Dean Thompson
Dean Thompson, driver of the No. 51 Thompson Pipe Group Ford, climbs out of his car after winning the General Tire Pole Award ahead 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)

Dean Thompson gets consolation from multiple special awards at Irwindale

www.arcaracing.com July 6, 2021

Dean Thompson dominated the NAPA Auto Parts 150 presented by the West Coast Stock Car Racing Hall of Fame on Saturday night. The 19-year-old from Anaheim, California, took home almost every award at Irwindale Speedway, his home track.

Everything, that is, except for the winner’s trophy. That went to defending ARCA Menards Series West champion Jesse Love after he snuck past Thompson with four laps to go and scored his first win of the season.

REWIND: What we learned at Irwindale

Dean Thompson
Dean Thompson, driver of the No. 51 Thompson Pipegroup Ford, celebrates winning the General Tire Pole Award ahead 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)

Thompson entered his rookie season in the West Series one year after winning the weekly Late Model championship at Irwindale, and his experience at the track paid off when he topped the leaderboard in General Tire Pole Qualifying. Thompson’s best lap of 18.525 seconds/97.166 mph was nearly a full 10th of a second quicker than that of outside pole-sitter Joey Iest.

The NAPA Auto Parts 150 proceeded to look like a rout when Thompson effortlessly led the entire way to the mid-race competition caution, becoming the uncontested Richmond Water Heaters Halfway Leader in the process.

Love put up a fight on the restart, nosing ahead of Thompson at the stripe twice before ultimately ceding the position. The race continued in this manner until a late-race caution flew for a spin by Hiroyuki Ueno, making his AMSW debut for the Holleran Performance team.

When Ueno’s car was righted, the field bunched up for a restart with four laps to go, at which point Love was able to work past Thompson and take the checkered flag after leading just six of the 150 laps.

The remaining 144 laps were all led by Thompson, who was the race’s Valvoline Lap Leader. Thompson also leapfrogged to the top of the yearlong lap leader list, displacing Ty Gibbs, who led 124 laps in the combination ARCA Menards Series/ARCA Menards Series West event at Phoenix Raceway in March.

The Bounty Rookie of the Race honors also went to Thompson in his third West Series start. Thompson is now a close second to Cole Moore in the Bounty Rookie of the Year standings, trailing the Bill McAnally Racing standout by two points. Moore finished fifth at Irwindale.

The closing stages of the NAPA Auto Parts 150 brought back memories of last season’s race at Irwindale, when Love was breezing through the 125-lap affair until a caution allowed Trevor Huddleston to get past Love with only a handful of laps remaining. Unlike the 2020 event, which featured yet another late yellow that gave Love the opportunity to repass Huddleston and win the race, the dominant driver was forced to settle for second.

Love’s winning pass was voted the Reese’s Sweet Move of the Race.

Another driver who left Irwindale disappointed was P.J. Pedroncelli, whose third-place run at Sonoma Raceway last month lifted him to second in the overall standings. He spun early in the race and eventually left the track with engine failure after 96 laps.

If there’s any silver lining for Pedroncelli, it would come courtesy of his teammate and father Paul Pedroncelli Sr. becoming the K&N Filters Hard Charger for the evening after driving up to 11th from his 18th starting place, a new career-best finish.

The ARCA Menards Series West will return to action on Saturday, July 31, at Colorado National Speedway in Dacono, Colorado. The race is scheduled to start at 10:30 p.m. ET and can be viewed live on NBC Sports Gold’s TrackPass.