By Vincent Delforge, Special to Kickin’ the Tires
The second race of the ARCA Menards West Series season, the West Coast Stock Car Motorsports Hall of Fame 150, ended with rookie Sean Hingorani winning, his first of his career. At the same time, he offers his team, Venturini Motorsports, its first victory in the West Series.
Landen Lewis finished second as in Phoenix and Tyler Reif, by climbing on the third step of the podium, retained the championship leadership.
For a complete recap of the race, I invite you to read the article « Race review » available here: www.kickinthetires.net/nascar/arca-menards-west-2023-irwindale-review/
Complete race results: www.racing-reference.info/race-results/2023-02/AW/
Driver & owner point standings: www.racing-reference.info/standings/2023/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
-70th season in history.
-Race number 1006 since the inception of the West Series in 1954.
-2023 race number 2 of 12.
-Race number 33 at Irwindale Speedway since 1999.
–Win No. 9 for Toyota at Irwindale. Chevrolet leads the dance with 15 wins ahead of Toyota (9), Ford (8) and Dodge (1).
-76th win for Toyota in West Series
-First win for owner Bill Venturini.
-Win No. 1 for Venturini Motorsports team. The all-time most successful owners in history are Bill McAnally (99), Fred Elder (45), Bob Bruncati (42) and Ernie Conn (41).
–Win No. 1 for Venturni Motorsports at Irwindale. The most successful team is Bill McAnally Racing with 16 wins. Bruncati Sunrise Ford Racing follows with 6 wins.
-First career win for Sean Hingorani (seventh career start). Austin Cameron is the most successful pilot at Irwindale with five wins. In all, 19 different drivers have won at least one race.
-Sean Hingorani is the 19th different winner at Irwindale.
-Sean Hingorani is the 204th race winner in history.
-11th pole position for Ford at Irwindale. Among the manufacturers, Chevrolet leads with 12 poles ahead of Ford (11), Toyota (7), Dodge (2) and Pontiac (1).
-13th time in 33 races the poleman wins at Irwindale.
-First career pole position for Trevor Huddleston in his 55th career start.
-Trevor Huddleston is the 204th pole winner in history.
-First pole for High Point Racing at Irwindale. Bill McAnally Racing is the most successful teams with nine. Bruncati Sunrise Ford Racing follows with six.
-First pole for High Point Racing in West Series
-Best career result in West Series for Sean Hingorani (Win), David Smith (10th), Jake Bollman (12th), Ethan Nascimento (13th),
-First top-five in career in West Series for Sean Hingorani.
-First top-10 in career in West Series for Sean Hingorani and David Smith.
-First career start in West Series: (1) Jake Bollman
-Fourth win for the No. 15 in history.
-Ninth pole for the No. 50 in history.
-Third career win for crew chief Kevin Reed, Jr.
-27th career pole for crew chief Jeff Schrader, the second at Irwindale.
-250th pole for Ford in West Series.
-673rd paved oval race in history.
The Drivers
No. 04 Ethan Nascimento (Nascimento-Joiner Motorsports) Start: 9th – Fin: 13th Power steering
After a good qualifying session, the problems for Ethan started from the first laps. On the fourth lap, he returned to the garage to try to repair his power steering and lost 40 laps… Once back on track, he had an excellent pace and managed to keep up with the fastest cars. But the lost time was impossible to make up for… Despite everything, this race will be useful to him in his learning.
| Starts | Wins | Top5 | Top10 | Pole | Best result | At Irwindale |
| 2 | – | – | – | – | 13th | 1 start, best result : 13th |
No. 05 Dave Smith (Shockwave Racing) Start: 14th – Fin: 10th
Opting for a cautious strategy, everything was going well until the restart of the 97th lap. A pile-up of four cars following the breakage of Eric Nascimento’s transmission just in front of him. The Toyota No. 05 was badly damaged but it was able to get back on the track. Which ultimately allows our Canadian veteran to get his first career top10.
“We went for the long bomb to keep tires on but with all the cautions at the end it wasn’t what we needed. Learned a ton and I think the other teams have learned to trust me. The restart accident was just one of those deals. I think a car ahead missed a shift and we got hit pretty hard.” Smith said.
| Starts | Wins | Top5 | Top10 | Pole | Best result | At Irwindale |
| 6 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 10th | 1 start, best result : 10th |
No. 4 Eric Nascimento (Nascimento-Joiner Motorsports) Start: 10th – Fin: 14th Transmission
14th in Phoenix and 14th in Irwindale. But Bubba aimed higher. Indeed he rode easily for a top10. He was in ninth position during the restart or his transmission broke. Hit from behind by Smith and Joanides, the driver of #4 was forced to retire.
