By Vincent Delforge, special to KickintheTires.net
The tenth race of the season, the 1003th in the history of the ARCA Menards West Series was held at Las Vegas Bullring in Las Vegas, NV. The Star Nursery 150 was won by Taylor Gray for the second year in a row, his fifth career win. He obtained the perfect score since this year he won the two races in which he participated. He had already won the race in Phoenix, AZ, in the season opener.
This race was also marked by the first “poor” performance of championship leader Jake Drew. The latter finishing “only” eighth. It’s the first time this year that he doesn’t get a top-five. However, he increased his lead in the championship to 56 points. The second position is now occupied by his teammate Tanner Reif.
But this race was also marked by a historical fact, namely the presence of the first mother/daughter duo in a West Series race and more generally in a NASCAR or ARCA race. Sarah, the mother, joining her daughter Bridget Burgess on the track.
It was also the first race for many rookies (Andres Perez de Lara, Jacob Smith,..) as Japan’s Takuma Koga celebrated his 100th career start.
The Las Vegas Bullring race review is available: www.kickinthetires.net/nascar/arca-series/arca-menards-west-series-las-vegas-bullring-race-review/
Complete race results: www.racing-reference.info/race-results/2022-10/AW/
Driver & owner points 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 1003 since the inception of the West Series in 1954.
-2022 race number 10 of 11.
-Race number 11 at Las Vegas Bullring since 1994.
– Win No. 4 for Ford at LV Bullring. Chevrolet leads the manufacturers dance with 5 wins ahead of Ford (4), Pontiac (1) and Toyota (1).
-286th win for Ford in West Series (record).
-Win No. 6 for owner David Gilliland.
-Win No. 6 for David Gilliland Racing (DGR) 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. 2 for DGR at LV Bullring. The most successful team is Bill McAnally Racing with three wins (2002, 2003 and 2020). Gene Price Motorsports follows with two wins (2011 and 2012) and David Gilliland Racing (2021 and 2022). All the other teams have only one victory.
-Second win this season for DGR.
-Fifth career win for Taylor Gray (12th career start).
–Second career win for Taylor Gray at LV Bullring, the second in a row here.
-Taylor Gray joins Greg Pursley as the winningest driver at LV Bullring with two wins. All the other drivers who each have a victory (Ron Hornaday, Jr., Ernie Cope, Mark Reed, Austin Cameron, Jim Inglebright, Sam Mayer and Gracie Trotter).
-Seventh time in 11 races the poleman wins at LV Bullring.
-Second career pole position for Taylor Gray, the first at LV Bullring.
-First pole for DGR at LV Bullring. BMR is at the top of the ranking with three (2002, 2003 and 2020). Once again Gene Price Motorsports follows with two (2011 and 2012). All the other teams have only one pole.
-Fifth pole for David Gilliland Racing in West Series
-Best career result result for Andres Perez de Lara (2nd), Bradley Erickson (7th), Jacob Smith (9th), Eric Rhead (13th), Sarah Burgess (17th), Tyler Reif (18th), Katie Hettinger (23rd),
-Best season result for Andres Perez de Lara (2nd), Bradley Erickson (7th), Jacob Smith (9th), Eric Rhead (13th), Sarah Burgess (17th), Tyler Reif (18th), Katie Hettinger (23rd),
-First win for the No. 71 in history.
-Third pole for the No. 71 in history.
-Fourth career win for crew chief Chad Johnston, the second at LV Bullring.
-First career pole for crew chief Chad Johnston.
-249th pole for Ford in West Series.
-670th paved oval race in history.
The Drivers
No. 02 Katie Hettinger (Young’s Motorsports) Start 9th – Fin 23rd (crash)
For her first career race, at 15, she showed good speed by obtaining the ninth fastest time in the qualifying session.
