By Vincent Delforge, Special to Kickin’ the Tires
The sixth race of the ARCA Menards West Series season, the NAPA Auto Parts BlueDEF 150 presented by West Coast Stock Car Hall of Fame, ended with victory for local hero Trevor Huddleston. At the same time, he offered the first victory to the High Point Racing family team led by his father Tim.
In addition, Huddleston reduced its championship points deficit as the top three in the championship (Lewis, Hingorani and Erickson) all suffered problems at the California half-mile of the Irwindale Speedway.
The first half of the 2023 season is over. There are six races left for the drivers to decide and see one of them win the championship.
The top-five in the championship being the following: Landen Lewis (291 points), Sean Hingorani (-14), Bradley Erickson (-19), Tyler Reif (-21), Trevor Huddleston (-26)
For a complete recap of the race, I invite you to read the article « Race review » available here:
www.kickinthetires.net/nascar/arca-series/arca-menards-west-series-2023-irwindale-ii-race-review/
Complete race results: www.racing-reference.info/race-results/2023-06/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 No. 1010 since the inception of the West Series in 1954.
-2023 race No. 6 of 12.
-Race No. 34 at Irwindale Speedway since 1999.
–Win No. 9 for Ford at Irwindale. Chevrolet leads the dance with 15 wins ahead of Toyota (9), Ford (9) and Dodge (1).
-289th win for Ford in West Series
-First win for owner Tim Huddleston.
-Win No. 1 for High Point Racing 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 High Point Racing at Irwindale. The most successful team is Bill McAnally Racing with 16 wins. Bruncati Sunrise Ford Racing follows with six wins.
-Third career win for Trevor Huddleston (59th career start) and the second at Irwindale. Austin Cameron is the most successful driver at Irwindale with five wins. In all, 19 different drivers have won at least one race.
-Eighth pole position for Toyota at Irwindale. Among the manufacturers, Chevrolet leads with 12 poles ahead of Ford (11), Toyota (8), Dodge (2) and Pontiac (1).
-Third time in 34 races the driver who started in 4th position wins at Irwindale. Brendan Gaughan in 2001 and Trevor Huddleston in 2019 and this year.
-First career pole position for Sean Hingorani in his 11th career start.
-Sean Hingorani is the 207th pole winner in history.
-First pole for Venturini Motorsports at Irwindale. Bill McAnally Racing is the most successful teams with nine. Bruncati Sunrise Ford Racing follows with six.
-First pole for Venturini Motorsports in West Series
-First career start for Robbie Kennealy
-Best career result in West Series for Eric Nascimento, Jr. (Second) and Robbie Kennealy (Fifth)
-First top-five in career in West Series for Robbie Kennealy (Fifth).
-First top-10 in career in West Series for Robbie Kennealy (Fifth).
-Ninth win for the No. 50 in history.
-Fourth pole for the No. 15 in history.
-20th career win for crew chief Jeff Schrader. The second at Irwindake after 2022 with Tanner Reif.
-4th career pole for crew chief Kevin Reed, Jr. The second at Irwindale after 2019 with Hailie Deegan.
-71st pole for Toyota in West Series.
-675th paved oval race in history.
-Record for the lowest number of yellow flags at Irwindale with only one. The previous record being two (2002 and 2017).
-Record for the lowest number of laps under yellow flag with seven. The previous record being 10 (2017).
-Record for the fewest cars to start a race at Irwindale with 15. Tied with the March 2022 race.
The Drivers
No. 05 Dave Smith (Shockwave Racing) Start: 15th – fin: 11th rear end
No top-10 this time at Irwindale for the Canadian veteran. The fault of a mechanical breakage. He had, however, increased his running pace towards the middle of the race. His strategy of caution was not rewarded. Too bad because given the number of retirements, he could have entered the top 10 like last April.
“Not our best day.After the longest ever green flag run we had our first caution at about lap 90. John our spotter got us going faster and faster. Minding our own business. Then I couldn’t figure out why we where getting slower and slower. The answer was a burnt out rear end.” Smtih Said.
| Starts | Wins | Top5 | Top10 | Pole | Best result | At Irwindale |
| 10 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 10th | 2 starts, best result : 10th |
No. 1 Robbie Kennealy (Kyle Keller Racing) Start: 13th – Fin: 5th
First race in the West Series. First race at Irwindale. The newcomer rode a mature race. After quickly entering the top 10 in the first laps, he will benefit from the free pass a few moments after losing a lap to the leader Huddleston. It couldn’t have happened better. He then proved to be very effective in the last thirty laps with worn tires and grabbed several positions to finally take the checkered flag in an excellent fifth position.
