By Vincent Delforge, special to KickinTheTires.net
The General Tire 200, fifth race of the 2022 ARCA Menards West Series season was won by the championship leader Jake Drew, his second and consecutive career win. A week after the deluge in Portland, this time it was under a blazing sun that the pilots traveled the winding and hilly road track of Napa Valley. A race marked by numerous incidents and which was shortened from 64 to 56 laps due to time constraints.
The Sonoma race review is available here: www.kickinthetires.net/nascar/arca-series/arca-menards-west-series-sonoma-race-review/
Complete race results: www.racing-reference.info/race-results/2022-05/AW/
Driver & owner standings: www.racing-reference.info/standings/2022/AW/
As after each race we are going to detail the statistics for each driver, embellished with the reactions collected from many of them, drivers, owners and crew chiefs.
ARCA West Quick stats
-Race number 998 since the inception of the West Series in 1954.
-2022 race number 5 of 11.
– Second consecutive road race shortened, a first since the beginning of the Modern Era (1971) for the ARCA Menards Series West.
-Race number 43 at Sonoma Raceway since 1969 including nine combined Cup / West races between 1989 and 1997 when the two series had the same technical regulations.
-Win number 16 for Ford at Sonoma. Ford leads with 16 wins ahead of Chevrolet with 12. Buick (5), Pontiac (5), Oldsmobile (2), Dodge (2) and Toyota (1) share the other victories.
-Win number 39 for owner Bob Bruncati and his team Bruncati Sunrise Ford Racing. The most successful owners in history are Bill McAnally (98), Fred Elder (45) and Ernie Conn (41) and Bob Bruncati (39).
-Second career win for Jake Drew in 14 starts.
-Jake Drew is the 4th different driver to visit Victory Lane at Sonoma for owner Bob Bruncati for a total of five wins. David Gilliland (2007). Jason Bowles (2008 and 2009) and Derek Thorn (2013) are the other winners.
-Jake Drew is the 31st different race winner at Sonoma. The most prolific drivers at Sonoma are Jimmy Insolo, Bill Schmitt and Hershel McGriff, three wins each.
-13th time in history that the driver starting on pole position wins the race at Sonoma in 43 races.
-Win No. 30 for crew chief Bill Sedgwick. The fourth at Sonoma after 2008 and 2009 with driver Jason Bowles and 2013 with Derek Thorn.
-Fourth career pole position for Jake Drew, the second at Sonoma.
-First career start for Colby Howard.
-Best career result for Colby Howard (2nd), Jack Wood (4th) and Vince Little (11th).
-Jake Drew is the first to win back-to-back road races in the same year since Noah Gragson in 2016.
– Note that Jake Drew won two road races consecutively. If he wins the next one in Portland, he will be the first driver in history to win three consecutive road races in the same season. The only other driver to have won three consecutive road races is Jason Bowles but that was between the 2007 and 2008 seasons. Finally, note that the number of road races has varied from season to season since 1954, ranging from zero to five races.
-Bridget Burgess becomes the female driver with the most top-10 finishes (3) on road tracks in the history of the series.
The Drivers
No. 04 Eric Nascimento (Nascimento Racing) Start: 9th – Fin: 7th
Race full of intelligence and patience when needed from “Bubba” who gained two positions on the track at the start of the race. Even if he lost a few positions afterwards due to a car that was a little difficult to enter in the corners and during his pit stop, he largely benefited from the last incident involving five drivers who preceded him to re-enter the top-10. A deserved result.
| Starts | Wins | Top5 | Top10 | Pole | Best result | At Sonoma |
| 8 | 0 | 1 | 3 | 0 | 5th (1x) | 2 starts, best result: 7th |
No. 4 Sebastian Arias (Nascimento Racing) Start: 13th – Fin: 21st crash
Really a pity for our young Colombian who rode easily in the top 10 during most of his race. He had even integrated the top-five for a few laps. But his race ended when he crashed into Rodd Kneeland, once the latter pushed by Bridget Burgess across just in front of him. Should he have braked when he saw the other two colliding?