Unfortunately she was eliminated too early in the race as she explains: “Not how my first race should’ve gone. We had decent speed in practice and qualified ninth out of 26. In the race we had a good car and I think we could’ve had a good result. Unfortunately, 15 laps in I was spun and we would’ve been fine until I was hit head on by a car (note: Chris Lowden) far back and our radiator was done. Ready for Phoenix in three weeks with the ARCA West car.”
| Starts | Wins | Top5 | Top10 | Pole | Best result | At LV Bullring |
| 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 23rd | 1 start, best result 23rd |
No. 05 Dave Smith (Shockwave Racing) Start 25th – Fin 19th
The Canadian veteran’s race was disrupted by a technical problem with radio communication. And a working radio is mandatory in ARCA West. Despite the speed of his team to repair the problem, he lost more than ten laps in his pit box. His end of the race was again disrupted but by a spun on the 144th lap. Pushed into Turn 1 by Sarah Burgess.
“Radio gave out.. Sucked the will to live out of me going down 10 laps. The crew is really good. The car is good. Tougher work than I thought but we will keep digging I guess!” Smith says.
| Starts | Wins | Top5 | Top10 | Pole | Best result | At LV Bullring |
| 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 11th | 1 start, best result 19th |
No. 4 Sean Hingorani (Nascimento-Joiner Motorsports) Start 14th – Fin 25th (handling)
Really bad luck for Hingorani. For his third race with Nascimento-Joiner Motorsports of the season he had many problems with his Toyota as soon as the car was unloaded of the hauler. Lack of power. Having managed to qualify in the middle of the pack, he did not go far in the race since everything stopped on the 10th lap. The No. 4 refusing to go any further.
| Starts | Wins | Top5 | Top10 | Pole | Best result | At LV Bullring |
| 4 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 12th | 1 start, best result 25th |
No. 5 Jacob Smith (Jerry Pitts Racing) Start 11th – Fin 9th
For his first race, the 17-year-old from Idaho showed great qualities. Very diligent during the practice/qualifying session with 97 laps covered on a track he was discovering. He would very quickly break into the top-10 during the race and stay there all race long.
He could even have considered a top-five, but the comeback of the Bruncati and Naake-Klauer drivers at the end of the race put him back to ninth position. Which is still an excellent result. We can’t wait to hear his plans for next year. With Jerry Pitts Racing? Case to follow.
“So thankful for the opportunity to make my ARCA West Series Debut in Vegas! First time in the car and first time on the track. Qualified 11th out of 26 cars and finished ninth in a stacked field! Thank you to Jerry Pitts for giving me an opportunity to race this weekend. Stay tuned for my next plans next year.” Smith says.
| Starts | Wins | Top5 | Top10 | Pole | Best result | At LV Bullring |
| 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 9th | 1 start, best result 9th |
No. 6 Jake Drew (Bruncati Racing) Start 7th – Fin 8th
Second worst qualifying session of the season (7th) and first time that he did not finish a race in the top-five. A race to forget? Not really because Drew is still doing a good job in the championship. As for his race, he was able to climb back into the top-five from the 50th lap. But a contact with Joey Iest would cut his momentum.
Back down to 13th position, he was going to take advantage of the last three restarts to climb up to eighth position. With 56 and 57 points respectively in the championship, he will only have to start the race in Phoenix on November 5 to claim the crown, no matter what his opponents Tanner Reif and Cole Moore do.
“The race was tricky and exciting to say the least. I felt late in the race I had a car capable of running third but that wasn’t in the cards. I tricky restart on the outside and some contact put us deep in the running. For the last 20 laps it was really just damage control, finish the race and minimize the point loss.” Drew says.
| Starts | Wins | Top5 | Top10 | Pole | Best result | At LV Bullring |
| 19 | 4 | 13 | 17 | 7 | 1st (4x) | 2 starts, best result 2nd |
No. 7 Takuma Koga (Jerry Pitts Racing) Start 15th – Fin 21st
This is not what Koga was hoping for to celebrate his 100th career start. An accident on lap 92 ended a race where he had simply lacked rhythm after about fifty laps in the race due to an electrical problem while he was fighting for the top 10.
