Taylor Gray, driver of the #17 Ford Performance Ford, and Michael Self, driver of the #25 Sinclair Lubricants Toyota, race during the Dutch Boy Paints 150 for the ARCA Menards Series at World Wide Technology Raceway at Gateway in Madison, Illinois on Saturday, August 29, 2020. (Jeff Curry/ARCA Racing)
Taylor Gray, driver of the #17 Ford Performance Ford, and Michael Self, driver of the #25 Sinclair Lubricants Toyota, race during the Dutch Boy Paints 150 for the ARCA Menards Series at World Wide Technology Raceway at Gateway in Madison, Illinois on Saturday, August 29, 2020. (Jeff Curry/ARCA Racing)

ARCA Menards Rewind: What We Learned at Gateway

www.arcaracing.com September 1, 2020

Ty Gibbs turned out another near-perfect performance, this time successfully defending his race win at World Wide Technology Raceway at Gateway.

Michael Self’s day went from bad to worse and the cushion he built with his win at the DAYTONA Road Course two weeks earlier nearly evaporated, while a number of rising young talents put in impressive performances with top 10 runs.

While we look back, the national series weekend showcased the strength of the ARCA Menards Series alumni and the sport’s strong future:

William Byron, the 2015 East champion, scored his first career Cup win in the Coke Zero Sugar 400 Saturday night at Daytona International Speedway and locked himself into the playoffs. Justin Haley (2016 East champion) emerged from the last-lap chaos with the NASCAR Xfinity Series win on Friday night at Daytona.

And Sheldon Creed, the 2011 ARCA Menards Series champion, capped the race weekend at Gateway with a win in a NASCAR Gander RV & Outdoors Truck Series chock full of former and current ARCA stars.

The likes of Gibbs, Chandler Smith and Sam Mayer showed in the Dutch Boy 150 that is set to continue.

Dutch Boy 150: Results | Race Recap | Photo Gallery

Ty Gibbs Turns Laps Led Into A Win

Ty Gibbs led 100+ laps for the sixth time in 2020 across the ARCA Menards Series and ARCA Menards Series East. Remarkably, though, he’s only won three of those races.

The misses include a pair of racers where he lost the lead in the closing laps, and last weekend’s wreck at Dover International Speedway while running second.

When he lined up alongside Chandler Smith on the race’s final restart, it could have gone either way.

But the 17-year-old from North Carolina pulled off another veteran restart and drove away from the field, winning by 1.716 seconds.

“I just can’t thank my guys for making these things fast and coming home with a win here at Gateway,” Gibbs said. “It’s always nice to come back to Victory Lane.

“This is the first track I’ve been back to with a win with fans. It’s always nice.”

Gibbs has now led 659 laps in the ARCA Menards Series in 2020, 362 more than Chander Smith in second.

Seat Time

Mayer lost a chance to catch Gibbs late when he got up into the wall off Turn 2 with 13 to to go. Even starting third on the final subsequent restart, he wasn’t able to muster a challenge and settled for a third-place at Gateway for the second year in a row.

Mayer came back Sunday and led 24 laps in the truck race, his second start of 2020. He got beat on a late-race restart by eventual race winner Creed and settled for a fourth-place finish. It was his first top-five NASCAR Gander RV & Outdoors Truck Series finish in five starts since his debut last season at Bristol Motor Speedway.

Smith finished second in the ARCA Menards Series, his fifth straight race without a win. Remarkably, that’s the longest winless streak for the 18-year-old Georgia driver. He finished 23rd in the truck race, his fourth finish 20th or worse in as many starts this season.

Smith’s runner-up finish, though, allowed him to re-take the Sioux Chief Showdown championship lead by two poins over Mayer over Gibbs. Self dropped from first to fourth, 11 points out, after seven of 10 races in the Showdown.

Notes

  • Bret Holmes started sixth and finished sixth, his 12th top 10 in 13 starts this season. Combined with Self’s issues, it allowed him to close back within seven points of the overall ARCA Menards Series championship lead.
  • Self’s 15th-place finish was his first outside the top 10 since last September at Salem Speedway. It was also just his 10th in 43 starts since the beginning of 2017.
  •  Gibbs is now tied for 57th on the ARCA Menards Series all-time win list. He is the only active driver with six victories. Others with six career ARCA wins include Elmer Musgrave, Paul Parks, Ralph Latham, Bob Dotter, Ed Hage, Mike Wallace, Bill Baird, Ryan Hemphill, Tom Hessert III, Brennan Poole, Alex Bowman, and Chase Briscoe.
  • Max McLaughlin finished fourth, and ARCA Menards Series West championship leader Jesse Love finished fifth in the Dutch Boy 150, earning both their first career ARCA Menards Series top-five finishes.