“The car was just missing something all weekend on the setup we will get her fixed up and get ready for kern. The car isn’t too bad just all cosmetic damage.” Eric said. “Other than the transmission broke.” adds Mike Nascimento.
Good news then, the car will be ready for the next race at Kern.
| Starts | Wins | Top5 | Top10 | Pole | Best result | At Irwindale |
| 10 | 0 | 1 | 3 | 0 | 5th (1x) | 2 starts, best result: 9th |
No. 7 Takuma Koga (Jerry Pitts Racing) Start: 13th – Fin: 7th
New top-10 at Irwindale for the Japanese driver. But this time he is heroic! Indeed, from the start, Koga’s power steering stopped working. Forcing the driver of Toyota No. 7 to draw on all his physical resources to go to the end of the race.
But his team preferred to leave him on the track than to try to repair it. Which would have made him waste too much time. By benefiting twice from the free pass, he was able to stay close to the top 10 and following the DNFs of Nascimento, Smotherman and Bollman was able to climb to seventh position.
“I’m so tired! But also frustrated with the broken power steering. We could have done much better. Onto Kern” sums up Koga about his race.
| Starts | Wins | Top5 | Top10 | Pole | Best result | At Irwindale |
| 103 | 0 | 4 | 21 | 0 | 5th (4x) | 15 starts, best result : 7th |
No. 13 Todd Souza (Central Coast Racing) Start: 11th – Fin; 11th
It’s been a long time since Souza has gone two consecutive races without a top-10. The fault of an accident for which he is not responsible. Passing Huddleston on the outside on lap 112, he found himself in the middle between the latter and Bollman on the outside line.
Huddleston hit him in the left rear, throwing the No. 13 Ford off balance. But enough to send it to contact of the No. 55. This shock broke the right front suspension. Despite repairs, the time lost took away all hope of top-10.
“The car was fast we were just saving our tires for the last 50 laps then we made a move and got collected in a crash that bent the right front suspension. We can’t catch a break this year but the cars are fast and we will continue to fight and never give up because thats what CCR is about.” Michael Munoz (crew chief) said.
| Starts | Wins | Top5 | Top10 | Pole | Best result | At Irwindale |
| 110 | 1 | 19 | 61 | 0 | 1st (1x) | 13 starts, best result : 7th (3x) |
No. 15 Sean Hingorani (Venturini Motorsports) Start: 3rd – Fin: 1st
After the disappointment of Phoenix, what better than a victory to restore confidence. Fast throughout the race, Hingorani was patient when needed and incisive when needed. He managed the last restart perfectly and was able to build a nice gap on his pursuers. This first victory will surely not be the last. And he showed that he was in excellent physical shape by climbing the fence and doing a few pull-ups in front of the grandstands!
| Starts | Wins | Top5 | Top10 | Pole | Best result | At Irwindale |
| 7 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1st | 1 start, best result : 1st |
No. 16 Tanner Reif (Bill McAnally Racing) Start: 5th – Fin: 5th
Last year he outrageously dominated the race when he was a rookie. This year it was more difficult. Tanner spent most of his race battling between seventh and eighth against his little brother Tyler. The last restarts will give him the opportunity to gain a few positions.
“We were a little off tonight, but we still managed a top five. It’s a step in the right direction, so we’ll go back to work and try to improve on our package before we head to Kern in a couple weeks. Thanks to my NAPA guys for all their hard work this weekend.” Tanner said.
Fifth is not a bad result but at BMR it is not enough to make the boss smile.“We have had better and unfortunately worse. Need to get our effort performing better and we will.” Bill McAnally (owner) said.
| Starts | Wins | Top5 | Top10 | Pole | Best result | At Irwindale |
| 13 | 2 | 5 | 10 | 2 | 1st (2x) | 3 starts, best result: 1st |
No. 17 Landen Lewis (McGowan Motorsports with Cook Racing Technologies) Start: 4th – Fin: 2nd
Two corners too many in Phoenix to win the race, this time it was 17 laps too many. Lewis was the leader of the race when the last yellow flag was waved following the accident between Tyler Reif and Bradley Erickson.
Though he couldn’t hold Hingorani off of the lead, he scored his his second consecutive top-two finish and is second in the championship, two points behind the leader. In a coincidence, Lewis lost the lead with 17 laps to go while driving the No. 17, and is second in the championship after finishing runner-up.
| Starts | Wins | Top5 | Top10 | Pole | Best result | At Irwindale |
| 10 | 1 | 5 | 8 | 0 | 1st (1x) | 2 starts, best result : 2nd |
No. 22 Ryan Roulette (Triple R) Withdraw
| Starts | Wins | Top5 | Top10 | Pole | Best result | At Irwindale |
| 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 22nd | N/A |
No. 27 Bobby Hillis, Jr. (Fierce Creature Racing) Start: 16th – Fin: 9th
A fine race for the veteran who, by adopting a cautious strategy, was rewarded for his efforts with ninth position. But he knows he could do better.