However Koga keeps his eternal optimism for the future: “Thank you to everyone who made my 100th race day special and for all the messages I received! My Hot Rod was super strong, but we had a electric trouble.Onto next at Phoenix!”
| Starts | Wins | Top5 | Top10 | Pole | Best result | At LV Bullring |
| 100 | 0 | 4 | 20 | 0 | 5th (4x) | 5 starts, best result 6th |
No. 9 Tanner Reif (Bruncati Racing) Start 4th – Fin 6th
On his hometrack, we thought we would have a recital by Tanner Gray. Well qualified, he raced in the top five without being able to do better than fourth. It remains a good result, even if he hoped to do better. A bit like his teammate Jake Drew, it was the entire Bruncati Racing team that lacked speed in Las Vegas. Which is a first this season. However Tanner regains second position in the championship against Cole Moore.
| Starts | Wins | Top5 | Top10 | Pole | Best result | At LV Bullring |
| 10 | 2 | 4 | 8 | 2 | 1st (2x) | 1 start, best result 6th |
No. 11 Chris Lowden (Lowden Jackson Motorsports) Start 23rd – Fin 24th
A year after his debut here on his hometrack, our bearded man has not had the success he hoped for. The reason ? An accident after just 15 laps similar to the one he suffered in Roseville, CA in early October. He got to know the front bumper of a female driver. This time it was that of the beginner Katie Hettinger, spun in front of him…
About his race Lowden says ironically: “Hahaha…. Maybe not the way to pick up girls. But nowhere to go… The 11 (himself) and 41 (Tyler Reif) taken out and the 21 (RJ Smotherman) blew a motor. Maybe not the best night for Lowden Jackson Motorsports but we’ll get these machines ready for Phoenix.”
| Starts | Wins | Top5 | Top10 | Pole | Best result | At LV Bullring |
| 7 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 12th (2x) | 2 starts, best result 15th |
No. 12 Kyle Keller (Jerry Pitts Racing) Start 5th – Fin 4th
I’ve said this at every race since Kyle Keller returned to Jerry Pitts Racing, but what a shame he wasn’t behind the wheel of this car, from the first race of the season. Because he had an once again excellent race. He was a candidate for the podium for a long time but had to give up a position at the end of the race when the second car from DGR came back driven by Perez de Lara.
Keller tied for the third time in his career his best result, namely a fourth position. If he returns next year fulltime, he will be a serious contender for the championship title, no doubt about it. And to complete his good weekend, he won the Madera Pro Late Model race and the 10K check !
| Starts | Wins | Top5 | Top10 | Pole | Best result | At LV Bullring |
| 9 | 0 | 5 | 7 | 0 | 4th (3x) | 3 starts, best result 4th (2x) |
No. 13 Todd Souza (Central Coast Racing) Start 16th – Fin 10th
With a difficult car coming out of the corners as shown by his spun at the 42nd lap, Souza had to be strong enough to bring it to the finish. But with his experience, benefiting from a free pass 40 laps from the finish, he was able to make his way and save a top-10.
The ninth consecutively this year. He improves his personal best. It is above all his sixtieth career top-10, joining Eddie Pagan in 30th position among the drivers with the most career top-10s in history.
“Tough race. Car hasn’t been right for two races now. He said it’s been a handful and he’s grateful he salvaged that top-10 finish!” Kelly Souza (owner) says.
| Starts | Wins | Top5 | Top10 | Pole | Best result | At LV Bullring |
| 107 | 1 | 18 | 60 | 0 | 1st (1x) | 4 starts, best result : 5th |
No. 16 Landen Lewis (Bill McAnally Racing) Start 3rd – Fin 3rd
Excellent race from Lewis who was Taylor Gray’s main opponent for most of the race. He will have tried everything during the many restarts but in vain. It was also during the last restart that he lost a position and finished third in the race, however his best result since joining BMR.
