Corey Heim and Ty Gibbs
Corey Heim, driver of the No. 20 Craftsman Toyota, and Ty Gibbs, driver of the No. 18 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota, in action during the Calypso Lemonade 200 for the ARCA Menards Series at Winchester Speedway in Winchester, Indiana, on July 31, 2021. (Emilee Chinn/ARCA Racing)

NOTEBOOK: Busy weekend of ARCA racing to provide next chapter in championship battles

www.arcaracing.com August 19, 2021

Across two series, three ARCA Menards races over the span of three days are set to play out Friday, Saturday and Sunday.

And in both the ARCA Menards Series and the ARCA Menards Series West, the championship standings leader enters the weekend with just a two-point edge over the driver in second place.

That means both Friday’s Henry Ford Health System 200 at Michigan International Speedway and Sunday’s Allen Crowe 100 on the Springfield Mile at the Illinois State Fairgrounds are huge for Ty Gibbs and Corey Heim, the teenage rivals battling for the 2021 ARCA Menards Series title.

Likewise, Saturday’s NAPA Auto Parts 150 presented by Sunrise Ford at California’s Irwindale Speedway is a big race for defending West Series champion Jesse Love as he tries to keep the likes of Cole Moore, Todd Souza, Dean Thompson and Jake Drew behind him in points.

ENTRY LISTS: Michigan | Irwindale | Springfield

Ty Gibbs and Corey Heim
Ty Gibbs and Corey Heim (Nic Antaya/ARCA Racing)

The Gibbs-Heim clash has raged all season. Gibbs, 18, leads the series with seven wins through 13 of 20 races. The 19-year-old Heim ranks second with five wins. Daniel Dye (Berlin Raceway last month) is the only driver not named Gibbs or Heim who has won an ARCA Menards Series race this season.

Riley Herbst won last year’s ARCA Menards Series race at Michigan driving for Joe Gibbs Racing, which is a good sign for Gibbs and his No. 18 JGR team. Gibbs has not yet competed on a 2-mile oval like Michigan, but as he has proven this year, inexperience is not much of a factor as it relates to his ability to win. Heim also has no experience at Michigan.

In the absence of qualifying, the lineup for Friday’s Henry Ford Health System 200 will be set by car owner points. Which means Gibbs is expected to start on the pole for the 10th time in the series this season. Heim is set to join him on the front row.

That’s good news for both drivers, as 10 of the last 13 Michigan winners in the ARCA Menards Series started on the front row. Additionally, both Gibbs and Heim will be looking to extend Toyota’s three-race win streak in the series on the two-mile oval.

Regardless of what happens Friday at Michigan, the title race is guaranteed to get dirty Sunday at the Springfield Mile, the first of two dirt tracks on the 2021 schedule.

Such a tough race has a reputation for its unpredictability; the Allen Crowe 100 has produced 12 different winners over the last 12 years.

Both Gibbs and Heim will be looking to improve upon their disappointing runs in last year’s race at the Springfield Mile. Heim was knocked out of contention by an accident with three laps to go before finishing eighth, and Gibbs finished 10th after getting caught up in a wreck on the first lap.

Gibbs finished 15th in the 2019 race at Springfield, the only other time he has raced on dirt in the ARCA Menards Series. Including the 2019 event at the DuQuoin State Fairgrounds, the other dirt track on the 2021 schedule, Heim has a top five and three top-10 finishes on dirt tracks in the ARCA Menards Series.

Jesse Love
Jesse Love celebrates winning 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)

As for Love at Irwindale Speedway, a half-mile oval nestled in the heart of the San Gabriel Valley, the points leader will be attempting to do what Todd Gilliland last pulled off in the West Series from 2016-2017: win three consecutive races at the track.

Love won the West Series race at Irwindale last month, a victory that gave him back-to-back wins at the track following his 2020 triumph. If the Bill McAnally Racing driver were to win his second race of the 2021 season Saturday, he would join Gilliland, Jason Bowles (2008-2009) and Brendan Gaughan (2001) as drivers who won three straight West Series events at Irwindale.

Dean Thompson seeks redemption at Irwindale

Irwindale Speedway
Dean Thompson leads the NAPA Auto Parts 150 for the ARCA Menards Series West at Irwindale Speedway on July 3, 2021. (Meg Oliphant/ARCA Racing)

Love won that West Series race at Irwindale last month, but he did not have the dominant car for most of the event. That belonged to Thompson.

The 2020 track champion in the Late Model division at Irwindale, Thompson, 19, led all but six laps at his home facility on July 3 after winning his first General Tire Pole Award ahead of just 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 a 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.”

Indeed, Thompson is back in the field at Irwindale for Saturday’s NAPA Auto Parts 150 presented by Sunrise Ford. And that presenting sponsor makes the race even more special for the hometown driver.

