Taylor Mayhew started at the tail of the field, led exactly one lap and won Friday night’s Kyle Busch Classic 151 at The Bullring at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, nudging past Robbie Kennealy on the second overtime restart to score his first ARCA Menards Series West victory by 0.045 seconds.
Mayhew’s No. 17 MMI Services Toyota never made a qualifying attempt after a clutch issue in practice forced an engine change. He worked his way through the field and lined up third for the second one-lap overtime shootout, then nudged Kennealy’s No. 1 Jan’s Towing Ford at the stripe to win by inches in his fourth series start. The final lap was the first, and so far only, lap Mayhew has led in his West career.
The victory marked the fourth consecutive West race decided by a last-lap pass.
Kennealy held second in a three-wide finish, just ahead of Jan’s Racing teammate Cole Denton, who rebounded from a 21st-place finish at Madera to take third in the No. 71 Ford. Kennealy raced in memory of his father Gary, who passed away two years ago this week. It was his seventh top-five finish of the season and his tenth top-ten in eleven starts.
Overtime chaos decides it
Points leader Trevor Huddleston appeared headed for the win when he led the field coming to the white flag, but the caution flew for an incident in turn two involving Madera winner Hailie Deegan and her flat tire, sending the race to overtime.
On the first overtime attempt, Huddleston led at the stripe but was shuffled three wide going into turn three, with Kennealy on the bottom and Mason Massey in the middle. Contact between Massey and Kennealy sent Massey up the track and into Huddleston, and both spun to bring out the caution.
That set up the second one-lap dash. Mayhew lined up third, got to Kennealy’s bumper and nudged his way past for a victory that looked impossible when the night began.
Huddleston recovered to finish fifth in the No. 50 High Point Racing Ford, with Massey’s No. 19 NAPA Auto Care Chevrolet one spot back in sixth. Huddleston led a race-high 153 of the 167 laps. Kennealy led nine, pole winner Helio Meza led four and Mayhew led one. There were six lead changes among four drivers and six cautions for 52 laps.
Deegan’s back-to-back bid ends in the wall
Deegan arrived at the Bullring chasing back-to-back wins after scoring her first victory in seven years at Madera Speedway on Sept. 26. She carried three straight top-five finishes into the night and had never raced the Bullring.
She ran in contention for much of the evening before a flat tire with two laps remaining sent her No. 16 Monster Chevrolet into the outside wall off turn two. The caution for her incident set up the overtime finish. Deegan finished 16th.
Huddleston leads, then loses it late
Meza earned the Sioux Chief PowerPEX Pole Award in his West debut in the No. 28 Allesandros Chevrolet, but an unscheduled stop for a flat left rear tire early in the race dropped him as many as ten laps behind the leader. He recovered three of those laps and finished 18th.
Mia Lovell lost her brakes on lap 34 and slammed the outside wall, ending her night in 23rd. Kyle Keller moved to second on a restart with 32 to go but faded to 20th at the finish.
A night honoring Kyle Busch
The event was renamed the Kyle Busch Classic presented by Star Nursery in honor of the late two-time NASCAR Cup Series champion, who honed his skills at the Bullring before his legendary career. The Busch family was in attendance, with his wife Samantha, son Brexton, daughter Lennix, mother Gaye and brother Kurt Busch, the NASCAR Hall of Famer, on hand for the dedication of the Kyle Busch Memorial Rock at The Bullring’s Park before the race.
“It’s absolutely beautiful to be back here at the Bullring,” Samantha Busch told the Las Vegas Review-Journal. “I think the coolest thing is walking through and seeing all the Kyle and Brexton shirts in the crowd.”
What else happened at the Bullring?
Vito Cancilla finished fourth in his West debut in the No. 20 Home Smiles Chevrolet, a day after turning 15 and becoming eligible to compete on the ARCA platform. His great-grandfather Cos Cancilla was a championship-winning car owner in the Pacific Coast Late Model division, the series now known as the ARCA Menards Series West.
Tyler Tomassi scored a career-best seventh in the No. 72 Toyota, his third top-ten of the season and first since a ninth at Tri-City Raceway in June. Eric Johnson Jr. rebounded from involvement in the Huddleston-Massey spin to finish eighth in the No. 5 Toyota, his sixth top-ten of the season. Eric Rhead avoided at least two incidents to finish ninth in the No. 66 Ford, his third top-ten in four starts, while Andrew Chapman rounded out the top ten in the No. 55 Ford. Gavin Ray came home 11th after contact with Chapman on lap 120.
The Kyle Busch Classic was the 11th race of the 13-race West season. The series heads next to Phoenix Raceway for the Desert Diamond Casino West Valley 100 on Saturday, Oct. 17, with coverage starting at 10 p.m. ET on FloRacing.