“Had a pretty good run with a 9th place finish. Car was good and solid all race long however I did lose the brakes for about 20 laps before the first caution. Running down low and trying to keep up the pace use’s a lot more brakes and they just faded but came back after the first caution. I also moved back up the track after that which helped out with the speed and the brakes as well.
“Overall a good weekend and a good result but I need to figure out how to pick up the pace early on so I don’t loose so much ground. If I could just learn how to run faster at the beginning and still keep the car out of trouble we’d be in a lot better shape at the end.” sums up Hillis.
He had for the first time Tony Huffman as crew chief. The latter will also be there in Kern.
| Starts | Wins | Top5 | Top10 | Pole | Best result | At Irwindale |
| 93 | 0 | 0 | 8 | 0 | 8th (1x) | 13 starts, best result : 9th |
No. 41 Tyler Reif (Lowden Jackson Motorsports) Start: 7th – Fin: 3rd
Disappointed with his seventh position in the qualifying session, Tyler will fight for a long time with his brother to keep this position. It was only after the halfway point that he gradually moved up the rankings. He will fight with the cars of High Point Racing and CCR to break into the top five.
An incident with Erickson at the end of the race for third position could have cost him dearly but even if he lost a position, he was going to take advantage of a better pace in the closing laps to take back this third position from Huddleston. Enough to maintain championship leadership.
“Good weekend but not the one we wanted. Struggled super bad Friday night (note: in the open practice) causing us only having half the practice, started of Saturday being first car out and before took the green broke a right front ball joint causing me to miss most of that practice to ended up P7 in qualyfing. Drove it up to P3 at the end good points night but wanted the win but that’s part of the up’s in downs in racing.” Tyler explains to us.
“41 rolled out of trailer.. and man… was totally opposite of how we tested a few weeks prior… Found the problem after Friday night practice, got ready for Saturdays hour practice, rolls on track… just as a ball joint failed unbelievable, got the last 30 minutes to get it as close as we could… Given all that, Tyler did a heroic job piloting to third!” explains Chris Lowden (owner) to us.
| Starts | Wins | Top5 | Top10 | Pole | Best result | At Irwindale |
| 4 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 1st | 1 start, best result : 3rd |
No. 46 RJ Smotherman (Lowden Jackson Motorsports) Start: 12th – Fin: 15th Crash
If there is one unlucky driver at the start of the season, it is Smotherman. Mechanical problem in Phoenix and here too he had to fight with his car. He was racing for a top10 when he couldn’t do anything during the restart of the 97th lap. Crushing the front of his Ford into Joanides’ rear bumper resulted in DNF. But the car will be repaired for Kern. RJ in addition to driving, also works at the raceshop on the car between races.
“Really rough weekend. Started out Friday practice by making a rookie mistake getting too high and in the dirt putting it in the wall. That set us behind but we bounced back and made great gains on Saturday. Qualified 12th was running around the top 10. Car wasn’t too bad during the race just needed a little more drive off so we came in and made an adjustment before the accident.
But we got tangled up in an incident on a restart causing a DNF. Sucks how it panned out hate it for the team we all work so hard and have zero luck. Car is pretty tore up not sure if we will be running this one in Kern or not. But we are all back at work to get this car ready for Kern in a few weeks.” Smotherman said.
Chris Lowden, the owner says:
“RJ struggled a bit, really has NO experience on this track, came in for an adjustment during the first caution and unfortunately ended up behind a car that lost its transmission on restart and poor RJ had no where to go…. We regroup and hit Kern!”
| Starts | Wins | Top5 | Top10 | Pole | Best result | At Irwindale |
| 6 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 7th | 1 start, best result : 15th |
No. 50 Trevor Huddleston (High Point Racing) Start: 1st – Fin: 4th
Huddleston was the polesitter and solid leader for almost the first half of the race. However the wear of his tires seemed more than Lewis and Hingorani. After losing the lead, he remained in the top five for a long time after tough battles with Erickson Souza and his teammate Bollman. An accident with Souza will cause the DNF of Bollman.
He was heading for a top-five when he had another opportunity to get back on the podium with the accident between Erickson and Tyler Reif. But the latter managed to steal third position from him during the last laps. In the end a good result but Trevor could have hoped for much better.
| Starts | Wins | Top5 | Top10 | Pole | Best result | At Irwindale |
| 55 | 2 | 20 | 47 | 1 | 1st (2x) | 8 starts, best result : 1st |
No. 55 Jake Bollman (High Point Racing) Start: 6th – Fin: 12th Crash
For his first career race in the ARCA Menards West Series, Bollman ran well. He stayed at the door of the top-five with ease. However, he was the unfortunate victim of contact between his teammate Huddleston, and Todd Souza. Sent into a spun, Bollman crushed the front of his Ford #55 against the wall at Turn 2.
| Starts | Wins | Top5 | Top10 | Pole | Best result | At Irwindale | ||
| 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 12th | 1 start, best result : 12th | ||
No. 70 Kyle Keller (Jerry Pitts Racing) Start: 8th – Fin: 6th
Curiously Keller seemed a step below what he had shown at Irwindale in the past. Blame it on the wrong direction taken to set up his car Friday during the open practice. Stuck in 10th position for nearly 90 laps. He benefitted from a free pass at the right time.
