Ty Gibbs, Toyota Camry, Monster / Terrible Herbst / ORCA Coolers during the Herr’s Potato Chips 200 presented by Federated Car Care for the ARCA Racing Series presented by Menards at Toledo Speedway on Saturday, June 13, 2020. (Barry Cantrell/ARCA Racing)
Ty Gibbs leads Sam Mayer during the Herr’s Potato Chips 200 presented by Federated Car Care for the ARCA Menards Series East at Toledo Speedway on Saturday, June 13, 2020. (Barry Cantrell/ARCA Racing)

ARCA Menards Rewind: What We Learned at Toledo

www.arcaracing.com June 14, 2020

TOLEDO, Ohio — The ARCA Menards Series East finally returned to the track Saturday at Toledo Speedway, and it doesn’t look like anything has changed since February:

Everybody is chasing Ty Gibbs and Sam Mayer.

And every time they’re together on the track, it’s a rivalry worth watching.

Here is what we learned from the Herr’s Potato Chips 200 presented by Federated Car Care at Toledo.

Herr’s Potato Chips 200: Results | Race Recap| Photo Gallery

Sunglasses On

The last time we saw Ty Gibbs conduct a post-race interview, the 17-year-old wore sunglasses after the night race at Phoenix Raceway to hide his feelings of disappointment after the effects of a late-race caution turn a sure win into a third-place finish.

He took a moment to poke some fun at himself, donning the sunglasses in the middle of his post-race interview with NBCSN Saturday.

“It’s good to move up a spot, which is always nice,” said Gibbs as he slid the shades on. “I had a fun time.”

There was plenty for Gibbs to be happy about. He led five times for a race-high 122 laps and piloted the No. 18 Monster/Terrible Herbst/ORCA Toyota to his first ARCA Menards Series East win and fifth victory in the last two years between the ARCA Menards, East and West series. That contrasts with his eight career runner-up finishes.

RELATED: Ty Gibbs Career Statistics

While a caution with three laps to go threatened to rob Gibbs of what looked like a sure win, it actually played into his hands.

“Sam was a little faster than us long run wise, we were a little quicker short runs,” said Gibbs, who crossed the finish line .242 seconds ahead of Sam Mayer. “On all the restarts, I did every one of them differently. If you do the same, it’s like someone finds out your tricks. So I made sure to get good restarts.”

Gibbs took the lead from Mayer, the General Tire Pole Award winner, on Lap 10 and led until right before the first competition caution break scheduled for on or about Lap 75. As they closed in on the break, Mayer used a lapped car to go three-wide and grap the top spot.

Gibbs took the lead back after the break, and while Mayer was credited for leading single laps on three other occasions – all when they were two-wide on restarts – Gibbs as able to power back in front.

“I had a good time, I had a lot of fun with Sam,” said Gibbs. “It was good racing. It was a blast. I love short-track racing.”

Gibbs confirmed that he will make his first “big track” start at the 2.5-mile Pocono Raceway on June 26 in the General Tire #ANYWHEREISPOSSIBLE 200.

Mayer & Holmes Secure Podium Spots

After sweeping both the ARCA Menards Series East and West openers, Mayer settled for a runner-up finish in the return to racing.

Earlier in the day, he drove the No. 21 Chevy Accessories Chevrolet to his second General Tire Pole Award of the season; he won it en route to his West win at The Bullring at Las Vegas Motor Speedway.

“It’s probably the most fun I’ve had in a race car in a while,” said Mayer before catching himself, “Although awhile was four months off.”

It marked the seventh time in the last two years across the ARCA Menards, East and West series that Mayer and Gibbs have shared the podium. Three times apiece, they’ve watched the other celebrate in Victory Lane. The lone outlier was last year at Minnesota’s Elko Speedway, where Gibbs was second and Mayer third to race winner Chandler Smith.

“It was a blast, we’ve been 1-2 so many times. It’s going to fall in somebody else’s favor one of these times, and this time was one of those times,” Mayer said. “Hopefully we can come back on the upswing and get them at Pocono.”

2020 ARCA Menards Series East Standings

The 23-year-old from Munford, Alabama, matched his career best finish across the three series – most recently in August last year at Illinois State Fairgrounds.

“We just built this new short track car and it’s paid off for us,” said Holmes. “The team’s worked really hard even through the whole virus deal. We kept the team going, unlike a lot of others. It’s paid off for sure.

“This car, we’re going to start to build a notebook on it. We’ve got a car to win with now.”

Unexpected Finish

Rev Racing teammates Chase Cabre and Nick Sanchez finished fourth and fifth, respectively.

It represented a significant rebound for both.

Cabre, who finished second in the East championship last year but opened 2020 with a ninth-place run at New Smyrna, qualified second. But his day seemed to take a significant turn for the worse when he had the right front tire go down just before the second break. While he was able to make it onto pit road, he lost a lap. He then was spun with 34 to go while running 10th.

He got his lap back when Giovanni Bromante hit the wall on Lap 176, and avoided the melee between Sanchez, Parker Retzlaff and Taylor Gray with three laps to go to take the fourth spot.

Sanchez qualified eighth and was the only one of the three to emerge unscathed after making it three-wide with Retzlaff and Gray in the closing laps while they battled for the fifth position.

Notes

  • Retzlaff salvaged a seventh after the spin, while the 15-year-old Gray, making his first series’ start, finished eighth.
  • Ryan Repko got both ends of the deal Saturday: His contact with Bromante on Lap 176 sent the latter into the Turn 4 wall. On Lap 188, Repko bounced off the front stretch wall while on the outside of Retzlaff battling for fourth. The contact cut a tire and sent Repko into the Turn 2 foam barriers, ending his day in ninth.
  • Mason Diaz was fastest in practice, but after qualifying ninth, transmission issues ended his day on Lap 29.