AVONDALE, Ariz. — Ty Gibbs, the freshly crowned ARCA Menards Series champion, is looking to finish his dominant 2021 season with a strong run in the Arizona Lottery 100 at Phoenix Raceway, the finale for the ARCA Menards Series West.
His speed in a combined practice/qualifying session Saturday morning at the one-mile paved tri-oval suggests the 19-year-old Joe Gibbs Racing driver indeed has a chance to end the year on a high note.
Ty Gibbs set the best lap in the 90-minute session at 26.654 seconds (135.064 mph). The driver who led the ARCA Menards Series field to green 15 times in 20 races this season will do so in the West Series for the second time in 2021; he also won the General Tire Pole Award for the West Series’ season opener at Phoenix in March, a combination event with the ARCA Menards Series.
Saturday’s Arizona Lottery 100, the ninth of nine West Series races this season, is a standalone West Series event.
Gibbs’ JGR teammate Sammy Smith will join him on the front row to start Saturday’s race after qualifying second.
Taylor Gray, Jake Garcia and Daniel Dye rounded out the top five in qualifying.
Of the seven drivers who enter the West Series season finale with chances to win the 2021 championship, the highest qualifier was Trevor Huddleston in 13th. P.J. Pedroncelli qualified 14th ahead of Jesse Love in 15th. Jake Drew will line up 17th, a few spots ahead of Cole Moore in 20th and Joey Iest in 21st. Todd Souza qualified 23rd.
The Arizona Lottery 100 is scheduled to take the green flag at noon MT / 3 p.m. ET. The race will be shown live on NBC Sports Gold’s TrackPass with radio coverage available on MRN and Sirius XM (XM channel 391, online channel 981).
Arizona Lottery 100 at Phoenix Raceway: Qualifying results
Pos. | Car No. | Driver | Sponsor, OEM | Best Time | Best Speed | In Lap | Laps | Diff. |
1 | 18 | Ty Gibbs * | Monster Energy/Terrible Herbst/ORCA Toyota | 26.654 | 135.064 | 13 | 13 | – |
2 | 81 | Sammy Smith * | EngineIce Toyota | 26.794 | 134.358 | 17 | 18 | 0.14 |
3 | 71 | Taylor Gray * | Ripper Coffee Ford | 26.843 | 134.113 | 4 | 19 | 0.189 |
4 | 45 | Jake Garcia * | DGR Ford | 27.262 | 132.052 | 32 | 33 | 0.608 |
5 | 22 | Daniel Dye * | GMS Racing Chevrolet | 27.264 | 132.042 | 11 | 11 | 0.61 |
6 | 46 | J.P. Bergeron * | DGR Ford | 27.278 | 131.974 | 40 | 41 | 0.624 |
7 | 15 | Drew Dollar | Sunbelt Rentals Toyota | 27.305 | 131.844 | 14 | 15 | 0.651 |
8 | 66 | Rajah Caruth * | Max Siegel Inc Chevrolet | 27.369 | 131.536 | 25 | 31 | 0.715 |
9 | 2 | Nick Sanchez | Sunoco/Max Siegel Inc. Chevrolet | 27.445 | 131.171 | 28 | 29 | 0.791 |
10 | 20 | Gracie Trotter | Calico Coatings Toyota | 27.62 | 130.34 | 29 | 29 | 0.966 |
11 | 25 | Parker Chase * | NXTLVL Marine Toyota | 27.672 | 130.095 | 41 | 41 | 1.018 |
12 | 30 | Max Gutierrez * | ToughBuilt Ford | 27.802 | 129.487 | 30 | 30 | 1.148 |
13 | 6 | Trevor Huddleston | Sunrise Ford/Haas/Terraclean Ford | 27.895 | 129.055 | 2 | 47 | 1.241 |
14 | 33 | Paul Pedroncelli Jr. | Select Mobile Bottlers Toyota | 27.917 | 128.954 | 39 | 44 | 1.263 |
15 | 16 | Jesse Love | NAPA Auto Parts Toyota | 27.919 | 128.944 | 4 | 17 | 1.265 |
16 | 55 | Toni Breidinger * | Hair Club Toyota | 27.972 | 128.7 | 40 | 41 | 1.318 |
17 | 9 | Jake Drew * | Sunrise Ford/Lucas Oil/Stilo USA/Offset Ford | 27.995 | 128.594 | 21 | 34 | 1.341 |
18 | 17 | Conner Jones * | Jones Utilities Chevrolet | 28.038 | 128.397 | 39 | 40 | 1.384 |
19 | 51 | Dean Thompson * | Thompson Pipe Group Ford | 28.043 | 128.374 | 3 | 42 | 1.389 |
20 | 99 | Cole Moore * | NAPA Power Premium Plus Toyota | 28.108 | 128.077 | 5 | 29 | 1.454 |
21 | 54 | Joey Iest * | AG Center 59/Basilla Ranch Ford | 28.121 | 128.018 | 26 | 28 | 1.467 |
22 | 4 | Eric Nascimento * | Custom Autobody/RJ’s/Skipco Toyota | 28.267 | 127.357 | 39 | 44 | 1.613 |
23 | 13 | Todd Souza | Central Coast Cabinets Toyota | 28.744 | 125.244 | 56 | 59 | 2.09 |
24 | 8 | John Borneman | Borneman Racing Ford | 29.013 | 124.082 | 23 | 30 | 2.359 |
25 | 7 | Takuma Koga | RiseUP/CKB Toyota | 29.021 | 124.048 | 36 | 38 | 2.367 |
26 | 88 | Bridget Burgess | HMH Construction Chevrolet | 29.152 | 123.491 | 51 | 52 | 2.498 |
27 | 78 | Travis Milburn | Kart Idaho/Quick Quack Car Wash Toyota | 29.234 | 123.144 | 4 | 5 | 2.58 |
28 | 80 | Brian Kamisky | SK Construction/Ward’s Concrete Toyota | 29.259 | 123.039 | 53 | 68 | 2.605 |
29 | 21 | Josh Fanopoulos * | Stoney’s Rockin Roadhouse/Certified Svcs Toyota | 29.827 | 120.696 | 32 | 57 | 3.173 |
30 | 19 | Sebastian Arias * | Rubbermaid Commercial Prod/Brady IFS Toyota | 30.042 | 119.832 | 45 | 77 | 3.388 |
31 | 77 | Ryan Roulette * | Jans/Bellator Recruiting/Proper Patriot Toyota | 30.407 | 118.394 | 28 | 33 | 3.753 |
32 | 8 | Caleb Costner * | Kart Idaho Ford | 30.472 | 118.141 | 21 | 34 | 3.818 |
33 | 27 | Bobby Hillis Jr. | First Impression Press/VD Projects Toyota | 30.869 | 116.622 | 3 | 8 | 4.215 |
34 | 31 | Paul Pedroncelli * | Pedroncelli Mobile Bottling Chevrolet | 34.216 | 105.214 | 3 | 8 | 7.562 |