Besides, Bill McAnally, the owner, is quite happy with the speed shown by his drivers in recent races: “It was good strong field nice to have so many cars , we had speed the team brought good cars. The drivers drove well we had both cars in top-five late in race. Still building momentum in October.”
Lewis stating: “Great night tonight at Bullring. We ran in the top three all night and ended up a close P3. Our NAPA Auto Parts #19th Green No.16 Chevrolet was fast! Thank you to Bill, John, Eric and all my guys for all their hard work and bringing such a fast hotrod. Looking forward to Phoenix in a couple of weeks.»
| Starts | Wins | Top5 | Top10 | Pole | Best result | At LV Bullring |
| 7 | 1 | 3 | 5 | 0 | 1st (1x) | 1 start, best result 3rd |
No. 17 Buddy Shepherd (McGowan Motorsports with Cook Racing Technologies) Start 12th – Fin 5th
This is called a successful return. After three years of absence, Shepherd returned to the West Series, for the first time on the LV Bullring and with a Steve McGowan car. And he had an excellent race, climbing quickly towards the top-five.. before descending to his starting position following a passage through his pit box.
But it was wise because Sean Samuels, his crew chief, was going to make adjustments to the No. 17 which would prove to be very effective. Allowing Shepherd to join the top-five again. There would have been a few more laps and he could aim even higher.
Shepherd is happy with his race and his team: “Started P12, drove up to P4, fell back to P12, pitted, CRT/MMI Racing crew made some great adjustments, drove ‘er back up to P5 at the end.”
| Starts | Wins | Top5 | Top10 | Pole | Best result | At LV Bullring |
| 8 | 0 | 3 | 6 | 0 | 3th | 1 start, best result 5th |
No. 21 RJ Smotherman (Lowden Jackson Motorsports with Holleran-Wood Racing) Start 19th – Fin 22nd (oil leak)
On his hometrack, Smotherman was hoping for much better, especially after his excellent seventh place in Roseville, CA 15 days ago. But he was unlucky. While he had gained several positions and was 12th, a stronger contact damaged the front end of his Chevrolet following the loss of his brakes… which was undoubtedly the cause of the breakage of his engine following a major oil leak on the 90th lap.
Besides, it was the three team cars that were unlucky in Vegas… Smotherman saying: “We were running well was around 12th place when we lost brakes after a restart and fell back. Went a lap down and out of nowhere had a motor let go. Very unfortunate but we will come back at Phoenix.”
| Starts | Wins | Top5 | Top10 | Pole | Best result | At LV Bullring |
| 3 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 7th | 1 start, best result 22nd |
No. 39 Andrew Tuttle (Last Chance Racing) Start 22nd – Fin 26th
The races follow each other and look alike for Tuttle and LCR. An engine problem has once again ruined the hopes of No. 39 as he explains to us: “Worked hard to get the motor new motor set up after Roseville and in the car for this weekend’s race just to have a repeat of Roseville. Not sure what caused the failure this weekend. We started practice the car felt a little under power right out of the gate.
“We went over the motor before the start of the race and didn’t appear to have any issues and just after the start of the race it didn’t feel like it was getting any better and then something just broke. I had to take it in and that was the end of our night. We will get it back to the shop and see what we can do to get the issue fixed to see if we will be able to make the last race in Phoenix. It’s hard being a self-funded small team on the west coast with very little options. That’s just racing.»
| Starts | Wins | Top5 | Top10 | Pole | Best result | At LV Bullring |
| 14 (+1 DNS) | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 11th (1x) | 1 start, best result 26th |
No. 41 Tyler Reif (Lowden Jackson Motorsports) Start 17th – Fin 18th (crash)
Tanner’s little brother made his West Series debut at the wheel of the third car entered by Chris Lowden. And he made an excellent copy since he had climbed from 17th position on the starting grid to seventh. Unfortunately on the 150th lap he could not avoid Cole Moore who spun in front of him following contact in Turn 3 with Bradley Erickson.
