Ty Gibbs
Ty Gibbs, driver of the No. 18 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota, celebrates winning the Henry Ford Health System 200 for the ARCA Menards Series at Michigan International Speedway on Aug. 20, 2021 in Brooklyn, Michigan. (Allison Farrand/ARCA Racing)

Ty Gibbs, Kyle Sieg, Greg Van Alst split special awards at Michigan

www.arcaracing.com August 25, 2021

The Henry Ford Health System 200 at Michigan International Speedway proved to be the latest installment of the Ty Gibbs show, as the driver who entered as the championship points leader fended off late charges by both Corey Heim and Nick Sanchez to win his eighth ARCA Menards Series race of 2021.

After Heim got the better of Gibbs on the opening lap, Gibbs took the position right back and was near perfect for the remainder of the event, as he came away with most of the series’ special awards.

REWIND: What we learned at Michigan

The starting order at Michigan was determined via points, handing Gibbs his 10th General Tire Pole Award of the season. Gibbs has now clinched the full-season title for the most poles in the series. Just three other drivers have been able to dethrone Gibbs in qualifying this year: Drew Dollar, Daniel Dye and Heim (twice).

An exciting start to the race saw Heim fight alongside Gibbs for the lead while Dollar and Thad Moffitt put on the same show right behind the leaders in a battle for third. Racing hard through Turns 3-4, Heim pulled ahead of Gibbs to lead Lap 1. It turned out to be the only lap Heim would lead, as Gibbs was back in front on Lap 2 and never relinquished the top spot. With 99 laps led, Gibbs was the Valvoline Lap Leader in a runaway.

Gibbs also holds the top season mark with 1,088 laps led, more than 700 laps ahead of second-place Heim at 319 laps led. Gibbs is the first AMS driver to lead 1,000 laps or more in a single season since Grant Enfinger led 1,075 in 2014.

Gibbs also picked up the Richmond Water Heaters Halfway Leader award for the eighth time this season.

The victory earned No. 18 Joe Gibbs Racing crew chief Mark McFarland the Cometic Crew Chief of the Race honors. Much like their respective drivers, McFarland and No. 20 Venturini Motorsports crew chief Shannon Rursch are locked in a tight battle for the Cometic Crew Chief of the Year title. McFarland currently leads Rursch by a single point in the crew chief standings.

Though Gibbs was named the Bounty Rookie of the Race for winning his Michigan International Speedway debut, he is not the driver atop the seasonlong rookie standings. Instead, Heim leads the Bounty Rookie of the Year chase by 17 points over Gibbs. The rookie standings record only the points a driver gets for their finishing position, disregarding bonus points such as those received for leading laps or winning the pole. Gibbs’ standing behind Heim can be traced back to his 27th-place result at Talladega after he crashed out, forcing him to watch from the sidelines while Heim made a dramatic, last-lap pass for the victory.

Heim’s prowess on the big tracks has placed No. 20 car owner Billy Venturini at the top of the General Tire Superspeedway Challenge standings for owners. Heim has won races at Daytona, Talladega and Pocono, finishing no worse than third in any superspeedway race. Billy’s No. 20 team has all but locked up the superspeedway championship with only the season finale at Kansas in October yet to come. The No. 20 group leads the No. 15 Venturini Motorsports team car owned by Bill Venturini, presently holding the runner-up spot but 22 points behind after Dollar crashed out at Michigan.

Two more drivers who have primarily stuck to the superspeedway portion of the AMS schedule in 2021 are Greg Van Alst and Kyle Sieg. Van Alst, coming off a career-best second at Winchester in his last start, had to roll from 18th when the starting grid was set by points. Yet he still powered his way to sixth at the end of the 100-lap affair. For gaining 12 spots, Van Alst was the K&N Filters Hard Charger at Michigan.

One of the most entertaining on-track battles featured Van Alst and Sieg dueling for the final spot in the top five, a position that ultimately went to Sieg – though it was far from easy. Sieg nearly spun sideways while attempting to make the pass on Van Alst at one point, but somehow saved his Chevrolet and was voted by the fans as the driver who made the Reese’s Sweet Move of the Race.