Ty Gibbs scored his fourth career victory on Saturday at Kentucky Speedway piloting the No. 18 Toyota. Gibbs, following a third-place start via 2020 owner points, led the field for 59 of the 100 laps.
The win did not come easy for the North Carolina native as Gibbs and Michael Self made contact while racing for the top spot. Gibbs fell back to fourth while Self fell all the way to ninth.
“I’m not really mad at him (Self). It’s hard … this track is so line sensitive,” Gibbs told FS1 after the race. “When we went down in there we were both racing our guts out. He drove it in hard and just kinda clipped me in the right rear. Fair game. Luckily I didn’t get in the fence there. Stuff like that happens. It’s racing.”
Self started on the pole and rebounded to a third-place finish. The driver of the No. 25 Sinclair Lubricants Toyota for Venturini Motorsports led 23 circuits at the 1.5-mile oval on Saturday.
Bret Holmes had a career day with his first career second-place finish. The Alabama native earned his third-top five finish of the year in his No. 23 Chevrolet while leading the field for 17 laps.
“Second sucks. Even though it’s our best finish I feel like we’ve should’ve finished that a few times,” said Holmes. “You hate to see it when you know it’s right there in your grasp. But that is the positive we take away from this and I think this is the best race from start to finish we’ve drove.”
Ty Gibbs leaves Kentucky with three top five and top 10 finishes along with two victories in four ARCA Menards Series starts.
“My life goal is to always keep going. I never try to give up,” Gibbs continued. “There’s a time right there I could’ve gave up and I didn’t. And I kept pushing forward, as my team did, and I came home as a winner. I can’t thank my team enough.”
Sam Mayer and Drew Dollar rounded out the top five.
Ryan Repko, Derek Griffith, Ryan Huff, Tanner Gray and Jason Kitzmiller rounded out the top 10.
Couple of big names found themselves involved in on-track incidents throughout the General Tire 150. Of those involved were Hailie Deegan and Thad Moffitt in separate incidents. Moffitt, related to Richard Petty, brought out the caution on lap 70 as his No. 46 Ford went around. The driver finished 15th as a result.
The final yellow of the day came out for Hailie Deegan one lap following the restart on lap 77. Deegan received right rear contact from the No. 15 Ford of Drew Dollar that sent her No. 4 Ford into the outside wall. The California native finished 14th.
The series will head to Iowa Speedway for the Shore Lunch 150 on July 18.
About Me: Brett has been following the sport of NASCAR since the beginning of the 2006 NASCAR Sprint Cup season. Since Brett was 13, he has had a passion of chasing a job in sports that not many get the opportunity of doing. He has been in the NASCAR media since the middle of the 2010 season. Since then, he has been a part of many racing podcast shows to improve his talents. He has written for racingonfuel.com and theracingwheel.com. Currently, Brett writes for motorsportsnat.com and TracksideChatter.com. You can find him on twitter @NASCAR_Brett.
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