Gio Scelzi, driver of the #16 NAPA Auto Parts/Curb Records Toyota before the ENEOS/NAPA Auto Parts 150 for the ARCA Menards Series West on August 8, 2020 at Douglas County Speedway in Roseburg, Oregon. (Benjamin Green/ARCA Racing)
Gio Scelzi, driver of the #16 NAPA Auto Parts/Curb Records Toyota before the ENEOS/NAPA Auto Parts 150 for the ARCA Menards Series West on August 8, 2020 at Douglas County Speedway in Roseburg, Oregon. (Benjamin Green/ARCA Racing)

ARCA Menards Rewind: What We Learned at Pacific Northwest & Michigan

www.arcaracing.com August 11, 2020

The hunt is — or, in this week’s case, hunts are — on. And a winless drought is ended.

Blaine Perkins performed nearly flawlessly in back-to-back events in Washington and Oregon. In the process, he sliced Jesse Love’s ARCA Menards Series West championship points lead down to one after six events.

Bret Holmes watched a sure-win slip away in the final third of the race at Michigan. But the Alabama driver still moved closer to his overall goal as he continued to chip away at Michael Self’s ARCA Menards Series lead. It’s now just four after 11 races.

Riley Herbst watched several races slip away from him in the later stages, but Sunday in Michigan, he closed the deal. Finally.

Here is what we learned from the ENEOS/NAPA Auto Parts 100 at Evergreen Speedway on Friday, the ENEOS/NAPA Auto Parts 150 at Douglas County Speedway on Saturday, and the VizCom 200 at Michigan International Speedway on Sunday.

ENEOS/NAPA Auto Parts 100: Results | Race Recap | Photo Gallery

ENEOS/NAPA Auto Parts 150: Results | Race Recap | Photo Gallery

VizCom 200: Results | Race Recap | Photo Gallery

Blaine Perkins Sweeps & Closes Gap

Blaine Perkins could not have had a stronger run over the weekend.

Between Friday’s race at Evergreen and Saturday’s at Douglas County, the 20-year-old from Bakersfield led 235 of the 250 laps in sweeping the two events. In the process, he pulled even closer to Love in the points standings.

“We’ve got it on rails this weekend,” said Perkins after Saturday’s win. “I’m so proud of these guys. They’ve worked so hard, especially with the two races in one weekend. And they brought me two really fast race cars. Best of the year so far.

“We did what we wanted to do: We got two wins and this is awesome. Feels great.”

After just two cautions for debris Friday, Perkins had to weather five restarts at Douglas – including one with 13 to go. Each time, he was able to pull away on the tight .375-mile oval.

Final restart of the weekend:

Perkins has come a long way in what is still a relatively young career. He made his debut in the West series as a 15-year-old with a 13th-place finish for Bill McAnally Racing in 2015 at All American Speedway in Roseville, California. He ran 28 races in 2016-17 for Steve Portenga, recording 16 top 10s and a fifth at Colorado National in 2016. He made four ARCA Menards Series starts in 2018 with a best of eighth at Minnesota’s Elko Speedway.

Perkins returned to his roots in 2019, winning the Late Model track championships at both Kern County Raceway Park in Bakersfield and Irwindale Speedway, en route to the California championship in the NASCAR weekly racing series.

Now he’s got his sights set on an ARCA Menards Series West crown.

Getting Closer

In her four oval track starts on the West, Gracie Trotter has four top-five finishes. After picking up three spots from her starting position to finish fifth at Evergreen, she put together a strong runner-up finish on Saturday evening.

“I do love the short bullring type tracks,” said the 18-year-old from Denver, Colorado, who runs in the Late Model program in the east for Rev Racing and the NASCAR Drive For Diversity program. “I always seem to figure out those places. I’m not sure why, but it is, and I love it.

“Just one spot short. I’m tired of finishing third or second, so I’m ready to go win at Colorado.”

Her BMR teammate, Love, finished fourth and third. He suffered some front end damage at Douglas County but was able to pull out a podium finish to retain his championship lead by the slimmest of margins.

BMR’s Gio Selzi finished third on Friday, and fourth on Saturday after winning his first career General Tire Pole Award and leading the first 15 laps. Trevor Huddleston gave Bob Bruncati’s Sunrise Ford Racing a 1-2 finish with his teammate Perkins at Evergreen, but slid back to fifth at Douglas County.

Herbst Gets It Done

Herbst is sharing time in the No. 18 Monster/Terrible Herbst/ORCA Toyota with Joe Gibbs Racing teammate Ty Gibbs on the ARCA Menards Series, while running a full schedule on the NASCAR Xfinity Series.

While Gibbs has three wins in the car, Herbst hasn’t been able to follow suit in his limited time in the car. He led 36 laps at Talladega Superspeedway but last-lap contact with Self took him out of the lead. He started on the pole at Kansas Speedway by virtue of JGR’s owners points, and finished third. So when he lost the lead after starting on the pole again at Michigan, he was looking at the prospect of another one slipping away.

“Oh man, it’s been a while since I’ve won, honestly, in anything,” said Herbst. “If you don’t win, it starts to get to your head. You don’t know if you’re ever going to do it again.”

Herbst had a strong run in the NASCAR Xfinity Series at Road America in Elkhart Lake, Wisconsin, Saturday derailed by a late-race accident that left him with a 23rd-place finish. He started on the pole Sunday but quickly fell behind pace setter Holmes, until the second of two race breaks on Lap 61 of 100.

“Mark said, you want to take a big swing at it. I said, sure. We’ve got nothing for him right now. I don’t want to finish second in my last ARCA Menards race. We took a swing at it and it paid off.”

Championship Race Is Sizzling

Both Self and Holmes left Michigan disappointed. Holmes watched the domination he had on the race evaporate over the final third, while Self continued to chalk up top 10 runs but still not contend for wins. The gap between the two shrunk from seven to just four points.

“Everyone is asking me if I’m alright after the race,” said Holmes, who scored his sixth straight top five finish. “I’m fine. I’m just really down. We don’t come to finish second any more. We come to win. And it’s just frustrating.

“I felt like we were really equal there. I think they made a couple of adjustments to get a little bit better. We just got to second there and stayed a little tight.”

Said Self: “It’s frustrating man. We had a terrible car the first run. We fell back. We were way, way too tight. Then the guys made awesome changes. I’m just scratching my head. Our Sinclair Oil Toyota was really solid from a handling standpoints, I mean really free rolling the center. I could probably run 10-15 laps wide open. We just get run away from by the 18 and 23. I just don’t understand it.”

Notes

  • Kris Wright had his ARCA Menards Series debut cut short by a single-car wreck on Lap 52. The sports-car veteran is looking to make the transition to NASCAR and ran the No. 21 for GMS Racine. “It was very eye opening,” said Wright. “It was a great day. I learned a lot. I was having a good time, I was pacing some good drivers and making my way up.”
  • Dew Dollar finished fourth at Michigan and is third in the ARCA Menards Series standings, 41 points behind Self. Dollar is just six points ahead of fellow Bounty Rookie of the Year candidate Hailie Deegan, who was sixth at Michigan.
  •  

    Brad Smith tied his career-best finish at Michigan with a 12th-place run. He’s also a career-high sixth in series points.

  • Bobby Hillis, Jr. finished tenth in both races, scoring back-to-back top-ten finishes for the first time in his career.
  • Holley Hollan achieved a career-best finish of sixth in Friday’s race at Evergreen. Two drivers achieved their career best on Saturday at Douglas County: Jack Wood in sixth and Bridget Burgess in ninth.