Jason White, driver of the #44 Powder Ventures Excavating Chevrolet, poses for a portrait before the Menards 200 for the ARCA Menards Series at Daytona International Speedway in Daytona Beach, Florida on February 16, 2023. (Adam Glanzman/NASCAR)
(Photo: Adam Glanzman/NASCAR)

After heartbreak at Daytona, Jason White is ready for the challenge of Talladega

www.arcaracing.com April 20, 2023

Jason White was less than a lap away from victory at Daytona International Speedway in February.

Driving the No. 44 Chevrolet for team owner Jeff McClure, White found himself in the lead of the opening race of the 2023 ARCA Menards Series season as the field roared down the backstretch for the final time.

“I’ll never forget going down the back straightaway on the last lap looking in my rear-view mirror. There were a lot of barking dogs there,” said White, who is a veteran of more than 100 races in the NASCAR Pinty’s Series in Canada. “There were a good 20 cars looking to win that race.”

White didn’t win that day in Daytona Beach, Florida. That honor went to Greg Van Alst, who made the race-winning move entering Turn 3 on the last lap. White faded through the pack to a ninth-place finish.

While obviously disappointed with the result after taking the white flag as the leader, White still looks back on the day fondly. He credits Andy Hillenburg, with whom he’d competed in four previous ARCA events at Daytona, as helping put together the deal to drive for McClure in the first place.

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“Andy has helped me all the way along,” White said. “What happened the seat in the No. 44 car came available three weeks before Daytona, and Andy called me and said, ‘Hey, I’ve got an opportunity for you here.’ I had met Jeff in the shop a couple times in the past, and I knew that it was a fast car.

“Jeff McClure, I call him a Southern mad scientist. The guy just doesn’t stop working on his race car. I just jumped at the opportunity knowing that car is going to be fast.”

The weekend got off to a rough start. The original engine in the No. 44 Chevrolet expired in practice a few days before the race, forcing the team to borrow a motor from Hillenburg.

Luckily everything fell into place, and White, who started 19th in his fifth ARCA event at Daytona, was able to race with the lead pack for much of the day. It was the first time he’d raced competitively at the front of the pack at Daytona.

“This was actually a competitive feeling for me that I’d never really had before,” White recalled. “I usually sit back, wait for the wrecks to happen, wait for the attrition to take its toll. This time, it was ‘Let’s get up there and see if we can win this race.’”

With spotter T.J. Bell guiding him, White took the lead for the first time on Lap 65 following a restart. A caution on Lap 73 for a spin by Dale Quarterley set up a dash to the finish that saw White swap the lead with Lavar Scott before regaining the lead on Lap 78.

It would all come down to the last lap.

“Once we got up to the lead, [Bell] just kept telling me to paint that yellow line,” said the 50-year-old from Sun Peaks, British Columbia. “We did that for a good 15, 16 laps. We had that late caution, and I got a great restart on the late caution. Both lines had energy and we just happened to pull away there and I broke out a little bit.

“Once I got really comfortable there I thought, ‘I’ve got to make sure I don’t get out too far coming off of [Turn] 2.’ T.J. was yelling at me to back it down. I was tapping my brake pedal going down the back straightaway, but other than just smashing the brake pedal, I didn’t want to get run over.”

Looking back on the last lap now, White knows his mistake was he built too big of a gap on Van Alst and the rest of the field going down the backstretch. That’s what allowed Van Alst to get such a run on him entering Turn 3.

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He had two choices in that moment. He could give Van Alst the lane and let him pass or throw a block that could have wrecked the entire field.

“They got their run on me, and I had to make a real split decision. It’s not even a decision, it was a reaction,” White said. “I was either going to throw a block, and if I threw a block right there at Turn 3 when he got to my right-rear quarter panel, I knew I was probably going to be up in the fence and I was probably going to take out those 20 cars behind me. I just chose to stay down there (on the bottom).

“Greg’s a great guy. I don’t know him personally, but I’ve raced around him before. He gave me a couple of good shots to get up to the front. If I had to pick one of the guys who had to beat me there, it definitely would have been Greg Van Alst.”

Despite the disappointment of being so close to victory only to fall short, White now has ample confidence as he travels to Talladega Superspeedway this Saturday for the General Tire 200 (12:30 p.m. ET on FS1).

He’ll once again drive the No. 44 Chevrolet for McClure in his first ARCA Menards Series start at Talladega. The goal is to be as competitive as they were at Daytona and, hopefully, everything else will fall into place.

“I am never one to get cocky or arrogant. I know again we’ve got a fast car,” White said. “I think going in we’ve just got to take it and see what cards get dealt to us and throw them on the table when it’s time to go and see where they lie.”