to a spot in the top five on the racetrack. When the checkered flag fell, Holmes had won the Four Crown with 800 points. Self was narrowly the runner-up with 785 points and Joe Graf Jr. (No. 77 Eat Sleep Race Ford) rounded out the podium with 770 points.

Holmes added to his series-leading lap count at Salem in the S&S Volvo Laps Completed standings. Holmes has completed 2377 laps this season out of a possible 2386 laps. Travis Braden (No. 27 MatrixCare/Consonus Ford) is second with 2289 laps completed while Joe Graf Jr. holds down third place with 2235 laps completed. If Holmes leaves Lucas Oil Raceway having completed 100 more laps than the next-highest driver in the standings, he will clinch the S&S Volvo Laps Completed title.

The next race on the ARCA Menards Series schedule will wrap up the short track racing for the season, as the series will head to Lucas Oil Raceway in Indianapolis for the 19th event on the 2019 calendar. The Herr’s Potato Chips 200 will be broadcast live on MAVTV at 8:00 Eastern on Saturday, October 5. All registered users on ARCAracing.com will be able to access free live timing & scoring as well as a live chat feature during all on-track activity that day. The Sioux Chief Short Track Challenge will conclude that night and the overall championship picture will get much clearer ahead of the October 18 finale at Kansas Speedway. You won’t want to miss any of the exciting Saturday night short track action!