ARCA Menards rewind: What we learned at Watkins Glen

www.arcaracing.com August 10, 2021

With so many NASCAR national series drivers in the field, Friday’s Clean Harbors 100 at The Glen at New York’s Watkins Glen International was set up as a unique challenge for ARCA Menards Series regulars.

That appeared to be the case while Chase Briscoe led nine laps in the middle portion of the event. Then a suspension issue forced the No. 14 Huffy/Parker Boats Ford to pit, and the pair of drivers who have dominated the series in 2021 rose to the top yet again.

At the same time Briscoe pulled off the track, Corey Heim passed Ty Gibbs for the lead. Gibbs had qualified on the General Tire pole and led the first 14 laps, but Heim had found the speed and rhythm on the 2.45-mile road course to become the new driver to beat.

Sure enough, the No. 20 Craftsman Toyota pulled away, and Heim won his fifth ARCA Menards Series race of the season with relative ease.

Heim’s display of resilience was impressive, especially in the context of his finishing a season-worst seventh in the series’ only other road-course race in June at the Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course in Lexington, Ohio.

In the bigger picture, Heim’s win was a strike back at Gibbs in what increasingly feels like a championship battle that will rage through the end of the season.

Watkins Glen: Race Recap | Highlights | Photos

Corey Heim
Corey Heim, driver of the No. 20 Craftsman Toyota, pictured ahead of the Clean Harbors 100 at The Glen for the ARCA Menards Series at Watkins Glen International in Watkins Glen, New York, on Aug. 6, 2021. (Brett Carlsen/ARCA Racing)

Corey Heim keeps the pressure on Ty Gibbs

When Gibbs won at Winchester Speedway on July 31 to pick up his series-high seventh win of the season — and doing so a week after he jumped Heim in the standings with a win at Iowa Speedway — some might have assumed the driver who has led by far the most laps in 2021 (989) would only build on his championship lead.

Heim immediately shut down any such thoughts with his convincing victory at The Glen.

With the exception of a dirt oval, and dating back to his win it last season’s finale at Kansas Speedway, Heim has now won a race on every type of track the series visits. Though Watkins Glen was the last road-course event of the year, Heim’s passing yet another test proves he will not go away in the title race.

Despite having led 671 more laps this season than Heim’s 318, Gibbs has just a two-point lead in the standings with seven races to go.

“Everyone feels great,” Heim said after his win at Watkins Glen. “But we’ve been working our (expletive) off for the past couple weeks. And we finally got one this week. It hasn’t been too long since we last saw Victory Lane, but regardless, every win counts.”

RELATED: Updated ARCA Menards Series Points

Big weekend for ARCA’s top three finishers

Heim’s win in Friday’s Clean Harbors 100 at The Glen became even more impressive Saturday, when the drivers he beat to the checkered flag won their respective NASCAR national series races.

Austin Hill, who finished second to Heim in the ARCA Menards Series race, won the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series race at the road course Saturday afternoon. Hill also finished second at Mid-Ohio in the only other ARCA race he has started this season.

Later Saturday, Gibbs won the NASCAR Xfinity Series race at Watkins Glen after finishing third in the ARCA race the day prior. It was Gibbs’ third win in the Xfinity Series in just his 10th start.

Gibbs now has eight top-five finishes in his first 10 Xfinity Series starts.

Including those three drivers, the top seven finishers in the Clean Harbors 100 at The Glen raced again Saturday. Fourth-place ARCA finisher Carson Hocevar finished 10th in the Truck Series race, and seventh-place ARCA finisher Taylor Gray finished 35th in his Truck Series debut.

Fifth-place ARCA finisher Brandon Jones finished sixth in the Xfinity Series race at Watkins Glen, and sixth-place ARCA finisher Riley Herbst finished 13th in the NASCAR event.

Notes

  • Heim’s sixth ARCA Menards Series victory moved him into a tie for 58th on the all-time wins list with Elmer Musgrave, Paul Parks, Ralph Latham, three-time series champion Bob Dotter, Ed Hage, Mike Wallace, 1999 series champion Bill Baird, Ryan Hemphill, Tom Hessert, Brennan Poole, Alex Bowman and Briscoe, the 2016 series champ.
  • The Clean Harbors 100 at The Glen represented Round 7 of the 2021 Sioux Chief Showdown. Gibbs leads Heim in that series, too, with a slightly larger advantage — eight points — with three events remaining.
  • Gray’s seventh-place run at Watkins Glen gave him six top-10 finishes in six ARCA Menards Series starts this season. In 18 series starts dating back to last season, he has finished outside the top 10 just once (11th at Toledo Speedway in August of 2020).
  • Two drivers made their ARCA Menards Series debuts at Watkins Glen. Chris Werth drove the No. 74 Ford for Visconti Motorsports and finished 20th. Brad Perez drove the No. 60 JW Motorsports Chevrolet and finished 24th.
  • Briscoe, who appeared to have the car to beat at Watkins Glen before a suspension issue ended his race after 25 laps, was driving the same Ford he took to Victory Lane in the ARCA Menards Series West race at Sonoma Raceway in June. Briscoe finished ninth in the NASCAR Cup Series race Sunday at Watkins Glen.