Jesse Love and Dean Thompson
Jesse Love, driver of the No. 16 NAPA Auto Parts Toyota, passes Dean Thompson, driver of the No. 51 Thompson Pipe Group Ford, in the final laps of the NAPA Auto Parts 150 for the ARCA Menards Series West at Irwindale Speedway in Irwindale, California, on July 3, 2021. (Meg Oliphant/ARCA Racing)

ARCA Menards rewind: What we learned at Irwindale

www.arcaracing.com July 6, 2021

Anybody who simply viewed the results of Saturday night’s ARCA Menards Series West race at California’s Irwindale Speedway might not have been surprised to find that Jesse Love wheeled his No. 16 NAPA Auto Parts Toyota to Victory Lane.

Those who watched the NAPA Auto Parts 150 presented by the West Coast Stock Car Hall of Fame in its entirety were stunned to see the defending series champion pull off his first win of 2021.

The 16-year-old from Menlo Park, California, clearly had a strong car, as he climbed as high as second place after qualifying seventh. But there were no signs to suggest he had anything for Dean Thompson, the pole-sitter who led 144 of 150 laps Saturday night.

That is, until Love had chances to compete with Thompson on short runs.

Love briefly grabbed the lead from his rival on a restart on Lap 82 before Thompson took it back. The latter was on his way to his first victory in just his third West Series start when a caution came out with just eight laps to go.

The yellow gave Love the break he needed, another chance to edge Thompson on a short run. He did just that over the last four laps.

Love’s triumph on the heels of a disappointing start to his season leads our takeaways from Saturday night’s West Series race at Irwindale.

IRWINDALE: Race Recap | Highlights | Photos

Jesse Love

Jesse Love returns to the top

Based on the way he handled his TrackPass interview in Victory Lane, Love was as surprised as anybody to find himself holding the checkered flag after 150 laps at Irwindale.

His overwhelming emotion seemed to be relief.

Love won three races last season on his way to winning the West Series at just 15, making him the youngest driver to win a NASCAR touring series championship. He recorded nine top-five finishes in 11 races.

So this 19th-place finish at Sonoma Raceway last month, the worst finish of his short West Series career, was frustrating even though he started the season with a sixth-place run at Phoenix Raceway.

Love’s victory at Irwindale not only served as a reminder that he should be considered the driver to beat for the West Series title again this year. It also served as a reminder that he should be considered among the drivers to beat in any given race.

Yes, Love’s Bill McAnally Racing machine is among the strongest in the field of series regulars. But that Toyota is wheeled by a driver who competes with aggression and resilience.

On Saturday night, Love spent the majority of the race working the bottom of Irwindale’s progressively banked half-mile oval even though Thompson and others toward the front of the field were finding speed up top.

Had Love not trusted his own strategy, he might not have been in position to make the winning pass on the final restart, an overtake that fans voted the Reese’s Sweet Move of the Race.

Ty Gibbs and Chase Briscoe won the first two West Series races of 2021, so Love is now the only series regular with a win on his 2021 resume. He is still fourth in the standings, but only two points separate him from the leaders.

Love’s storming to a second consecutive championship is far from an inevitability, as the West Series is stuffed with vigorous competition.

But his performance Saturday night at Irwindale should give the defending champ the confidence he needs to make it happen.

RELATED: Updated ARCA Menards Series West Points

Dean Thompson’s heartbreak

The ARCA Menards Series West will return to Irwindale in August for its second of two races at the half-mile oval this season.

Nobody will be looking forward to that event more than Thompson.

The 2020 track champion in the Late Model division at Irwindale, Thompson, 19, led all but six laps at his home facility Saturday night after winning his first General Tire Pole Award ahead of his third West Series race.

“It was just that our short runs were not good,” Thompson said frankly after the race, referring to his inability to run with Love on the restart with four laps to go. “The car was just not in place to be able to do a (four)-lap shootout. We had an amazing long-run car. Without that last caution, I’m sure we could have won.

“But we’ll be back.”

Thompson is running his first West Series season for his High Point Racing team in a car owned by Bob Bruncati and managed by Tim Huddleston, the latter of whom owns and operates Irwindale Speedway.

Short tracks like Irwindale are Thompson’s specialty, which is good for him considering those types of ovals make up the majority of the West Series schedule.

So the Anaheim native will have plenty of chances for redemption in 2021, but none better than the series’ return to Irwindale next month.

Anybody’s series

Thompson may have been devastated to finish second after dominating most of the race Saturday night. But he left Irwindale with the lead in the West Series championship standings — kind of.

Thompson and series veteran Todd Souza are now tied atop the standings with 112 points apiece. Cole Moore, the only series regular with multiple top-five finishes in 2021, is right behind them with 111 points. Love has 110 points in fourth.

Not only do just two points separate the top four drivers in the standings, but just eight points separate the top six. Sunrise Ford Racing teammates Jake Drew and Trevor Huddleston are tied for fifth in the standings with 104 points apiece.

This should be no surprise given the relative parity in the ARCA Menards Series West.

Each of the aforementioned six drivers have shown race-winning speed at points this season. And that does not include P.J. Pedroncelli, Joey Iest and Bridget Burgess in seventh through ninth, respectively. They’ve all shown impressive speed in 2021, as well.

Last year’s West Series title race came down to the final event at Phoenix in November. Through three of nine races, we’re on track to see another tight race to the championship trophy.

Notes

  • Love, who also won at Irwindale last season, became the first West Series driver to win consecutive races at the track since Todd Gilliland won three straight from 2016-2017.
  • Iest’s third-place run at Irwindale gives him five top-five finishes across eight races in both the ARCA Menards Series East and the ARCA Menards Series West this year. He is third in East Series points and eighth in West Series points.
  • All three drivers who made their West Series debuts Saturday night at Irwindale were involved in separate incidents. Hiroyuki Ueno, Amber Slagle and Amber Balcaen finished 12th, 14th and 15th, respectively. Ueno and Slagle finished in the running.
  • Johnny Borneman III has run just two West Series races over the last two years, both at Irwindale. His eighth-place run Saturday night gives him a top-10 finish in both races.
  • Nick Joanides finished ninth at Irwindale to pick up his fourth top-10 finish in a 13-race West Series career dating back to 2004.
  • West Series veteran Bobby Hillis Jr. picked up just one top-10 finish over his first 14 years in the series dating back to 2001. Including his 10th-place run at Irwindale, he now has six top 10s over the last two seasons. This despite a pre-race brake issue that jeopardized his ability to even start Saturday night’s race.