Arias assumes his choice of having chosen to stay fully through the left and flat out: “Man…. I know. At some point you have to make a decision. Sometimes it’s not the right one. We were up into fifth at some point of the race. Rodd and I talked about it and we’re good now. We will finish the job strong next year. I’m ready for Irwindale.”
| Starts | Wins | Top5 | Top10 | Pole | Best result | At Sonoma |
| 5 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 8th (1x) | 1 start, best result: 21st |
No. 6 Jake Drew (Bruncati Racing) Start: 1st – Fin: 1st
Currently he is the boss! Drew had an almost perfect race. “It’s awesome to win in Sonoma. It was an awesome day. Plenty of people were coming up and battling with me. Two poles in two years, and we get the race win this year so that’s pretty awesome.” said Drew.
Apart from a failed restart where he was passed by two drivers, he was so fast that he quickly recovered the first position. Excellent strategy and perfect execution of the pit stop by Bruncati Racing. He was able to resist and keep his cool when necessary against Cole Moore at the end of the race. He won his second consecutive victory and took advantage of incidents involving his main opponents to increase his championship lead to 35 points.
We asked him a few questions:
Vincent Delforge: You had a solid race from start to finish. How did you feel in the car? She did everything you wanted?
Jake Drew: “Our car was very strong from when we unloaded and we made no changes from how it unloaded.”
VD: You are now 35 points ahead in the championship. A good margin as we approach mid-season?
JD: “I feel 35 points is a huge margin especially as we’re just getting to the halfway point of the year!”
VD: You have become a road tracks specialist. No matter the weather! ARCA’s cars are however not the most agile on this type of track. Nothing to do with the agility of a karting! But are there any similarities in the way of riding between the two?
JD: “I feel they are similar or they at least follow the same laws of physics. Everything I do to succeed in a go kart I use in the ARCA car just factoring in the extra 3000 pounds and 600 horsepower!”
VD: As I told you if you win the next race in Portland, you will become the first driver in history to win three consecutive road races in the same year. Does this kind of record interest you or do you not pay more attention than that to the fact of registering your name in the record books?
JD: “Getting the record would be amazing. Just seeing what amazing road course drivers have come through our own team, I’m sure there are many others that have come through the west series so to be the first to achieve the record would feel pretty good.”
VD: Your teammate was very fast in Irwindale early this season, where the next race will take place. We will now ask you, so when do you win on oval? Does this kind of question put positive or negative pressure on you?
JD: “I’m not sure if it’s positive or negative pressure. I am proud of my abilities on the road courses but I don’t want to be looked at as someone that can’t run well on ovals. Especially after the success we’ve shown all year on ovals. I’m confident that the oval win is in the near future. Oval racing became new to me in 2020 so to be as close as we’ve been so many times already is a success to me.”
| Starts | Wins | Top5 | Top10 | Pole | Best result | At Sonoma |
| 14 | 2 | 9 | 12 | 4 | 1st (2x) | 2 starts, best result: 1st |
No. 7 Takuma Koga (Jerry Pitts Racing) Start: 19th – Fin 19th crash
After his solid top-five in Portland, Koga looked set to do the same in Sonoma. Depending on the strategy he briefly occupied this position. Losing time following an error at turn 7 during a restart, he came close to the top-10 when his race ended violently when he hit Tanner Reif. A very hard shock fortunately without injuries for both drivers.
“I’m good thanks friend! It just wasn’t my day. The car was getting more and more competitive with each lap. Onto Irwindale.” Koga says.
Jerry Pitts, owner and crew chief explaining: “We had a problem in practice and only run a couple of laps witch is also qualifying so we didn’t qualify well. It was going good. We had a good car in the race we think we was headed for a top-five finish before a huge crash. As for the car… not so well and I’m not sure right now if it is feasible to fix it. Noah Gragson, Will Rogers, Kevin Harvick, Greg Pursley have all won in this car.”
| Starts | Wins | Top5 | Top10 | Pole | Best result | At Sonoma |
| 95 | 0 | 3 | 18 | 0 | 5th (3x) | 7 starts, best result : 11th |
No. 9 Tanner Reif (Bruncati Racing) Start: 6th – Fin: 18th crash
The rookie had the opportunity to limit the loss of points against his teammate Drew since he seemed to be able to easily obtain a good top-10, or even better. Unfortunately, a push from Iest during a restart sent him in spin. The Ford No. 9 was then violently rammed by Koga.