Thompson is running his first West Series season for his High Point Racing team in a car owned by Bob Bruncati, who operates the Sunrise Ford Racing team. Further, Thompson’s car is managed by Tim Huddleston, who owns and operates Irwindale Speedway.

Those connections aside, short tracks like Irwindale are Thompson’s specialty. With more of these types of ovals still remaining on the West Series schedule, the Anaheim native will have more chances for redemption in 2021.

But none will be better than the series’ return to Irwindale.

Justin Allgaier’s return

Justin Allgaier
Justin Allgaier (Photo by Sean Gardner/Getty Images)

The 2008 ARCA Menards Series champion is back on the platform for the first time since he lifted the trophy almost 13 years ago. And his return comes at his home track.

Justin Allgaier, a 35-year-old from Springfield, will compete in Sunday’s Allen Crowe 100 driving the No. 16 Schluckebier Farms-Schnapp Sewer Svc-Brandt Chevrolet for Roy Kovski. He will do so in place of another hometown driver, Kelly Kovski.

Allgaier has seven ARCA Menards Series starts at Springfield dating back to 2002, when he finished 17th after starting 29th during his first season of ARCA competition. He won the Springfield race in 2008, one of his four top-10 finishes at his home track.

Now a full-time NASCAR Xfinity Series driver for JR Motorsports, Allgaier will travel to Springfield after he competes in Saturday’s New Holland 250 for the Xfinity Series at Michigan International Speedway.

Sunday’s ARCA Menards Series race will mark the first time Allgaier has raced at Springfield in a car not owned by his father Mike.

And more:

  • Sebastian Arias, a 21-year-old, first-generation driver from Botoga, Colombia, will make his ARCA Menards debut in Saturday’s West Series race at Irwindale driving for Bill McAnally Racing. He is the next Colombian driver hoping to rise through the ranks of NASCAR, following Juan Pablo Montoya. He hopes to move to a full-time ARCA Menards Series schedule in 2022.
  • At just 15, Landen Lewis will make his ARCA Menards Series debut Sunday at Springfield driving for Rette Jones Racing. The Ocean Isle Beach, North Carolina, native is running with support from 2017 ARCA champ Austin Theriault, racing icon Ken Schrader and four-time NASCAR Camping World Truck Series champion Ron Hornaday Jr., among others.
  • Two-time reigning ARCA Menards Series East champion Sam Mayer will run for Bret Holmes racing at Michigan, marking the 18-year-old’s third ARCA Menards Series start of the season. He finished 22nd at Pocono Raceway (radiator trouble) and 14th at Watkins Glen International.
  • After winning his first ARCA Menards Series race last season at Springfield, dirt track ringer Ryan Unzicker is back for Sunday’s race at the 1-mile clay oval to defend his victory. A native of nearby El Paso, Illinois, the Springfield fan favorite is paired with equally popular car owner Bill Hendren, who has been part of a stock car entry in every Allen Crowe 100 since 1974.
  • Amber Balcaen, a third-generation racer from Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada, will make her second West Series start when she runs for Bill McAnally Racing at Irwindale. The 29-year-old also competed in the July race at Irwindale; she finished 15th after she was involved in an accident. Balcaen, who grew up racing go-karts and sprint cars in North Dakota, in 2016 became the first Canadian woman to win a race in what is now the NASCAR Advance Auto Parts Weekly Series.
  • Another driver making her second West Series start Saturday at Irwindale is Mariah Boudrieau. As she did in her debut last month at Colorado National Speedway (finished 13th), the 20-year-old from Colorado Springs, Colorado, will race the No. 77 Jans-All Phase Construction-Rex MD Toyota for Joe Nava at Irwindale.
  • Canadian racer Mike Goudie will make his first ARCA Menards Series start in 26 years when he races for Andy Hillenburg at Springfield. The Toronto native has three ARCA starts, all at Pocono Raceway in 1994 and 1995.
  • Jeffery MacZink, a 43-year-old from Rockwood, Michigan, will make his first ARCA Menards Series start since 2016 when he races at Michigan in his family-owned, Parkway Services-Syncon Polished Concrete Toyota. Engine issues plagued each of his prior two Michigan starts in 2013 (26th) and 2016 (28th).
  • Morgen Baird, a 28-year-old from Grass Lake, Michigan, will make his first ARCA Menards Series start of the season Friday at Michigan driving for Andy Hillenburg. Biard has nine ARCA starts dating back to 2016, with five of them coming at the two-mile oval.
  • Taylor Gray will drive David Gilliland Racing’s No. 46 Ford at Springfield rather than his traditional No. 17. Gray has a top-10 finish in all six of his ARCA Menards Series starts this season.