Jesse Love, Corey Heim and Daniel Dye
Jesse Love (left), Corey Heim (middle) and Daniel Dye (right) talk before the start of the Menards 250 for the ARCA Menards Series at Elko Speedway in Elko New Market, Minnesota, on July 10, 2021. (David Berding/ARCA Racing)

NOTEBOOK: Berlin Raceway takes ARCA Menards Series to halfway point of season

www.arcaracing.com July 16, 2021

When the checkered flag flies Saturday night to end the Zinsser SmartCoat 200 at Berlin Raceway in Marne, Michigan, the ARCA Menards Series will have completed its 10th of 20 races on the 2021 schedule.

And if he has it his way, the same driver who has led in the championship standings since the season-opener at Daytona International Speedway will begin the second half of the year still on his perch.

MORE BERLIN:

Corey Heim won at Daytona to take the early points lead and, despite Ty Gibbs’ best efforts, has not lost it through nine events. This despite the fact that Gibbs has five wins to Heim’s four in 2021.

Heim’s lead has been as small as one point between races, and the rivals technically were tied atop the standings for a few hours after Gibbs won the General Tire Pole Award (and the bonus point that comes with it) at Pocono Raceway. Heim won that race even though Gibbs led an event-high 33 laps.

That’s been the story of the 2021 season thus far, Gibbs dominating races — he leads the series with 794 laps led; Heim is second with 125 — but failing to jump his rival in the standings.

Heim, 19, enters Saturday’s race at the 7/16-mile paved oval with a seven-point cushion on the 18-year-old Gibbs, a lead that appears safe for at least one more week based on the former’s consistency in 2021. Heim’s average finish of 2.2 has a lot to do with why he ranks No. 1 in the standings.

This points battle between the series’ top contenders has been entertaining to watch unfold over the first half of the season. Now we’re getting to the point where the battles on the track will be the focus.

Heim booted Gibbs out of the way on the final restart to win last week at Elko Speedway. Gibbs did not project anger in his post-race interview, but he did suggest he had taken mental note of the way Heim raced him.

Saturday night’s race at Berlin presents Gibbs his first chance at redemption, on a short track similar to Elko and with Heim’s move fresh in his mind. Including the Berlin race, the schedule features five more short tracks.

So the same rivalry that defined the first half of the 2021 season will define the second, perhaps with a few more dents in the fenders.

Berlin Raceway
Berlin Raceway (Jay Alley/ARCA Racing)

Summer of short tracks

Saturday night’s Zinsser SmartCoat 200 at Berlin Raceway is the second in a stretch of four consecutive short track races for the ARCA Menards Series in July.

All are Saturday night races, and all are scheduled to broadcast live on MAVTV Motorsports Network with live streams available on NBC Sports Gold’s TrackPass.

Last week’s Elko race began the stretch, and if any of the other three are as entertaining as the 250-lap shootout on the 3/8-mile bullring was, we’re in for a wild remainder of the month.

Beyond Saturday’s race at Berlin, the series will visit Iowa Speedway on July 24 and Indiana’s Winchester Speedway on July 31.

The series has a rich history with Iowa, which has hosted ARCA Menards Series races every year (with the exception of 2014) since it opened in 2006. Winchester, of course, is a high-banked course that produces incredible speeds for a half-mile oval.

Spoiler alert

Last week’s short track race at Elko Speedway proved that, while Gibbs was and is still the driver to beat, he is not unbeatable. Neither is Heim.

And all of the drivers who showed race-winning speed at Elko are entered in Saturday night’s race at Berlin.

Taylor Gray technically did not lead a lap last week, but he did hold strong with Gibbs on a mid-race restart, racing side-by-side with the leader for several laps before falling in line second. The Berlin race marks the David Gilliland Racing driver’s second since he returned to action following a 13-week hiatus while he recovered from injuries sustained in a street car accident.

Heim’s win at Elko spearheaded a podium sweep for Venturini Motorsports, as part-time drivers Jesse Love and Gracie Trotter finished second and third, respectively. Both will race again at Berlin, and both figure to be top-five mainstays who can compete for the victory.

Daniel Dye finished seventh at Elko, but he had a top-five car. The same can be said for Thad Moffitt, whose ninth-place finish was the result of a crash on the last lap. Both are capable of better results at Berlin.

And more:

  • Morgan Alexander, an accomplished dirt racer, will make his ARCA Menards Series debut Saturday night at Berlin driving for Cody Efaw. The Griffen, Georgia, native also competed in the East Series race at North Carolina’s Southern National Motorsports Park last month driving for Bruce Cook; he finished 12th.
  • Team owner Andy Hillenburg will field four cars at Berlin with Owen Smith, Mason Mingus, Tony Cosentino and Mike Basham in the driver’s seats. Mingus won a General Tire Pole Award in the ARCA Menards Series East at Nashville Fairgrounds Speedway earlier this season.
  • Adam Lemke finished 10th last week at Elko in his ARCA Menards Series debut driving for Rette Jones Racing. He’s in the field again this week in the same car for the same team.
  • Alex Clubb at Berlin will make his fourth ARCA Menards Series start of the season driving for David Richmond. His first top-10 finishes in the series came earlier this year at Kansas Speedway and Toledo Speedway.
  • Sitting fourth in ARCA Menards Series points, Nick Sanchez at Berlin will look for what would be his eighth top-10 finish in the first 10 races of his rookie season.
  • Saturday night’s Zinsser SmartCoat 200 will be the 31st ARCA Menards Series race run at Berlin Raceway dating back to 1958.
  • The Zinsser SmartCoat 200 is Round 4 of the 2021 Sioux Chief Showdown, a 10-race series within the series that combines the best of the ARCA Menards Series, the ARCA Menards Series East and the ARCA Menards Series West. Ty Gibbs leads the Showdown standings by four points over Corey Heim.