He was using a car that had already proven to perform well at Irwindale with Dean Thompson (pole and second in the first race of 2021) and Ryan Partridge (fifth in the second race here in 2021). But having a good car is good. Knowing how to use it is another story. And Kennealy has demonstrated talent.
“What an awesome weekend. First time in an ARCA car and first time at Irwindale Speedway and we brought it home 5th. Learned as the night went on, saved lots of tires, and when we needed to go at the end we went and brought it home.
“Absolutely speechless to be given the opportunity. Never thought I’d be able to race in Arca let alone bring it home top5 in our first outing. Massive thanks to the entire Kyle Keller Racing and 3K Motorsports team. We worked our tails off and the results showed. Can’t wait for the next one.” Kennealy said.
We should see him again on the Bullring in Las Vegas as well as on his hometrack in Madera. But if the budget allows, he could do other races.
| Starts | Wins | Top5 | Top10 | Pole | Best result | At Irwindale |
| 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 5th | 1 start, best result : 5th |
No. 4 Eric Nascimento (Nascimento-Joiner Motorsports) Start: 8th – Fin: 2nd
Finally, after multiple issues this season it’s a bit of a deliverance for Bubba! Terribly unlucky since the beginning of the season following countless mechanical problems, the eldest of the Nascimento brothers finally knows success. And unsurprisingly, he was a top-five contender throughout the race.
He even had the opportunity to fight for the victory against Huddleston. But this second position will be a boost for his confidence. And everyone is warned. If the mechanics hold up, we will have to count on the No. 4 for victory. Note that he obtained his best result in his career.
“Irwindale Speedway didn’t disappoint, had good speed all day just missed qualifying a little bit but charged our way forward and finally got a good finish and got that monkey off our back. Great second place finish. Hopefully we keep this momentum onto Shasta in a couple weeks. Can’t thank everyone involved with such a great organization.” Eric Nascimento, Jr. said.
| Starts | Wins | Top5 | Top10 | Pole | Best result | At Irwindale |
| 14 | 0 | 2 | 4 | 0 | 2nd (1x) | 3 starts, best result: 2nd |
No. 7 Takuma Koga (Jerry Pitts Racing) Start: 14th – Fin: 10th
Discreet race for Koga. He had a car that was too tight to hope for better than 10th position. And again he had to benefit from the retirements of other pilots to obtain this result. The 2023 season is complicated for the Japanese driver. But as always Takuma won’t let go.
| Starts | Wins | Top5 | Top10 | Pole | Best result | At Irwindale |
| 107 | 0 | 4 | 23 | 0 | 5th (4x) | 16 starts, best result : 7th |
No. 13 Todd Souza (Central Coast Racing) Start: 7th – Fin: 4th
A clean race for the No. 13 driver rewarded with his best result of the season with a fine fourth position. This will restore the confidence of the CCR troops. The car is fast and Souza was constantly fighting for the top five. He was third with 20 laps to go but had to give up a position to Tanner Reif. The most important thing will be to ride on this momentum and finish the season strong.
“Todd and the team did a good job!” Michael Munoz (crew chief) says. No need to say more !
| Starts | Wins | Top5 | Top10 | Pole | Best result | At Irwindale |
| 114 | 1 | 20 | 64 | 0 | 1st (1x) | 14 starts, best result : 4th |
No. 15 Sean Hingorani (Venturini Motorsports) Start: 1st: Fin: 12th suspension
First career pole for Hingorani. Intense side-by-side battle with Landen Lewis for 60 laps. And while he is leading the race with more than a second ahead of Huddleston, the driver of the No. 15 will hit the outside wall at Turn 3. The team tried to repair but the front right suspension was too damaged. No sweep at Irwindale for the driver from Newport Bech, CA. Fortunately for Sean, his main rivals in the championship (Lewis and Erickson) also had problems. He remains second in the driver standings.
| Starts | Wins | Top5 | Top10 | Pole | Best result | At Irwindale |
| 11 | 2 | 2 | 3 | 1 | 1st (2x) | 1 start, best result : 1st |
No. 16 Tanner Reif (Bill McAnally Racing) Start: 5th – Fin: 3rd
Tanner struggled throughout the race with a car that was a little too tight. But he was able to stay inside the top-four from the 26th lap. With 33 laps remaining, he managed to overtake Souza and did not let go of the podium until the finish, obtaining his best result of the season. The driver of the BMR No. 16 is getting faster and faster and will be where he is expected in the next race, in the fight for victory.
