By Christian Koelle, Staff Writer
Ty Gibbs absolutely put a whooping on the field Saturday at Kansas.
Gibbs took the lead on the final restart after the halftime break and was able to branch out far enough to earn his 10th career victory in the ARCA Menards Series. With the victory, Gibbs ties Russ Hepler, Moose Myers, Dean Roper, Parker Kligerman, and Chris Buescher for 31st on the all-time wins list.
Drew Dollar finishes the race in second while Corey Heim, Jack Wood, and Derrek Griffith rounded out the top-five
Gibbs started his domination early starting from the pole.
The first accident of the day took place when Bret Holmes got loose in the middle of three-wide with Corey Heim and Wood. Derek Griffith and Alst just barely made it through before Holmes backed into the outside wall. Scott Melton wouldn’t be as lucky as he hit Holmes hard in the drivers’ side door. The red flag would be displayed.
Both Holmes and Melton would be checked and released from the infield care center.
On the lap seven restart, Heim would attempt to take the lead from Gibbs but would get loose in turns three and four, and Gibbs would keep the lead. By lap 12, he’d break out to almost a two-second lead over second.
Dollar made the pass on Heim for second as Heim comes over the radio complaining that his car was terrible early.
There would be two minor problems before the competition caution was displayed. Nick Sanchez lost a left rear tire on his car at lap 28, was able to take his car to pit road. On lap 37, D.L. Wilson got loose in turns three and four and would ultimately bring his car down pit road.
Van Alst and Gibbs would have some amazing racing including a four-wide pass that would ultimately put the No. 35 a lap down. He would get that lap back though a few laps later as the competition caution was thrown at lap 50. The field slowed with Gibbs having nearly a seven-second lead over Dollar.
During the competition caution, Heim’s crew would throw a ton of adjustments on the No. 20. Not completing the adjustments in an ample amount of time, Heim would lose his position and go a lap down.
During the restart, Dollar would again get a chance to take the lead from Gibbs with no success. Before Gibbs was able to break away, Eric Caudell would spin at the exit of turn four and Heim would be awarded the free pass and back in the game.
As the field took the green, Dollar had the lead in turns three and four but once again got too loose to make the pass, and Gibbs rocketed away with the lead and ultimately the lead. FOX replayed the radio transmission on Dollar’s car. The crew talked about how they aren’t running for points. “We should’ve just wrecked that ************”.
Heim would only be able to make it to the third position as Gibbs took the checkered flag leading all 100 laps at Kansas.
The last time that feat had been done came at Chicagoland Speedway in 2012 with Kevin Swindell.
The ARCA Menards Series takes three weeks off before returning to Toledo Speedway. The Herr’s Potato Chip 200 at Toledo is slated to take the green flag at 8 p.m. ET. It will kick off the Sioux Chief Showdown Series. The race will be broadcasted live on MAVTV on May 22nd.