In the championship, he lost a position but above all is now 37 points behind the leader. But the next race takes place on his track at Irwindale, where at the start of the season he had put on a show by taking his first career victory. But it’s almost halfway through the season, he now has to reverse the trend and close the gap or risk losing his chances in the championship.
| Starts | Wins | Top5 | Top10 | Pole | Best result | At Sonoma |
| 5 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 1 | 1st (1x) | 1 start, best result : 18th |
No. 13 Todd Souza (Central Coast Racing) Start: 4th – Fin: 8th
Ups and downs during the race. Well qualified, occupied during the first part of the race a position in the top-three. He even managed to surprise the leader during a restart to lead the race for a lap before making two errors in a few laps, each time at Turn 7. Not to mention his blunder when he entered the wrong pitlane… In the end he finishes eighth. A good top 10? Not for Todd who hoped much better. But that’s only a postponement. This year, the No. 13 is getting closer and closer to a victory.
“Man it sure is frustrating but really everything has to go right and when we make mistakes it’s hard to recover. We had a few things go wrong and you just can’t when you’re battling such fast cars. The car got real tight, also. Probably because we had to push so hard on our tires when we went to the back. Anyway mistakes will always cost you.” Souza says.
Crew chief Michael Munoz having a similar speech: “Sonoma was good. We qualified fourth, lead a lap and finished eighth to move up to second in points. My team and driver worked hard the last couple weeks. With the rain in Portland and the heat in Sonoma they stayed focused the best they could to get through the last couple weeks for good results. We will continue to fight every week to get better and get this win!”
| Starts | Wins | Top5 | Top10 | Pole | Best result | At Sonoma |
| 102 | 1 | 15 | 55 | 0 | 1st (1x) | 14 starts, best result: 5th |
No. 16 Austin Herzog (Bill McAnally Racing) Start: 5th – Fin: 6th
This is a great way to make people forget about the Portland race. Trials here in May have paid off. A solid performance from the rookie who found the top-10 and at the same time the top-five in the championship. He was going to waste time in the pit box during the first caution to check for a potential suspension problem. Fortunately, the problem will soon be solved.
“We had a really good day. We qualified fifth yesterday so I knew we would have a stout car for today. Weather a little bit better today so we were better in the long runs. So proud of these BMR guys. It was a really good (day) for the points.”
It will be interesting to see him in Irwindale, we will be able to judge his real progress.
| Starts | Wins | Top5 | Top10 | Pole | Best result | At Sonoma |
| 6 | 0 | 1 | 5 | 0 | 3rd | 1 start, best result: 6th |
No. 17 Landen Lewis (McGowan Motorsports with Cook Racing Technologies) Start: 2nd – Fin: 14th
For a driver who was not expected to race, he almost got to repeat his Bakersfield performance. Replacing Carson Hocevar at the last minute, he was second in qualifying. He occupies the second position for a long time behind Drew. He took command of the race by opting for a late pit stop strategy. He led for seven laps.
Back in second position for the last laps, he was pushed by Colby Howard into the hairpin and collected Cole Moore. This will cause the last yellow flag and freeze the positions. It is therefore with a disappointing 14th position that the Sonoma race ends for him.
| Starts | Wins | Top5 | Top10 | Pole | Best result | At Sonoma |
| 2 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1st (1x) | 1 start, best result: 14th |
No. 21 Jack Wood (Bill McAnally Racing with GMS Racing) Start: 7th (to the rear) – Fin: 4th
Coming to race to better prepare for his NCWTS race, Wood fulfilled his mission perfectly. Well qualified, he had to start from the back following an engine change. Patiently, he will climb back into the top-10 avoiding all the problems. Accumulating seat time. The pileup causing the last yellow flag gave him a fourth place on a silver platter, his best career result.
| Starts | Wins | Top5 | Top10 | Pole | Best result | At Sonoma |
| 16 | 0 | 2 | 9 | 0 | 4th | 2 starts, best result: 7th |
No. 31 Paul Pedroncelli (P.J. Pedroncelli Racing) Start: 24th – Fin: 23rd Brakes
Officially it is a brake problem which is the cause of its final return to the garage after two laps. It is actually a new start and park. He hadn’t done a single lap during the practice/qualifying session. His crew chief being none other than Rodd Kneeland, who also had other concerns since he also was racing as a driver. It’s sad because here for his debut in the West Series last year, he had a good run at the door of the top-10.
