Ty Gibbs
Ty Gibbs, driver of the No. 18 Pristine Auction Toyota, pictured during practice for the General Tire 150 for the ARCA Menards Series and ARCA Menards Series West at Phoenix Raceway in Avondale, Arizona, on March 12, 2021. (Adam Glanzman/ARCA Racing)

PRACTICE: Ty Gibbs Fastest In General Tire 150 Practice At Phoenix

www.arcaracing.com March 12, 2021

AVONDALE, Ariz. — Ty Gibbs has waited almost a complete month to make up for what he deemed a disappointing fourth-place finish in the ARCA Menards Series season-opener at Daytona International Speedway on Feb. 13.

The 18-year-old started Friday’s race day at Phoenix Raceway in Avondale, Arizona, on the right foot as he looks to earn his first series win of the 2021 season.

Gibbs paced Friday afternoon’s practice session ahead of the evening’s General Tire 150 with a lap time of 26.978 seconds/133.442 mph in his No. 18 Pristine Auction Toyota for Joe Gibbs Racing.

RELATED: Complete Phoenix Practice Results

Corey Heim, who won last month’s ARCA Menards Series season-opener at Daytona, finished the practice session with the second quickest time, 27.242 seconds/132.149 mph. His Venturini Motorsports teammates Drew Dollar and Gracie Trotter also finished the session with top-five times; Dollar was third fastest (27.311 seconds/131.815 mph), and Trotter was fifth fastest (27.604 seconds/130.416 mph).

Taylor Gray, who is second in the ARCA Menards Series East points standings through two races in 2021, was fourth quick (27.408 seconds/131.349 mph) in Friday’s session.

Friday’s General Tire 150 at Phoenix also serves as the first race of the 2021 ARCA Menards Series West season. Todd Souza finished Friday’s practice with the best time among West Series regulars as 10th quick.

Nick Sanchez (sixth), Jack Wood (seventh), Zane Smith (eighth) and Thad Moffitt (ninth) also logged top-10 times.

Qualifying for Friday evening’s General Tire 150, which was scheduled to begin at 3:30 p.m. MT / 5:30 p.m. ET, was rained out. The field for the General Tire 150 was set per the ARCA rulebook, giving Gibbs the General Tire Pole Award based on his practice speed.

The race is scheduled to start at 5:30 p.m. MT / 7:30 p.m. ET and broadcast live on MAVTV Motorsports Network. A live stream of MAVTV’s broadcast will be available on TrackPass on NBC Sports Gold.

A radio broadcast of the General Tire 150 from Phoenix will be available on MRN and SiriusXM (XM channel 391, online channel 981).