“We had a really fast BlueDEF / NAPA Nightvision Chevrolet tonight. I got to thank everybody at BMR for a strong car tonight. We were a little tight most of the night, but that’s what we needed to make speed on the long run once we got singled out. I was able to save my tires and we slowly picked off people as the run went on.
“We got behind on that restart, but our car held on really well over a long run and we were able to drive back up to third. It was a really good night for our NAPA team, everybody at BlueDEF and NAPA Nightvision, and hopefully this is the run we need to get back on the right track.” Tanner Reif said.
| Starts | Wins | Top5 | Top10 | Pole | Best result | At Irwindale |
| 17 | 2 | 7 | 12 | 2 | 1st (2x) | 4 starts, best result: 1st |
No. 17 Landen Lewis (McGowan Motorsports with Cook Racing Technologies) Start: 3rd – Fin: 9th
He will blame himself and will have to wait until July 29 to redeem himself. Indeed Lewis could have made an excellent operation in the championship following the incidents involving his main opponents for the title of champion. Engine failure for Erickson and accident for Hingorani. But when he was second during the restart on the 95th lap, he was penalized for a jumping restart.
He picked up speed before the leader Huddleston and even if he clearly released the accelerator not to overtake him before the start line, the officials will be intransigent and he will be penalized with a drive through. He managed to stay on the leader’s lap but finished the race in a disappointing ninth position. A missed opportunity. But Lewis will learn from this mistake and come back to Shasta even stronger.
| Starts | Wins | Top5 | Top10 | Pole | Best result | At Irwindale |
| 14 | 2 | 7 | 11 | 2 | 1st (2x) | 3 starts, best result : 2nd |
No. 21 Ethan Nascimento (Nascimento-Joiner Motorsports) Start: 6th – Fin: 14th fuel pump
Very fast like his older brother in Irwindale, Ethan could have obtained his first top-five if he had not been the victim of a broken fuel pump. End of hopes from the 11th lap. Big disappointment for the rookie. Luck is definitely not often with him this year in the West Series.
| Starts | Wins | Top5 | Top10 | Pole | Best result | At Irwindale |
| 5 (+ 1 DNS) | – | – | 2 | – | 8th | 2 starts, best result : 13th |
No. 41 Tyler Reif (Lowden Jackson Motorsports) Start: 9th – Fin: 6th
There seems to be a monkey hiding in the car with the luck that Tyler Reif has had this season. It’s not easy to prepare for your race when you spend more time with the car on the jacks under the tent during practice. But Tyler will do his best in the race to get the best possible result. Sometimes you have to know how to limit the breakage if you don’t aim for victory. The driver of No. 41 fulfilled his mission perfectly by grabbing a few points from those who preceded him in the championship.
“Well another weekend full of struggles. Such a bummer but my team and I did our best, only getting four laps of practice due to motor issues, we ended up P9 in qualyfing. Not knowing how the car was going to handle in the race and was unfortunately too tight all night long ended up P6. We gained some points getting back closer to the lead overall decent weekend. Onto Shasta in 3 weeks.” Tyler explains to us.
Chris Lowden (owner) says : “I swear if we didn’t have bad luck, we’d have no luck at all. Just focused on 41, still didn’t help so much. We did make up a few points on the three ahead of us (in the championship), still in fourth, but we’re tight.”
| Starts | Wins | Top5 | Top10 | Pole | Best result | At Irwindale |
| 8 | 1 | 2 | 4 | 0 | 1st | 2 starts, best result : 3rd |
No. 46 RJ Smotherman (Lowden Jackson Motorsports) Withdrew
The LJM team preferred to focus on No. 41 at Irwindale. The three engines broken during the two road races explaining this. No. 46 will return to Shasta.
| Starts | Wins | Top5 | Top10 | Pole | Best result | At Irwindale |
| 7 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 7th | 1 start, best result : 15th |
No. 50 Trevor Huddleston (High Point Racing) Start: 4th – Fin: 1st
Almost everything has been said in the race review and above in the “Quick stats” section. Huddleston again performed very well on his hometrack. He gets his second win here. It is also his ninth straight top-10 in Irwindale.
