By Vincent Delforge, Special to Kickin’ the Tires
Trevor Huddleston won the NAPA Auto Parts 150 presented by Berco Redwood on Saturday night, October 5, 2024 at the All American Speedway in Roseville, CA. This tenth race of the season was totally dominated by the driver of the No. 50 High Point Racing Ford Fusion. He took the pole, led all 150 laps and also posted the fastest lap of the race. He regained important points in the championship and is now only 29 points behind leader Sean Hingorani, fourth at Roseville and is 24 points behind second-place finisher Tyler Reif who finished third in the race after making a nice comeback after a sluggish start.
Here is the full summary of the race.
ARCA West Practice/Qualifying
Tyler Reif is the fastest in the practice ahead of Jack Wood. Huddleston is third while Kyle Keller for his first race with Central Coast Racing is sixth. For his debut, Joey Kennealy is ninth at the wheel of the Kennealy-Keller Motorsports car. Note that finally this team decided not to run the No. 11 with Robbie Kennealy. It is also the car used by the latter at Madera that is rebadged with the No. 12.
During the qualifying session, Huddleston takes the pole in 13.761 sec (87.116 mph), 49 thousandths faster than Tyler Reif. It is his first pole of the season and his third in his career. Eric Nascimento, Jr. and Henry Barton occupy the second row. Sean Hingorani is seventh and David Smith closes the march in 15th position.
Green flag or Trevor’s walk.
When Chuck Welch, the pace car driver, releases the drivers for the start of the race, Trevor Huddleston presses the accelerator pedal and… Runs away to victory. Because let’s say it right away, for the victory there will be no contesting Huddleston’s domination. On another planet since last week and his victory at Madera.
But behind the driver of the No. 50 things will move in the race standings. First of all Tyler Reif starts the race on a bad pace and loses position after position against Eric Nascimento, Jr., Jack Wood, Sean Hingorani and Jaron Giannini. On lap 13, Reif is only sixth. Joey Kennealy who briefly entered the top 10 on lap two, is now 12th for his debut.
Huddleston passes David Smith on lap 14. The Canadian will lose a lap on the leader every ten laps on average. Eric Nascimento, Jr., second in the race, is already more than two seconds behind.
On lap 38, Reif begins his return to the top of the standings. He passes Giannini to re-enter the top 5 and then closes in on the Wood-Hingorani duo for third position. Hingorani who senses the danger and goes on the offensive on Wood. He passes the Bill McAnally Racing driver on lap 46, taking advantage of the latter’s hesitation, who finds himself sandwiched between Hingorani on the inside line and Smith.
The first third of the race is reached on lap 50 and Trevor Huddleston leads the way with a 1.915 second advantage over Eric Nascimento, Jr. and the rest of the pack consisting of Sean Hingorani, Jack Wood, Tyler Reif, Jaron Giannini, Henry Barton, Ethan Nascimento, Eric Johnson, Jr., Takuma Koga, Kyle Keller, Joey Kennealy (-1), Rip Michels (-1), Michael Killen, Jr. (-1) and David Smith (-4).
Keller, who was riding a choppy pace, dropped out of the top ten to Koga on lap 59. Ethan Nascimento overtook Barton for seventh at the same time.
On lap 70, Reif overtook Wood for fourth while Eric Nascimento, Jr. narrowed his gap to 1.562 seconds on Huddleston, who was close to lapping the Koga-Keller duo. Johnson, Jr. began complaining that his brake pedal was getting soft.
Midway race
Huddleston, who is managing his lead based on his position in the backmarkers trafic, passes the halfway mark with a 1.619 second lead over Eric Nascimento, Jr. The top 10 has changed somewhat and is now as follows: Hingorani third ahead of Reif, Wood, Giannini, Ethan Nascimento, Johnson, Jr., Barton and Keller. Koga is 11th and last driver on the lap. Kennealy (-1), Killen, Jr. (-1), Michels (-1) and Smith (-6).
Reif puts more and more pressure on Hingorani’s rear bumper and the two drivers will do several laps side by side. Reif completes his overtaking on lap 81. Reif, who is the fastest on the track at that time, reduces the gap with the first two.
By lap 100, Huddleston was now 3.632 seconds ahead of Eric Nascimento, Jr. and 5.604 seconds ahead of Reif. Hingorani and Wood completed the top five. Ethan Nascimento was sixth ahead of Giannini who was last on the leader’s lap but was being threatened by the latter. Barton (-1), Johnson, Jr. (-1), Keller (-1), Koga (-1), Kennealy (-1), Killen, Jr. (-2), Michels (-3) and Smith (-9) in 15th and last position. All drivers were on track.
Huddleston on his own planet
On the 109th lap, Ethan Nascimento, sixth, is overtaken by the leader. There are only five of them left on the same lap. And Huddleston will have up to 5.462 seconds ahead on the 121st lap. From that moment on, he will manage. Arriving behind Wood, in fifth position, he sets his pace on the BMR driver and takes no more risks. Johnson, Jr. loses positions, his brakes start to fail him.
Huddleston is “so” cautious, that he even lets Ethan Nascimento overtake him to get back into the lead lap. And at the end of the 150 laps, without the slightest yellow flag, Trevor Huddleston wins his second victory of the season after last week’s in Madera. The .333 Californian miles suit him well at the end of the season. This is the first time he has won two consecutive races. It is also his fifth in his career.
Eric Nascimento, Jr. had no mechanical issues and unsurprisingly had a great race, finishing second. Reif was third and took a point back from Hingorani in fourth. He was now just five points behind. Wood finished fifth. The rest of the top 10 consisted of Ethan Nascimento, Giannini, Johnson, Jr., Barton and Keller.
“Epic man. Everybody who makes this thing happen. My mom, my dad, my boy Will, my brother Tanner, Brian, Shay, Ernie, Andy Partridge, my sisters watching at home. I love you….Without Racecar Factory, Jeff Schrader (crew chief). He’s the one who does all the work on these things. Makes them freaking badass”. Huddleston said on Victory Lane, interviewed by his father Tim who is also the owner of High Point Racing.
Note that this is the first time in the history of the West Series since its creation in 1954 that three different drivers have won two races in a row each in the same year. Hingorani having won the 5th and 6th races, Reif the 7th and 8th and finally Huddleston the 9th and 10th.
This is the first time at Roseville that a race has not been interrupted by at least one yellow flag. And a driver leading every lap, that hasn’t happened since 2008.
In the Championship Sean Hingorani leads with 513 points ahead of Tyler Reif (508) and Trevor Huddleston (484) who is 29 points behind the leader. Jack Wood (462) and Kyle Keller (453) complete the top 5.
Next race on October 26 for the second race of the season on the half mile of Kevin Harvick’s Kern Raceway in Bakersfield, CA for the NAPA Auto Parts 150, a 75-mile race that will be broadcast live on FloRacing.com.