Ty Gibbs Falls Just Short Of Special Awards Sweep At Toledo

Ty Gibbs failed continue his streak of flag-to-flag perfection Saturday night in the Herr’s Potato Chips 200 at Toledo Speedway, but not for a lack of effort.

Gibbs, who had led every lap of his last two ARCA Menards starts (AMS at Kansas and East Series at Dover), was on his way to doing so a third time before his chief championship rival, Corey Heim, made an aggressive move to take the top spot. Undeterred, Gibbs chased down Heim and pulled back in front with 21 laps to go on his way to winning the race — and nearly all of ARCA’s special awards.

RELATED: What We Learned Saturday at Toledo

General Tire Pole qualifying was held in sunny, hot conditions that clearly were to Gibbs’ liking. He won the General Tire Pole Award with a lap of 15.979 seconds/112.648 mph, marking the fourth consecutive AMS race in which Gibbs rolled from the first spot. Dating back to the end of the 2020 season, Gibbs has started first in eight of the last 10 ARCA Menards Series races.

Gibbs rarely was challenged for the lead through the second and final scheduled race break for pit stops on Lap 125, and he became the first repeat Richmond Water Heaters Halfway Leader of 2021.

The intensity turned up on the restart after that second race break. Heim hounded Gibbs for a lap and a half before taking the lead with a bump-and-run maneuver on Lap 132. Heim’s pass ended a streak of 231 consecutive laps led by Gibbs in the series and was voted the Reese’s Sweet Move of the Race.

Gibbs bided his time behind Heim for 47 laps before making an impressive move of his own, moving Heim up the track and regaining the lead for the final 22 laps. Gibbs led 153 of 200 laps to become the Valvoline Lap Leader for the Herr’s Potato Chips 200.

The yearlong lap leader standings are heavily slanted in Gibbs’ favor, as he has led 390 of the 608 laps that have been run in 2021. Heim is a distant second, now with 91 laps led on the year after adding 47 at Toledo.

The spirited competition between the camps of Gibbs and Heim is not limited to the drivers. Mark McFarland, the crew chief for Gibbs, was named the Cometic Crew Chief of the Race for Toledo. But the overall Cometic Crew Chief of the Year standings show Shannon Rursch, calling the shots for Heim, atop the leaderboard. McFarland is third in the yearlong standings, also trailing Billy Venturini, who has served as the crew chief for both Drew Dollar and Gracie Trotter at points this season.

The rivalry between Heim and Gibbs also extends to the Bounty Rookie Challenge. Gibbs won Bounty Rookie of the Race honors at Toledo, but Heim continues to lead the overall Bounty Rookie of the Year standings with 211 rookie points. Gibbs moved to second with 186 rookie points, overtaking Kyle Sieg, whose small family operation was forced to withdraw its Toledo entry after a crash in the East Series race at Dover.

Driving for Wayne Peterson, A.J. Moyer strapped into the team’s renumbered No. 40 JRC Transportation Ford for his ARCA Menards Series debut at Toledo. A.J. is the son of the late Larry Moyer, the 1981 ARCA Menards Series champion. He opted to forgo the team’s usual No. 06 numbering in favor of the No. 40, commemorating the number of years that have passed since his father became series champion.

Rolling from the 14th and final starting spot, A.J. Moyer ran the race from start to finish and crossed the line running ninth. Having made up five positions, the finished earned Moyer the K&N Filters Hard Charger award for the evening.

The ARCA Menards Series will be back in action at Charlotte Motor Speedway on Saturday, May 29, for the General Tire 150. The sixth race of the 2021 season is also the fourth round of the General Tire Superspeedway Challenge, an in-season championship for car owners. The race will broadcast live on FS1 beginning at 7 p.m. ET with radio coverage on MRN and SiriusXM.

The Sioux Chief Showdown will return for its second round with the Dawn 150 at the Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course on Friday, June 4.