| Starts | Wins | Top5 | Top10 | Pole | Best result | At Sonoma |
| 13 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 8th | 2 starts, best result: 13th |
No. 32 Dale Quarterley (Quarterley Racing) Start: 3rd – Fin: 3rd
Day and night with the Portland race where he had been unable to do anything because of an electrical problem. Here he was good from his first lap in practice until the checkered flag. The last accident allowing him to slip from fifth to third position. He largely beats his best Sonoma finish, 11th, acquired in 2011. This third position shows that at 61, he has lost none of his talent on the road track. His joy at the finish lit up his tired face due to the heat.
| Starts | Wins | Top5 | Top10 | Pole | Best result | At Sonoma |
| 11 | 0 | 2 | 7 | 0 | 2nd (1x) | 4 starts, best result: 3rd h |
No. 33 P.J. Pedroncelli (P.J. Pedroncelli Racing) Start: 8th – Fin: 16th Crash
The years go by but are not alike for P.J. Last year, he impressed everyone with his speed. This year, he accumulates disappointments. This is not due to a lack of performance. No, it’s just an accumulation of bad luck. He was aiming for a new top-10 when he was a collateral victim of Cole Moore who, on returning to the track after his accident with Lewis, paid absolutely no attention to the other drivers. Results? Four cars pile-up including poor P.J.
“What to say ? Some lose control.. We came into these two road course races with some big expectations and to tighten up the point lead. We had a fast car Friday in qualifying and got held up by a slow car on our qualifying run and not letting us show our speed. I was just riding trying to save tires all race. But I could tell we didn’t have the same car as we did the day before. I was struggling a bit. Probably a top-five at best. It’s still early in the season and we feel very confident we will be able to close the points back up.” P.J. explains to us.
But he sees the future positively: “We found a big issue wrong with our circle track car at Kern during practice and that was why we struggled at Phoenix and the first Irwindale race. After we found the problem the car came back to life and we sat on the pole at Kern. So we are excited to go back to Irwindale and get another pole and a much needed win.”
| Starts | Wins | Top5 | Top10 | Pole | Best result | At Sonoma |
| 27 | 1 | 6 | 9 | 2 | 1st (1x) | 4 starts, best result: 3rd |
No. 39 Andrew Tuttle (Last Chance Racing) Start: 22th – Fin: 13th
With a practice/qualifying session serving primarily to verify that Portland’s repairs were effective, Tuttle could not expect to play in the spotlight. After a spin in the 5th lap in the hairpin, he benefits from the free pass during the first yellow flag. From there his race will be solid with the car he had. Failing to go fast enough to claim the top-10, he avoided contact and finished in the leader’s lap, for the first time in his career, in 13th position.
He is satisfied given the circumstances and hopes to finally break into the top-10 at the next race in Irwindale: “It was a good race in Sonoma for sure. Still have a few issues with the car but working on getting them all worked out. Our spin early in the race was do to a hime that broke. So we had to adjust. And run what we had.
“The car was super loose the remainder of the race due to no sway bar but we managed. It was good to finally get to run Sonoma. I have made seven attempts of the years and this was the one that went through. We are getting some parts ordered and are already working on the car for Irwindale. Hope to bust into the top ten.”
| Starts | Wins | Top5 | Top10 | Pole | Best result | At Sonoma |
| 11 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 12th (1x) | 1 start, best result: 13th |
No. 40 Dean Thompson (Niece Motorsports) Start: 12th – Fin: 15th Crash
What to say? He was entering his first West race of the season in an effort to have seat time to prepare for his NCWTS race. Following a problem at the start of the race, when he was in eighth place, causing him to lose two laps on the leaders, Niece Motorsports managed to solve the problem. Obtaining two consecutive free passes, Thompson, once on the leader’s lap, made a good comeback in the top-10. Candidate for the top-five at the end of the race, he was also a collateral victim of Moore’s clumsiness.
