Bret Holmes, driver of the #23 Holmes II Excavation Chevrolet, and Riley Herbst, driver of the #18 Monster Energy/Terrible Herbst/ORCA Toyota, race during the ARCA Menards Dawn 150 on July 24, 2020 at Kansas Speedway in Kansas City, Kansas. (Ed Zurga/ARCA Racing)
Bret Holmes, driver of the #23 Holmes II Excavation Chevrolet, battles Riley Herbst, driver of the #18 Monster Energy/Terrible Herbst/ORCA Toyota, race during the Dawn 150 for the ARCA Menards Series on July 24, 2020 at Kansas Speedway in Kansas City, Kansas. (Ed Zurga/ARCA Racing)

ARCA Menards Rewind: What We Learned at Kansas

www.arcaracing.com July 26, 2020

Bret Holmes doesn’t have to answer any more questions about what it feels like to come so close to winning his first race.

Ryan Repko may have inherited that mantle with his second runner-up finish in his last three races; Riley Herbst saw his streak extended to 34 since he was in Victory Lane; and Corey Heim made a strong impression with his first start of 2020.

Meanwhile, Michael Self clicked off another top 10, but saw his championship margin shrink to less than 10 points heading into a monumental doubleheader race weekend at Ohio’s Toledo Speedway.

Here is what we learned from the Dawn 150 at Kansas Speedway.

Dawn 150: Results | Race Recap | Photo Gallery

Holmes Changes The Question

It was a long time coming for the 23-year-old from Munford, Alabama. Sixty-eight races in the making, to be exact.

But with his dominating performance Friday night that ended in Victory Lane, Holmes will no longer have to answer the questions about when he’ll get that first win. Now, it’s “Can you win the championship?”

After his six straight top 10 – including five finishes in the top four – culminated in his first win, Holmes has sliced Self’s lead to nine as the series heads to a weekend doubleheader at Ohio’s Toledo Speedway. Holmes kicked off his return to racing resurgence with a third-place run at Toledo in the ARCA Menards Series East.

“We took the long route compared to what a lot of people do,” said Holmes. “We started our own team. That’s what we’ve always done, from go karts to dirt and asphalt late models. That’s something we wanted to do. We take a lot of pride in that.”

Holmes started fourth and drove past pole sitter Riley Herbst on Lap 18. The race was only slowed twice more, but competition breaks on Lap 31 and 61. Each time, Holmes drove away on the restart. He finished 14.458 seconds ahead of Repko.

“We’ve been too well lately for it not to happen,” said Holmes of parking his family-owned No. 23 Holmes II Excavation Chevrolet in Victory lane at Kansas. “Our intermediate stuff has been really good. We had a ton of long-run speed compared to every other guy that fell off hard. We stayed the same pace.

“Those guys at the shop, they’ve been thinking of any ways to improve our car and not just stay stagnant with what we’ve been doing.”

In addition to Toledo, Holmes will have intermediate tracks like Michigan International Speedway on Aug. 9 to look forward to.

Did we mention the series will culminate on October 16 back at Kansas?

Rebound For Repko

After a wreck at Daytona International Speedway to start his ARCA Menards Series career, the 19-year-old Repko has finishes of second, sixth and second in his subsequent three races with Venturini Motorsports. Repko put together another solid performance at Kansas despite his limited seat time.

“It’s one of those deals, nobody expects me to run as good as I am running,” said Repko, who is slated to be back in the No. 20 at Michigan. “As a race car driver, I’d like to get back behind the wheel as much as I can. I feel like we’re so close. We keep putting together good runs.

With Holmes checked out from the field, Repko used the top line to make up ground late on Heim and grab the second spot on the final lap.

“Man, we’ve got to stop finishing second. We’ve got to get that first win, it’s killing me. But I’m going to keep putting in the work; I’m sure the team will. They’ve won so many races. It’s just a great organization to be aligned with.”

Heim, who had smoke from the left front on the final laps, lost spots to Repko and Herbst. However, driving in his first ARCA Menards Series race of the season, the 17-year-old from Marietta, Georgia, collected his ninth career top five in 13 races.

Herbst, meanwhile, scored his 18th top five as he made his 50th career ARCA Menards Series starts. But after starting on the pole, he wasn’t able to keep pace with Holmes.

“Just kinda held up the 23 for as long as I could,” said Herbst. “Just wrecking loose all night long. We got behind on a restart.”

Herbst is also scheduled to be back in the No. 18 at Michigan.

Championship Shuffle

Former Kansas race winner Self started second and finished sixth. The team had issues with the right rear shock, making a change under the first break, but the championship points leader was never in contention.

Fortunately for Self, outside of Holmes’ performance, he was still able to finish ahead of his fellow championship contenders Drew Dollar (seventh), Hailie Deegan (ninth) and Thad Moffitt (10th).

Notes

  • Derek Griffith scored his third top 10 in as many starts with an eighth-place finish.
  • Kansas native Russ Lane, from nearby Overland Park, had a rough homecoming. Lane spun on the backstretch on Lap 19 and had a hard hit. Lane was evaluated and released from the infield care center after the incident.
  • The ARCA Menards Series will race twice this upcoming weekend at Toledo. The Menards.com 200 presented by SPxE (Friday, 8 p.m.) and Saturday’s Menards 200 presented by Crosley Brands (Saturday, 6 p.m.) will also be the fourth and fifth races of the Sioux Chief Showdown.
    The weekend doubleheader at Toledo will be conducted without fans in attendance per state and local regulations. The races will both be televised live on MAVTV and streamed live on TrackPass on NBC Sports Gold. Locally, BCSN will simulcast the races in the Toledo area to subscribers of Buckeye Broadband.