PRACTICE: Ty Gibbs logs best lap in Thursday’s open session at Pocono

LONG POND, Pa. — Ty Gibbs is hoping to extend his ARCA Menards Series win streak to five races Friday in the General Tire #AnywhereIsPossible 200 at Pocono Raceway. That would put him in a tie for the longest such streak in series history.

And based on the speed he displayed during Thursday’s five-hour open practice session at the 2.5-mile tri-oval, the 18-year-old will have a strong chance to do just that.

Gibbs’ best lap time of 52.967 seconds in his No. 18 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota easily cleared that of second-place Corey Heim, whose best time came in at 53.690 seconds.

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That @PristineAuction scheme tho 😍@TyGibbs_ @ARCA_Racing testing at @PoconoRaceway pic.twitter.com/vzuU9wm0y3

— Joe Gibbs Racing (@JoeGibbsRacing) June 24, 2021

Heim enters Friday’s Pocono race, the eighth of 20 on the 2021 ARCA Menards Series schedule, with a one-point edge over Gibbs in the championship standings despite the latter having won five of the seven races the series has contested this season. Heim won the other two races, at Daytona International Speedway in February and at Talladega Superspeedway in April.

Chandler Smith, the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series regular who is entered in Friday’s ARCA Menards Series race at Pocono in the No. 25 Safelite Toyota for Venturini Motorsports, posted the third best lap time (53.756 seconds) in Thursday’s open practice session.

ARCA Menards Series rookie Nick Sanchez was fourth quickest in the session with a lap time of 53.817 seconds.

Sam Mayer, the two-time reigning ARCA Menards Series East champion (and last year’s Sioux Chief Showdown winner) who will make his ARCA Menards Series debut for Bret Holmes Racing on Friday at Pocono, logged the fifth best lap time at 54.024 seconds.

Drew Dollar, Thad Moffitt, Greg Van Alst, Jack Wood and Kyle Sieg rounded out the top 10.

With Thursday’s open practice session at Pocono in the books, a final ARCA Menards Series practice for General Tire #AnywhereIsPossible 200 entries is scheduled for 2:15 p.m. ET on Friday. General Tire Pole Qualifying will follow at 4 p.m. ET.

Friday’s race is scheduled to start at 6 p.m. ET. The event will broadcast live on FS1 with live streaming available on the Fox Sports App. A radio broadcast of the Pocono race will be available on MRN and SiriusXM (XM channel 391, online channel 981).

Results: ARCA Menards Series open practice at Pocono Raceway