Thompson perfectly summing up his race in one sentence: “Came back from two laps down just to get wrecked. Some people…”
| Starts | Wins | Top5 | Top10 | Pole | Best result | At Sonoma |
| 8 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 2nd | 2 starts, best result: 6th |
No. 52 Ryan Philpott (Philpott Racing) Start: 17th – Fin: 17th Crash
Qualified at the back of the field, Philpott used his knowledge of the track to make a good comeback in door of the top-10. He was 11th when he too met Cole Moore late in the race in the hairpin. Really unlucky, as he had gained lap after lap in speed.
| Starts | Wins | Top5 | Top10 | Pole | Best result | At Sonoma |
| 36 | 0 | 0 | 8 | 0 | 6th (1x) | 5 starts, best result: 9th |
No. 54 Joey Iest (Naake-Klauer Motorsports) Start: 10th – Fin: 5th
Quite the opposite of P.J. Pedroncelli in Sonoma this year for Iest. Last year, very fast, his engine had broken. This year, he made a correct qualification, nothing more, before very quickly entering the top-five. Having lost a few positions after his contact with Tanner Reif on the 30th lap, he moved up to sixth position. He managed to avoid the sinking cars in the hairpin and climbed into the top-five, his first of the season.
“This weekend we had a fast car. But too many cautions during the practice/qualifying sessions and we couldn’t have at least one clean lap. So we started the race in 10th place. We avoided the problems finished the race in fifth place with a car in good shape. Thanks to Mike Naake and the whole guys at Naake-Klauer Motorsports for all the hard work during the race.” Iest says.
Mike Naake can also finally breathe after a frustrating start to the season: “It was good we were very conservative a whole weekend due to how our luck has been going this year.”
| Starts | Wins | Top5 | Top10 | Pole | Best result | At Sonoma |
| 18 | 1 | 7 | 9 | 0 | 1st (1x) | 2 starts, best result : 5th |
No. 68 Rodd Kneeland (Rodd Racing) Start: 20th – Fin: 20th Crash
After the disappointment of last year when his car did not want to start. Kneeland seemed to finally have a car to break into the top-10. He was also fighting for this when he bickered with Bridget Burgess. By overtaking her in a muscular way in turn 7, he annoyed the young Australian who took revenge on the next bend by sending her into a spin. Unfortunately Kneeland was hit by Sebastian Arias. Both men having to give up.
It’s a frustrated Kneeland who explains: “I had the lane going into seven and cleared Bridget,” Kneeland said. “They went off track and came up on track. She doored banged me once and got sideways. First time, I handled it. Second time, I was fine. Then I felt the third time I was sideways. Sebastian t-boned me and never lifted off the throttle. That was the upsetting part. He didn’t caused the whole wreck, but he ended it. He should’ve just got off the throttle, so he didn’t push me off the track. It’s unfortunate because it’s the best car I’ve ever had at this track.”
| Starts | Wins | Top5 | Top10 | Pole | Best result | At Sonoma |
| 12 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 11th (1x) | 6 starts, best result : 14th |
No. 77 Nick Joanides (Performance P-1 Motorsports) Start: 23rd – Fin: 22nd Engine
For his first race in Sonoma since 2004 and his first in the West Series on this road track, Joanides will remember it… But not in the way he would have liked. Engine broken during his first lap in practice, he was able to start thanks to the enormous work done by a technician from Robert Yates Engines who came to help PP1M. Unfortunately the problem was going to repeat itself from the start of the race. The engine sputtered before going out on the eighth lap.
“Appears it was another engine issue but what exactly ? Not sure about the next race for me. Irwindale could be possible, but nothing is confirmed.” Joanides says.
| Starts | Wins | Top5 | Top10 | Pole | Best result | At Sonoma |
| 16 | 0 | 1 | 4 | 0 | 4th (1x) | 1 start, best result: 22nd |
No. 80 Brian Kamisky (Dereck Copeland Racing) Start: 14th – Fin: 24th Did not start
It all started well for Kamisky. He had the speed as demonstrated by his 14th time in the qualifying session. A time taken at the start of the session. He won’t be able to make another quick lap. Because shortly after his engine broke. Having no backup engine, they tried everything to fix it but in vain. No other possibility for the team led by Derek Copeland than to store the car in the hauler before the start of the race.
