David Gilliland, driver of the No. 4 Lincoln Electric-Simpson Ford, fights for the win with Ty Gibbs, driver of the No. 18 Monster-Terrible Herbst-ORCA Toyota, in the Arizona Lottery 100 for the ARCA Menards Series West at Phoenix Raceway in Avondale, Arizona, on Nov. 7, 2020. (Dominic Valente/ARCA Racing)
David Gilliland, driver of the No. 4 Lincoln Electric-Simpson Ford, fights for the win with Ty Gibbs, driver of the No. 18 Monster-Terrible Herbst-ORCA Toyota, in the Arizona Lottery 100 for the ARCA Menards Series West at Phoenix Raceway in Avondale, Arizona, on Nov. 7, 2020. (Dominic Valente/ARCA Racing)

David Gilliland, Ty Gibbs Split Awards In West Finale At Phoenix

www.arcaracing.com November 11, 2020

The finish of Saturday’s Arizona Lottery 100 at Phoenix Raceway saw one former ARCA Menards Series West star from years past out-duel a teenage driver who is well on his way to becoming a superstar in stock car racing.

A last-lap pass by David Gilliland (No. 4 Lincoln Electric Ford) was the difference between the 2004 West rookie of the year and runner-up Ty Gibbs (No. 18 Monster Energy Toyota), narrowly preventing Gibbs from defending his victory in the 2019 running of this event. Gilliland may have postponed the proverbial passing of the torch for another day with his win, but Gibbs managed to earn a split of special awards from Phoenix with his performance.

REWIND: What we learned at Phoenix Raceway

General Tire Pole Qualifying produced the sixth different pole winner in 11 ARCA Menards Series West races this season when Gilliland shot to the top of the leaderboard with a lap of 27.452 seconds/131.138 mph. It was Gilliland’s first pole in West competition since 2007, when he qualified first at Sonoma, and his fifth West pole overall. The veteran driver also started from the pole at Phoenix in 2005 and won the race.

Series champion Jesse Love (No. 19 NAPA Power Premium Plus Toyota) ended the 2020 West season with four General Tire Pole Awards, the most of any driver. His chief on-track rival, Blaine Perkins (No. 9 Sunrise Ford/Four Star Fruit Ford), was his closest competition in qualifying, as well, with three pole awards.

The expansively paved dogleg has become the signature feature of Phoenix Raceway in recent years due to the more-than-ample room for passing it provides for any driver brave enough to venture all the way down to the inside wall. Gibbs is one of those bold drivers, and he used the extra pavement to grab the lead on the first lap despite starting in third place.

Gibbs led 77 of the 100 laps Saturday to earn the race’s Valvoline Lap Leader award. Frequent caution flags and subsequent restarts allowed Gilliland to close back up and lead 23 laps of his own, gathering the Richmond Water Heaters Halfway Leader award along the way. Gilliland was the sixth and final driver to lead at halfway in West competition in 2020.

Neither Love nor Perkins led a lap Saturday, cementing Love’s status atop of the yearlong West Valvoline Lap Leader chart with 369 laps led. Perkins entered Phoenix as a longshot to swipe the award, needing a dominant run in order to add to his total of 282 laps led, but an early spin and an ailing engine forced the Sunrise Ford driver to languish near the rear of the field without leading a lap before he pulled behind the wall on lap 67.

While Gibbs ultimately came up short against Gilliland for the race win, Gibbs was named the Bounty Rookie of the Race with his second-place result.

Jesse, Love, driver of the #19 NAPA Power Premium Plus, celebrates his series win at the Arizona Lottery 100 for the ARCA Menards Series West at Phoenix Raceway in Avondale, Arizona on November 7, 2020. (Dominic Valente/ARCA Racing)

The 15-year-old Love, employing a conservative strategy in order to ensure he would be running at the finish, recorded his only result outside the top 10 all year by finishing 14th. But he easily clinched Bounty Rookie of the Year honors to go along with his overall series championship. Love is the youngest Rookie of the Year winner and the fourth driver in West history to win the Rookie of the Year award and the series championship in the same season.

Love finished 2020 with 441 points in the Bounty Rookie Challenge, holding off Bill McAnally Racing teammate Gracie Trotter (No. 99 ENEOS Toyota) to claim the award. Trotter finished with 427 rookie points, falling just 14 markers short in her quest to follow in the footsteps of Hailie Deegan and become the second female driver to be named the West Rookie of the Year. Deegan was also driving for BMR when she was named the top rookie following the 2018 season.

Five drivers made their ARCA Menards Series West debuts in the Arizona Lottery 100, with backgrounds ranging from Alex Sedgwick (No. 12 Belfor Property Restoration Toyota) coming over from the NASCAR Whelen Euro Series to Keith Rocco (No. 25 Horton Group Toyota) eschewing his NASCAR Modified Tour ground-pounder for a stock car with fenders.

Among that group was Chris Hacker (No. 12 Adams Flooring Toyota), who has overcome a brachial plexus injury to his left arm to pursue a racing career despite the limited mobility forcing him to essentially race using only his right arm. The rookie qualified 24th for his first West race but steadily drove through the field over the course of the 100-lap affair, crossing the finish line 15th. For improving nine spots, Hacker claimed the K&N Filters Hard Charger award in his impressive debut.

Award winners and champions from across the ARCA Menards platform will be showcased in next week’s ARCA Menards Series Virtual Championship Celebration on the night of Tuesday, Nov. 17.

The virtual banquet will be streamed live on ARCARacing.com and the ARCA Menards Series Facebook page beginning at 8 p.m. ET.