Broken right front wheel, Tyler was going to hit the outside wall of turn 4 violently, then his sinking car ended up coming to rest in the infield. Fortunately, he came out unscathed. Not rewarded for his good performance but he showed that the talent was there.
| Starts | Wins | Top5 | Top10 | Pole | Best result | At LV Bullring |
| 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 18th | 1 start, best result 18th |
No. 42 Amber Slagle (Cook Racing Technologies) Start 13th – Fin 20th
Definitely there is often a grain of sand that comes to stop the mechanics for Amber Slagle. She had a good pace but very quickly an engine overheating problem will delay her.
Lost laps in her pit box to solve the problem, not to mention a spun on the 100th lap and any hope of top-10 was definitely gone, as Slagle explains: “Vegas has given me no luck… amazing car in practice with great long run speed. I qualified 13th in a 26 car field. Unfortunately in the race we had a radiator cap go bad and it wouldn’t hold water.
“This stuff is all a part of racing and things that you can’t control. I can’t thank my guys enough for bringing me a fast car and working hard on it all day long. Thank you to my sponsors MMI Services, Sunwest Construction and Cook Racing Technologies for making this weekend possible! Hopefully this bad luck will turn around soon!”
| Starts | Wins | Top5 | Top10 | Pole | Best result | At LV Bullring |
| 6 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 9th (1x) | 2 starts, best result 20th |
No. 51 Andres Perez de Lara (David Gilliland Racing) Start 2nd – Fin 2nd
Certainly the revelation of the race. Excellent in qualifying for his debut in the West Series, the young 17-year-old Mexican acclimatized very well to this short track he was discovering. He had already been very good in his first race with this type of car at Bristol where he finished seventh in East Series.
He will certainly lose two positions in the first laps but will then stay in the top four for the rest of the race. Better still, in the last 20 laps he gained two positions on Keller and Lewis and offered the double to DGR by finishing just behind his teammate Taylor Gray after a perfectly controlled overtime where we even believed at one moment that he was going to take first place. He will be closely followed in Phoenix.
| Starts | Wins | Top5 | Top10 | Pole | Best result | At LV Bullring |
| 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 2nd | 1 start, best result 2nd |
No. 54 Joey Iest (Naake-Klauer Motorsports) Start 8th – Fin 11th
Almost the first 100 laps of the race in or closed to the top-five for Iest who would experience a first contact without consequence about thirty laps from the finish with Jake Drew. But the last two restarts would see him plummet in the standings.
Iest summarizes his race as follows: “It was a rough race! Always in the wrong spot at the wrong time. On the last few late race restarts, we were stuck in the outside lane, getting shuffled back then having to come to a complete stop for a wreck in front of me and losing multiple positions. We ended with an 11th place finish.”
Owner/crew chief Mike Naake said: “Both of our cars were really good I think the 84 was a third place car and the 54 was a 5 or 6 just got shuffled at the end and then on the green white checker had to start on the outside and just could not do nothing with it at that point in the race.”
| Starts | Wins | Top5 | Top10 | Pole | Best result | At LV Bullring |
| 23 | 1 | 9 | 12 | 0 | 1st (1x) | 4 starts, best result 4th |
No. 66 Eric Rhead (66 Rhead Racing) Start 18th – Fin 13th
Great performance for the small team from Utah. On a short track he was discovering, finishing in the lead lap in such a hectic race in the pack is a nice revenge for Rhead and his small family team. Especially after having experienced so many problems since the beginning of the year.