| Starts | Wins | Top5 | Top10 | Pole | Best result | At Sonoma |
| 6 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 8th | 1 start, best result: 16th |
No. 85 Vince Little (Last Chance Racing) Start: 21st – Fin: 11th
Little didn’t have an easy start to the weekend, never finding speed in a car originally made for short tracks. His knowledge of the track, a free pass and the fact that he was sailing far from the others and therefore avoiding contact, enabled him to finish the race in a flattering 11th position in the lead lap. His best career result.
| Starts | Wins | Top5 | Top10 | Pole | Best result | At Sonoma |
| 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 11th (1x) | 1 start, best result : 11th |
No. 86 Tim Spurgeon (David Racing with Nascimento) Start: 15th – Fin: 9th
A discreet but very solid race. With a car neither among the fastest nor among the slowest, Spurgeon was able to make his way and take advantage of the last pile-up in the hairpin to gain five positions and obtain his best result in Sonoma with ninth position. His first top-10 here and his third in career. Here is an underdog happy with his weekend. And it’s deserved for this road ringer who for eleven years now has regularly come to try his luck on the road tracks of the West Series.
| Starts | Wins | Top5 | Top10 | Pole | Best result | At Sonoma |
| 17 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 6th (1x) | 9 starts, best result: 9th |
No. 88 Bridget Burgess (BMI Racing) Start: 18th – Fin: 10th
And another top-10 for Bridget on a road course, her third on this type of track and her second in a row at Sonoma. However, she had a difficult race. Far from showing her usual speed on the road track, she had to take the start from the end of the pack. Due to the impossibility for her to have a clear lap in the qualifying session. Gaining positions from the start, she was approaching the top-10 when she met Kneeland for a muscular “discussion”. Brake problems will then slow her down in the second part of the race. Finally she obtained the 10th position thanks to the accident at the end of the race which involved six cars.
Burgess saying: “It’s been a tough weekend, we struggled in practice/qualifying, but the team and I had a plan to get through the race and I’m happy that we were able to achieve a top ten finish.”
| Starts | Wins | Top5 | Top10 | Pole | Best result | At Sonoma |
| 25 | 0 | 0 | 7 | 0 | 7th (2x) | 2 starts, best result: 8th |
No. 91 Colby Howard (Bill McAnally Racing) Start: 11th – Fin: 2nd
For his first career race in the West Series and at Sonoma, Howard almost handed Bill McAnally Racing the victory the team has been desperately seeking on the California road track since 1995. His main objective was to obtain this precious seat time to prepare for his NCWTS race. But he gradually gained momentum during the race to find himself in third position on the 50th lap.
Alas, he attempted a hazardous overtaking on Landen Lewis in the hairpin. The contact sending Lewis’ car into that of Moore, Howard’s teammate. The rest we know. Pile-up and end of race under yellow flag. Howard has no regrets about causing the accident.
He just regrets that the race has not been restarted: “We had a really fast Gates Hydraulics car. I am disappointed we did not get to finish the race. We saved our tires at the end of the race and were ready to make a move to win.”
| Starts | Wins | Top5 | Top10 | Pole | Best result | At Sonoma |
| 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 2nd (1x) | 1 start, best result: 2nd |
No. 99 Cole Moore (Bill McAnally Racing) Start: 16th – Fin: 12th
Problems during practice/qualifying sessions with a dying engine. Only 16th, he was even going to start the race even further following an engine change. Very fast on the track, he rode as fast as Jake Drew, the winner. He will even be one of Drew’s toughest opponents for a good part of the race. Seeming faster at the end of the stroke with his tires. He attempted several attacks on the championship leader but was unable to complete the overtaking. Back down to third position, he saw his teammate Howard hit Lewis in the hairpin on the 50th lap. Moore being spun by Lewis’s spinning car.
But as Bill McAnally says: “Cole could have taken the win but lost his cool..” The result is the pile up and for Moore a big loss of points in the championship.
| Starts | Wins | Top5 | Top10 | Pole | Best result | At Sonoma |
| 22 | 0 | 6 | 12 | 0 | 2nd | 2starts, best result: 4th |
Next race July 2, 2022 for the second race of the year at Irwindale Speedway, CA.
Featured Photo Credit: Photo Courtesy of Luis Torres via Vincent Delforge.