By Vincent Delforge, Staff Writer
AVONDALE, Ariz. – This Saturday, November 1, the 12th and final race of the 2025 ARCA Menards West Series season, the Desert Diamond Casino West Valley 100, at Phoenix Raceway in Avondale, Arizona, was won by Joe Gibbs Racing driver Brent Crews. He completed a clean sweep on the one-mile oval, having already won the race held here in March. He completely dominated, being the fastest during practice, securing pole position, and leading every lap of the race! He even set the fastest lap. In short, he left nothing for the other drivers.
But the other big winner in Phoenix is none other than Trevor Huddleston. The 29-year-old driver from Agoura Hills, California, clinched his first West Series championship title. He dominated this season, winning four races, achieving 10 top-five finishes, 11 top-ten finishes, and leading 503 of the 1497 laps across the 12 races on the calendar. He took the lead in the driver standings by winning the first race of the season and never relinquished it. Huddleston is the 42nd champion in the 72-season history of the West Series.
This is also the first championship won by High Point Racing, the team managed by his father, Tim. As surprising as it may seem, it is also the first championship won by Jeff Schrader, one of the most successful crew chiefs in West Series history. It should be noted that High Point Racing uses chassis from the former multi-championship winning team Bruncati Sunrise Ford Racing and that the only engine used during the season was prepared by Robert Yates Racing Engines.
Let’s also mention that Robbie Kennealy won the Rookie of the Year title after a season of continuous progress with his crew chief Chris Greany within the Jan’s Racing team, managed by Jan Qualkenbush.
It’s time to take a closer look at this final race of the season.
ARCA West Practice/Qualifying
Brent Crews dominated both practice and qualifying, securing his first career pole position. He edged out rookie Tristan McKee (Spire Motorsports) by 204 thousandths of a second. Taylor Reimer (Nitro Motorsports) and Carson Brown (Pinnacle Racing Group) will share the second row. Notably, Jade Avedisian qualified a strong sixth in her first race with Central Coast Racing. Huddleston qualified 14th, and 2019 champion Derek Kraus was 16th in the second Shockwave Racing car. Two drivers, Chase Howard (Rise Motorsports) and Shane Backes (Maples Motorsports), did not participate in the qualifying session.
Green Green Green !!!
From the start, Brent Crews managed to maintain the lead ahead of young Tristan McKee. Coming out of turn 2, Jade Avedisian made a rookie mistake by going too wide and hitting the outside wall. She dropped down the order and continued the race with a car whose handling was compromised. It should be noted that Cody Dennison started last due to unapproved adjustments and that Michael Maples did not start due to an engine failure.
On the second lap, Crews set a time of 28.088 seconds. This would be the fastest lap of the race. He began to pull away from his pursuers.
After 10 laps, Crews led by 1.170 seconds over McKee. The latter put up a good fight, as on lap 20 he was still only 1.154 seconds behind Crews. The gap remained stable, but McKee lost time in traffic with the backmarkers. And on lap 30, he was now 3.587 seconds behind the leader.
The top 10 on lap 30 was as follows: Brent Crews leading ahead of Tristan McKee, Carson Brown, Connor Hall, Thomas Annunziata, Leland Honeyman, Taylor Reimer, Isabella Robusto, Robbie Kennealy, and Thad Moffitt. Trevor Huddleston was 11th and Derek Kraus was the last driver on the lead lap in 15th position.
Midway race
On lap 50, Crews was still leading ahead of McKee. There hadn’t been much change except that Honeyman had taken 5th position from Annunziata and Robusto had slipped out of the top 10 to 11th position. Jake Finch, in 12th place, was the first driver a lap down from the leader and he received the free pass during the first yellow flag, waved to signal the midway break on lap 51. The drivers and their teams had five minutes to make adjustments.
The complete standings for the restart on lap 56 were as follows, with Brent Crews leading ahead of Tristan McKee, Carson Brown, Connor Hall, Leland Honeyman, Thomas Annunziata, Taylor Reimer, Robbie Kennealy, Thad Moffitt and Trevor Huddleston in the top 10. Following them were Isabella Robusto, Jake Finch, Kyle Keller (-1 lap), Gavin Ray (-1), Derek Kraus (-1), Monty Tipton (-1), Blake Lothian (-1), Eric Johnson, Jr. (-1), Kaylee Bryson (-1), Andrew Chapman (-1), Jade Avedisian (-1), Cody Dennison (-1), Chase Howard (-2), Shane Backes (-3), David Smith (-4) and Michael Maples (DNS).
Unsurprisingly, Crews maintained the lead, but behind him, McKee was overtaken by Carson Brown. Taylor Reimer and Robbie Kennealy made contact entering turn 3, and Reimer lost several positions, dropping out of the top 10.
Crews’ dominant run continued, and he gradually extended his lead over his pursuers. Brown, in second place, was 1.858 seconds behind on lap 70 and then 3.618 seconds behind on lap 80. It’s worth noting that Kennealy was steadily moving up the standings and was now in seventh position.
Johnson, Jr. spun out
It seemed like the race was heading towards a calm finish as the gaps between each driver were significant, but on lap 86, Eric Johnson, Jr. spun out between turns 1 and 2, causing the second yellow flag of the race. Taylor Reimer, in 12th place, received the free pass. She took advantage of it to go back to her pit box for some adjustments. Jade Avedisian did the same but was penalized for speeding in the pit lane and would restart at the back of the pack in 22nd position.
On lap 93, the restart took place, and Crews didn’t let himself be distracted, maintaining the lead. Behind him, Connor Hall completely messed up his restart and lost several positions. On the other hand, Annunziata got off to a good start and passed McKee for third place. Kennealy got rid of Moffitt and moved up to sixth place. Kyle Keller also had a difficult restart and lost three positions, from 13th to 16th.
Brent Crews crossed the finish line as the winner, his second career victory. He finished 521 thousandths of a second ahead of Carson Brown. Thomas Annunziata, Tristan McKee, and Leland Honeyman completed the top 5. The drivers from 6th to 10th position were Robbie Kennealy, Connor Hall, Thad Moffitt, Jake Finch, and Trevor Huddleston.
Two drivers put on a show on the track. Crews for the victory and Huddleston did a huge burnout with his championship flag to the delight of the crowd.
“It helps when you have a super fast Mobil 1 Toyota Camry. That was a blast to drive all day. [We were] loose all day, and it’s been super slimy, but these guys never stopped working on this thing. We were able to be fastest in practice, [get] the pole and lead all the laps. It’s an honor to be here. Having my dad here was cool, but Coach [Joe Gibbs] in Victory Lane for the first time is a new one for me.” Crew said on Victory Lane.
The 2025 champion, Trevor Huddleston, is emotional and can finally let his joy burst forth.
“Now it’s real. Before it was just a word; now that I did the burnout, it solidifies it. I kept true to my word. I said I was going to annihilate the tires. They’re gone, I don’t know where they are. Everybody who was part of this group (makes this) so special. I can’t explain how much this means to us and our team. “There’s going to be a lot of beer drank and a lot of partying,” Huddleston said.
In the championship, Trevor Huddleston finished the season with 650 points, ahead of Kyle Keller (610), Robbie Kennealy (604), Eric Johnson, Jr. (577) and Blake Lothian (535).
The 2026 ARCA Menards West Series schedule is expected to be officially unveiled later in November.