Crew chief Roxi Gabbard explains: “It was a win taking the car home in one piece. Wish we could have gotten her faster but with finishing the back clip just few days before the race. So we were happy with our finish. We still have some learning to do with this car.”
| Starts | Wins | Top5 | Top10 | Pole | Best result | At LV Bullring |
| 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 13th | 1 start, best result 13th |
No. 71 Taylor Gray (David Gilliland Racing) Start 1st – Fin 1st
What more can we say about Taylor Gray’s race? Everything has been said in the race review. Just insisted on the maturity he shows. His 12 races in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series, such a competitive national series, undoubtedly playing a very important role. Without forgetting his great seasons in the East and National ARCA Series. However Gray admits not having had it easy with the pressure exerted at each restart by Landen Lewis or Perez de Lara. He could never relax his focus lest he lose the race.
If he wins the Phoenix race, he could become the first driver in history to achieve the perfect score of 3 wins out of 3 races in a single season in the West Series.
| Starts | Wins | Top5 | Top10 | Pole | Best result | At LV Bullring |
| 12 | 5 | 8 | 10 | 2 | 1st (5x) | 1 start, best result 1st (2x) |
No. 77 Nick Joanides (Performance P-1 Motorsports) Start 20th – Fin 15th
No top-10 this time for Joanides and PP1M but a decent race near to the top-10, despite a spun on lap 122, rewarded by finishing in the leader’s lap thanks to a free pass 10 laps from the end. Unfortunately Joanides and PP1M will not be present in Phoenix for the final. Owner Joe Nava planning to use the next few months to come back stronger and full-time in 2023.
“We struggled with a tight car again, which showed in our qualifying toward the back of the field. Once the race got going, was able to find a line right around the apron where we were actually able to make some good progress, moving up from 20th to near the top 10 fairly early in the race. This track is so line sensitive. With the car being tight, we really struggled on the outside groove. Restarting 12th on the outside proved costly as we got freight-trained back to around 20th.
“Of the 10 cautions we had in this race, I think most of them were simply from drivers trying to force their way back to the bottom groove. We progressed back up to 13th when one driver apparently took offense to me not backing out of it when she tried to force her way to the bottom groove. Minimal, if any contact. Watched the replay and it was actually a pretty clean pass. She got hit a lap later by another car.
“Possibly a case of mistaken identity, but she tried twice in Turns 1 and 2 and finally succeeded in turning me around going into turn 3 late in the race.” Joanides explains to us.
“Can’t thank my Joe Nava PP1M team enough for the non-stop effort. Was fun to be able to go out and pass a bunch of cars and happy to have earned a lead lap finish and bring the car home mostly in one piece with just some typical short track cosmetic damage.
“But luck of the draw on restart positioning, combined with the late race incident definitely took away what could have been a finish well inside the top 10, noting we had passed several of the cars that ended up finishing in the top 10. We won’t be making it to Phoenix, but looking forward to our next SRL race at Irwindale where we won last time out.”
| Starts | Wins | Top5 | Top10 | Pole | Best result | At LV Bullring |
| 19 | 0 | 1 | 5 | 0 | 4th (1x) | 1 start, best result 15th |
No. 84 Bradley Erickson (Naake-Klauer Motorsports) Start 6th – Fin 7th
Finally a race without mechanical problems for Erickson which confirmed all the good that we thought of him. A performance that took him to the top-five before knowing on the 150th lap a contact on the inside by Cole Moore dismissing him towards the outside line in Turn 4 and causing him to lose time. However, he managed to retain seventh position during overtime despite the pressure exerted by Jake Drew.
“Had a great weekend at The Bullring in Las Vegas. Qualified 6th out of 26 cars, fell back to 11th but made my way up to fourth position. On the final restart with just a few laps left, I got shuffled back to 7th and ended up finishing there. Overall a pretty solid night. Thanks to Mike Naake, crew chief Tony Caputo, everyone at Naake-Klauer Motorsports, L&S Framing, Fastline Motorsports, Hanson Truss Components. Also looking forward to racing the final ARCA Menards West Series race of 2022 at Phoenix Raceway on November 5th,” Erickson says.