Then he was able to gain several positions and finished sixth. This sixth position allows him to stay in the game for the championship where he is in fifth position just 11 points from the leader.
“I was super loose from the drop of the green flag. Just missed the setup in the race! Tried to pit to help it but just couldn’t keep the car stable. A good points day and we will be better at the next one!”Keller said.
| Starts | Wins | Top5 | Top10 | Pole | Best result | At Irwindale |
| 12 | 0 | 6 | 9 | 0 | 4th (3x) | 2 starts, best result: 4th |
No. 77 Nick Joanides (Performance P-1 Motorsports) Start: 15th – Fin: 16th Crash
Nowhere to go. This is how to sum up the misadventure of Joanides during the restart of the 97th lap. Car badly damaged, impossible to continue. The race so far was going well even though it was out of the top-10.
“Probably a fitting end to what was a frustrating day. Friday night, we seemed to have the car pretty decent to solidly be in the top10. Track apparently changed a ton from the cold on Friday night to warmer Saturday weather as the car was just plowing tight. Our only advantage was that it was very consistent.
“We started off about a second off the pace, but by lap 80, our lap time were within 2 to 3 tenths of the leaders. So, if we could have just survived, would have ended up with solid finish. Unfortunately, with ARCA being the last series I know of that still runs solid rear spoilers, drivers simply can’t see anything beyond the spoiler/bumper of the car in front.
“When someone misses a shift or breaks, we have absolutely no warning of it and were just unfortunate to be in the lane where a car broke or missed a gear, which ended our night along with two others. Hopefully a change ARCA will consider making.” explains Joanides to us in detail.
Joe Nava, the owner, says:
“We had a good car Friday night in open practice. Saturday the car was completely different. Our crew chief (Dean Kuhn) worked as hard as he could.”
Regarding the condition of the car he tells us: “Once the car stripped of its body, it is not as bad as I thought.” The team should therefore be present at Kern.
| Starts | Wins | Top5 | Top10 | Pole | Best result | At Irwindale |
| 20 | 0 | 1 | 5 | 0 | 4th | 6 starts, best result: 9th |
No. 83 Jalen Mack (Mack Motorsports) Witdraw
| Starts | Wins | Top5 | Top10 | Pole | Best result | At Irwindale |
| 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | n/a | n/a |
No. 88 Bradley Erickson (Naake-Klauer Motorsports) Start: 2nd – Fin: 8th
On a short track that he knows well, Erickson showed his advantage by being among the fastest during all the practice and qualifying sessions. He aimed for third position when contact with Tyler Reif sent Erickson spinning.
The rear of the No. 88 Ford was badly damaged against the wall at Turn 3. But the team repaired to aim for a top-10 finish and the car was fast enough late in the race to pass Hillis for eighth position. This allows Erickson not to lose too many points in the championship where he is fourth, 11-points behind the leader.
“Disappointing end to a great weekend at Irwindale Speedway. Started out well with being the fastest in practice, qualifying 2nd, running inside the top 4 the entire race until contact with another car sent me into the wall while running 3rd. Luckily I was able to continue and finish 8th.
“The car felt good on long runs but on short runs we struggled, as far as the damage it knocked the toe out quite a bit, had a flat tire with about five to go causing us to go four laps down. Hopefully the car isn’t too damaged to where the clip is bent.Thank you to everyone who has made this possible. We’ll try again at Kern County Raceway in a few weeks.” Erickson said.
His crew chief Tony Caputo adding:
“We had a really great car all weekend. We saved early in the race. Rode the top early. Then made a solid run to the front. We got to third and at Irwindale you get what you can in the first 3 laps after a restart. So you have to press hard. Well made a misjudgement and it ended our run for the front. Finished eighth but car was good. Bradley was awesome. He is always superfast at Irwindale. On to Kern. Another track where we have had success.”
| Starts | Wins | Top5 | Top10 | Pole | Best result | At Irwindale |
| 6 | 0 | 1 | 3 | 0 | 3rd | 2 starts, best result : 8th |
Next race April 22 at Kern County Raceway Park in Bakersfield, CA for another 150 lap race, the NAPA Auto Parts BlueDEF 150.