ARCA Menards rewind: Takeaways from Charlotte Motor Speedway

www.arcaracing.com May 31, 2022

Friday’s ARCA Menards Series General Tire 150 at Charlotte Motor Speedway had a little bit of everything.

There were lead changes, crashes, fires and, after 100 laps of racing, a returning winner in Brandon Jones aboard the No. 81 Toyota fielded by Kyle Busch Motorsports.

Despite starting from the pole, Jones was hardly the dominant driver throughout the General Tire 150. Several other drivers took turns at the front of the field before Jones eventually took control in the second half of the race and powered to his first series victory since 2018.

MORE CHARLOTTE: Results | Highlights

While Jones earned a trip to Victory Lane, a number of other drivers fell victim to bad luck. There were multiple crashes and even an electrical fire in Parker Chase’s No. 15 Venturini Motorsports Toyota.

With so many having bad luck, one driver enjoyed his best race of the season and was able to score his first top five since last July.

Below are the key takeaways from Friday’s General Tire 150 at Charlotte Motor Speedway.

Brandon Jones, driver of the No. 81 Menards-Tide-Bounty Toyota, won the General Tire 150 for the ARCA Menards Series at Charlotte Motor Speedway in Concord, North Carolina on May 27, 2022. (Veasey Conway/ARCA Racing)
Brandon Jones celebrates winning the General Tire 150 at Charlotte Motor Speedway on May 27, 2022. (Veasey Conway/ARCA Racing)

Brandon Jones makes winning ARCA return

Jones’ goal for competing in Friday’s ARCA Menards Series General Tire 150 at Charlotte Motor Speedway was to gain extra experience.

He did that and more by taking home the trophy.

Jones, who is a championship contender in the NASCAR Xfinity Series for Joe Gibbs Racing, quickly established himself as a contender early Friday by winning the General Tire Pole Award. However, when the green flag waved later Friday evening, Jones fell behind several other contenders early in the race.

Jones said he chose the wrong lane early, which allowed several other drivers to pass him and get an early advantage.

“I stuck to the bottom for a while thinking maybe these cars just make a little more downforce than an Xfinity car, so I was kind of thinking that bottom lane would hang on a little longer than it did,” Jones said. “Then I got passed by some people that went up to the PJ1 (resin) and made some time on me there. I kind of committed to that lane once I saw that.”

Rajah Caruth, Nick Sanchez, Connor Mosack and Corey Heim all took turns at the front of the field before Jones was finally able to work his way back to the lead on the 70th circuit. Once back at front, Jones was on cruise control and ultimately beat Heim to the finish line by more than eight seconds.

“Corey made me work pretty hard for it at that second half portion,” Jones continued. “Jacob (Canter, crew chief) and everyone did a phenomenal job making adjustments for that second half. I also think the sun going down kind of played to our favor, as well.”

The victory was Jones’ sixth in ARCA Menards Series competition and his second in the series at Charlotte, which is where his last victory in ARCA competition came in 2018.

Friday’s race is one of five Jones is scheduled to compete in this year in the ARCA Menards Series. He’ll be back with the series at the next event on the schedule, the Calypso Lemonade 150 at Iowa Speedway on June 11, as well as events at Pocono Raceway, Watkins Glen International and Bristol Motor Speedway.

Chaos, bad luck claims multiple contenders

The first four laps of the General Tire 150 were pure chaos for several drivers.

First, an electrical fire started in the cockpit of Parker Chase’s Venturini Motorsports Toyota. He was forced to pit road, where his crew managed to put the fire out, replace the dash board and return him to the race track. He was out of contention and finished eight laps down in 15th.

While Chase was dealing with his issue, the returning Josh White crashed the No. 03 Alex Clubb Racing Ford into the wall on the frontstretch to bring out the first caution flag of the race. Almost at the exact same time, Daniel Dye and Drew Dollar made contact entering Turn 1. The incident put both cars into the outside wall. Dollar’s day was over while Dye was able to continue, albeit without his rear bumper cover.

The chaos wasn’t contained to the first four laps of the race.

During a caution period for an incident involving Andy Jankowiak on Lap 23, Bryan Dauzat had an issue down the backstretch. He bounced off the outside wall before ricocheting off Dye’s No. 43 Chevrolet. Dye was again able to continue, but Dauzat was done for the day.

The mayhem continued shortly after the restart, with a flat tire sending Will Kimmel into the outside wall in Turns 1 and 2. The impact caused the No. 69 entry to catch fire, but thankfully, Kimmel was able to escape unharmed. He was running fifth at the time of the incident.

Finally, bad luck found Jankowiak again on Lap 46, when a loose oil line led to a fire in his No. 79 Ford. He was also able to escape without injury.

A strong showing for Greg Van Alst

During the first two races of the ARCA Menards Series season, it seemed as if nothing was going right for Greg Van Alst.

He fell out of contention in the opener at Daytona International Speedway in February after his No. 35 was run into during an early caution period. He then fell out of the second race on the schedule at Phoenix Raceway after only 11 laps due to a mechanical issue.

Those issues left Van Alst with finishes of 22nd and 36th, results not representative of the speed Van Alst typically shows.

Since then, Van Alst has been on the rebound. He finished 11th at Talladega Superspeedway, followed by his first top-10 finish of the year two weeks ago at Kansas Speedway.

He continued that forward momentum at Charlotte on Friday. He avoided the mayhem that seemed to pick off so many other contenders, kept himself on the lead lap and finished fifth.

The fifth-place result is the second ARCA Menards Series top five of his career and his best finish on a track larger than a half-mile. His only other top five in ARCA competition came last year at Indiana’s Winchester Speedway, where he finished second.

NOTES:

  • Rajah Caruth reclaimed sole possession of the ARCA Menards Series championship lead following his third-place finish at Charlotte. He led a career-high 27 laps and also made a brilliant save during the second half of the race that earned him the Reese’s Sweet Move of the Race.
  • Connor Mosack (fourth), Amber Balcaen (seventh) and Tony Cosentino (ninth) earned their career-best ARCA Menards Series finishes during the General Tire 150 at Charlotte Motor Speedway.
  • Tim Richmond had planned to compete in Friday’s General Tire 150, but a broken track bar bracket ruptured the oil tank in the No. 27 Chevrolet during practice and he was forced to withdraw from the race.
  • Zachary Tinkle was in contention for a top-10 finish in Wayne Peterson’s No. 06 Ford before a tire came loose from the car at the halfway break. He retired from the race shortly thereafter with a transmission issue.