And regarding the future for Braldey, Mike Naake, team owner tells us: “We have a lot of things in the works for next year and we have a lot of options. “Erickson has shown that he has the right to do a full-time season.
| Starts | Wins | Top5 | Top10 | Pole | Best result | At LV Bullring |
| 3 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 7th | 1 start, best result 7th |
No. 85 Vince Little (Last Chance Racing) Start 24th – Fin 16th
For someone who was not supposed to be there, we can say that the race went well. The “king of the free pass”, he had four during the race, finished one lap behind the leader with a slightly clumsy car. But it is reliable and allows LCR to see one of its cars at the finish.
Vince Little being satisfied with his race given the circumstances: “Well we showed up with a bruised up car after Roseville and didn’t have time to change the set up. So we tried to do the best we could. We went 4 laps down but the ladder part of the race the car started to come to us a little. We got back on the lead lap after getting 4 laps back and finished 15th I think on the lead lap (note: no but one lap behind). The car didn’t get hurt any more than what was already there so a decent weekend.”
| Starts | Wins | Top5 | Top10 | Pole | Best result | At LV Bullring |
| 5 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 11th (2x) | 1 start, best result 16th |
No. 88 Bridget Burgess (BMI Racing) Start 21st – Fin 12th
The top-10 was not far off. Two laps from the finish, Bridget was in 10th position. But the overtime cost her dearly. However, after the accident in Roseville, it was still a good performance with a finish in the leader’s lap and all that without the slightest free pass.
Note that in addition to having been able to face her mother Sarah for the first time in a West Series race, Bridget has just reached the bar of 30 career races. This makes her the second female driver to reach this figure. The record holder being Nicole Behar with 34 races.
| Starts | Wins | Top5 | Top10 | Pole | Best result | At LV Bullring |
| 30 | 0 | 0 | 9 | 0 | 7th (2x) | 4 starts, best result : 7th |
No. 97 Sarah Burgess (BMI Racing)Start 26th – Fin 17th
Admittedly, she started the race dead last but held on until the end despite two spins causing her to lose five laps. But the joy she expressed at having been able to do a West Series race with her daughter Bridget was so beautiful to see that ultimately it didn’t matter the result.
“Whatt a day!! Making history, I got to race Bridget in an West race! The eBaymotors Chevrolet SS was amazing car to drive and happy to get it to the checked flag. Big thanks to our crew – Victor, Samantha, Adam and Dalton.” Sarah says.
As Sarah will return to her role as crew chief in Phoenix, she intends to do other races in 2023. The former off-road driver has regained her taste for being behind the wheel!
| Starts | Wins | Top5 | Top10 | Pole | Best result | At LV Bullring |
| 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 17th | 1 start, best result 17th |
No. 99 Cole Moore (Bill McAnally Racing) Start 10th – Fin 14th
After its triumph in Roseville, CA, the Las Vegas race may seem like a disaster. Qualified 10th, he managed to gain positions before falling back to 21st following a passage to his pit box during the second yellow flag. The adjustments made were good as he methodically worked his way up to the top-five once again.
But a little too much contact on Erickson caused him to spun on the 150th lap before being hit by Tyler Reif. With a damaged car, he managed to finish the race in a modest 14th position. He loses a place in the championship where he is now third, 57 points behind the leader…
| Starts | Wins | Top5 | Top10 | Pole | Best result | At LV Bullring |
| 27 | 1 | 10 | 16 | 0 | 1st (1x) | 2 start, best result 6th |
Complete race results: www.racing-reference.info/race-results/2022-10/AW/
Driver & owner standings: www.racing-reference.info/standings/2022/AW/
Next race is scheduled for November 5 at the Phoenix International Raceway in Avondale, AZ for the Phoenix 100. The race will be broadcast live on Flo Racing and tape-delayed on USA Network.