Note that he overtakes the legendary NASCAR Hall of Fame inductee Hershel McGriff in the ranking of drivers who have achieved the most consecutive top-10s on a circuit. McGriff had gotten eight in Mesa Marin. The absolute record holder being Ray Elder who finished 13 consecutive times in the top 10 at Ascot Park (Gardena).
| Starts | Wins | Top5 | Top10 | Pole | Best result | At Irwindale |
| 59 | 3 | 22 | 49 | 1 | 1st (3x) | 9 starts, best result : 1st (2x) |
No. 55 Jake Bollman (High Point Racing) Start: 10th – Fin: 7th
For his debut here last April he showed good speed. He confirmed this time by taking the seventh position, equaling his best career result obtained in Bakersfield. However he was never a threat to contest the victory to his teammate Huddleston. But he ran a clean and consistent race. He was sixth a few laps from the finish but had to give in to Kennealy, more comfortable than him on used tyres.
“Solid day at Irwindale Speedway Thank you to High Point Racing and my crew chief Travis Thirkettle for giving me a great car! Thank you to all the fans for coming out.” Bollman said.
| Starts | Wins | Top5 | Top10 | Pole | Best result | At Irwindale |
| 3 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 7th (2x) | 2 starts, best result : 7th |
No. 70 Kyle Keller (Kyle Keller Racing) Start: 12th –Fin: 15th sway bar
If KKR had two cars for the first time and can be proud of the result achieved by newcomer Robbie Kennealy. The disappointment with his main driver Kyle Keller is all the greater as he was unable to demonstrate that he too could obtain a top-five at Irwindale. What he has already done in the past here. Right from the start, he sensed that something was not working properly. The breakage of a sway bar ending its race early.
“Tough break for all my guys! They worked there tails off last week on this #kismiffoundation Ford Fusion and broke on lap 1. My team and sponsors don’t deserve this but it’s racing and it’s time to look towards Shasta! Thank you to my whole KKR team and Sponsors for giving me the opportunity to make Irwindale!” Keller said.
| Starts | Wins | Top5 | Top10 | Pole | Best result | At Irwindale |
| 16 | 0 | 6 | 9 | 0 | 4th (3x) | 3 starts, best result: 4th |
No. 77 Nick Joanides (Performance P-1 Motorsports) Start: 11th –Fin: 8th
The first race with the Ford took place in Bakersfield and despite zero testing beforehand, Joanides and PP1M managed to place it in the top 10. Here, the team had a private session at Shasta with the reinforcement of the legendary crew chief Roger Bracken a few days before. And it paid off. Joanides finishing in eighth position. Recall that Bracken already has two victories at Irwindale (Auggie Vidovich in 2010 and Chris Eggleston in 2015) and one at Shasta (Eggleston in 2015). However, the team expected better. The car didn’t handle as well with the new tyres.
“We’re gaining on it. It was a strong eigth place finish, rather than one we fell into as a result of attrition. Got the car fairly close in practice on pretty old tires. Unfortunately, once we bolted on the new tires, the handling characteristics completely changed and it was extremely loose. Wish we would have had a few more cautions to cool the tires down. But, we’ll take what we learned and improve upon it for Shasta. It’s certainly capable of solidly running in the top five. The extra practice day in Shasta will be quite helpful.” Joanides explains to us.
| Starts | Wins | Top5 | Top10 | Pole | Best result | At Irwindale |
| 23 | 0 | 1 | 7 | 0 | 4th | 7 starts, best result: 8th |
No. 88 Bradley Erickson (Naake-Klauer Motorsports) Start: 2nd – Fin: 13th overheating
Big disappointment for Erickson who saw his series of top-10 finishes come to an end following the failure of his engine due to overheating. However, he had started the race well from second position and was easily in the top-five. He had even moved up to third position when he had to park his smoking Ford No. 88 at his pit box. Mika Naake took on the role of crew chief here. Tony Caputo having stayed at the race shop to prepare the four TA2 Trans-Am cars for Portland. Despite this, he retains his third position in the championship.
“Another great start but bitter ending. Qualified and started P2 but had a brand new motor let go around lap 40 which ended our night. It seems like we are never going to get a break at this track. I can’t thank my crew at Naake-Klauer Motorsports enough for doing everything possible to give me a well prepared race car and for all of their hard work at the track. I know they are just as disappointed as anyone is.The silver lining is that we were not the only team that didn’t have the race we would have liked, and we are still third in series points. We will keep digging.” Erickson said.
| Starts | Wins | Top5 | Top10 | Pole | Best result | At Irwindale |
| 10 | 0 | 2 | 7 | 0 | 3rd | 3 starts, best result : 8th |
Next race on July 29 at Shasta Speedway, Anderson, CA.