TALLADEGA, AL - JUNE 20: Riley Herbst, driver of the #18 Monster / Terrible Herbst / ORCA Toyota, and Drew Dollar, driver of the #15 Lynx Capital / Dollar Concrete Toyota, race during the General Tire 200 at Talladega Superspeedway for the ARCA Menards Series on Saturday, June 20, 2020. (Adam Glanzman/ARCA Racing)
Drew Dollar (15) and Riley Herbst (18) battle for the lead during the General Tire 200 at Talladega Superspeedway for the ARCA Menards Series on Saturday, June 20, 2020. (Adam Glanzman/ARCA Racing)

ARCA Menards Rewind: What We Learned at Talladega

www.arcaracing.com June 21, 2020

It happened in the blink of an eye.

But it’s a save they’ll likely be talking about for years.

Drew Dollar avoided the wreck, Michael Self kept his championship drive pointed in the right direction, and the ARCA Menards Series successfully got back to racing Saturday.

Here is what we learned from the General Tire 200 at Talladega Superspeedway.

General Tire 200: Results | Race Recap| Photo Gallery

“Not clear”

With the race stopped just once — for the halfway break — the top five cars entered the final two setting up for a scramble for the win.

Joe Gibbs Racing’s Riley Herbst led a pack of Venturini Motorsports cars – Michael Self, Drew Dollar and Ryan Repko. And sitting at the tail end of the breakaway was Alabama native Bret Holmes.

Self made his move with two to go, with a move to the outside. His teammates followed, but as they went down the backstretch, as Self nosed ahead, Herbst was able to maintain pace.

Coming up on Turn 3, Self got loose in front of Dollar and went spinning — right in front of Herbst at 185 mph.

As Self was pointed down the track in front of Herbst, both Dollar and Ryan Repko skated by on the high side. Self came back up the track and was able to straighten it out, as Bret Holmes also went high and Herbst kept driving.

The cars exited Turn 4, with Dollar heading to the white flag with a sizable lead, leaving Repko and Holmes just 2.66 miles to try to chase him down.

“I thought we were going to be able to make something really big happen,” said Self. “I started getting really, really loose in the rear end and washing all over the place. I kept wandering down, and kinda got hooked on the 18.”

“Luckily they didn’t come up and get me when they finished wrecking,” said Dollar

Self, who lost the pack in the first half of the race, was able to salvage a fifth-place finish and keep an 11-point lead over Drew Dollar in the championship standings.

RACING-REFERENCE: 2020 ARCA Menards Series Standings

Meanwhile, Dollar drove to Victory Lane for the first time in his young career.

“Worst case, you get wrecked,” said the 19-year-old from Atlanta, who was making his fifth career ARCA Menards Series start. “I figured I was going to end up second. I felt like Selfie was going to stick on the top. I was giving him a good push. I would have been content to push him all the way to the checkered.”

Dollar wound up leading a race-high 40 laps.

While there wasn’t much shuffling in the front, Dollar said it was anything but a peaceful drive inside the cockpit.

“I had one of the guys walking down pit road with me going to the car, and he said, ‘every lap, tell yourself laser focus, laser focus,’ every single lap,” said Dollar. “Because as soon as you lose a little bit of focus, they’ll slip right underneath you. You’ll come up off that yellow line and they’ll slip underneath you.”

VIDEO: Drew Dollar’s First Winner’s Interview

Dollar saw a glimpse of that when Herbst made a run on him at the end of the first half of the race. Herbst was able to power into the lead on the second half restart and lead 36 of the next 37 laps.

But Dollar didn’t panic.

“I settled in and calmed down,” said Dollar.

Hometown Highlight

Holmes entered 2020 with 61 career ARCA Menards Series starts and a best finish of third – accomplished four times. He was coming off top fives in three of the final five races of 2019, including a fourth in the finale at Kansas Speedway.

The 23-year-old from Munford, Alabama, got off to a rocky stary with a ninth at Daytona International Speedway and a 15th at Phoenix Raceway. But since racing has returned, Holmes has been impressive. He made his ARCA Menards Series East debut last week and finished third at Ohio’s Toledo Speedway, before coming home and finishing third Saturday.

“We kept the team going in North Carolina through the whole pandemic,” said Holmes. “It was really, really tough. But we hoped it would pay off in finishes down the road, and it has. We’ve had cars that can win races these past two weekends. Going forward, we’re going to try to keep that momentum up.”

Holmes was running fifth in the No. 23 Holmes II Excavation Inc. Chevrolet in the closing laps, but knew the deck was stacked against him with Herbst and three Venturini teammates ahead of him.

“You’ve got to assume what’s going to happen in every scenario,” said Holmes. “We played everything right.”

Holmes is now fourth in the championship race, 10 behind third-place Hailie Deegan, heading to Pocono Raceway next weekend.

Three-for-three

Dollar was the third Venturini driver to win in 2020.

Self won the Daytona International Speedway in the No. 25 Sinclair Oil Toyota in February, while Chandler Smith jumped in the No. 20 JBL Toyota in Victory Lane at Phoenix Raceway in March.

Repko, who drove the No. 20 at Talladega, followed Dollar across the finish line for his best finish in four career starts. After being involved in a wreck at Daytona, Repko started first Saturday when the field was set by the rule book; he had Christian Eckes’ owners points from 2019.

“It was an awesome day,” said Repko. “It was so much fun to work the draft. I had such a great car.”

Notes

  • Sean Corr welcomed a new sponsor, Yelverton’s Enrichment Services Inc.  through their YES Foundation, to the No. 8 Chevrolet Saturday. He overcame early issues to finish ninth.
  • Ed Pompa collected his second career top 10 with a 10th-place finish. The 57-year-old from Ballston, New York, was making his 67th start over 14 seasons. He had a ninth-place at Michigan’s Berlin Raceway in 2016.
  • Jason Katzmiller finished ninth in his second career start. The 47-year-old from Petersburg, West Virginia, had engine issues after just 11 laps at Daytona.