Tanner Reif dominated the NAPA Auto Parts 150 at Irwindale Speedway on Saturday by leading all 150 laps and then some in an ARCA Overtime finish. Reif, just 16-years-old from Las Vegas, Nevada, started on the pole with a time of 18.436, 97.635 mph.
“This is the best damn day of my life,” said an excited and out-of-breath Reif in victory lane. “I think it’s the first of many. I think we’re here to stay. I really think so as the team did such a good job.”
Cole Moore finishes 1.494 seconds behind race winner Tanner Reif. The second-place starter piloting the No. 99 BBB Industries Chevrolet leaves Irwindale with his fifth top-five and eighth career ARCA West top 10 finish.
“Second was really good for what we had,” said Moore.
Moore is already circling the next race at Kern County Raceway on the calendar next month.
“Going to Kern the next race, one of my favorite tracks, we’ll be a threat upfront for sure.”
Reif scored his first career win in just his second career start. He placed 16th in the season opener at Phoenix.
“I’ve trained every day and dedicated my life to this,” continued Reif. “I’ve put in more work than I think I have done for anything.”
Austin Herzog picked up his first career ARCA West top-five finish on Saturday at Irwindale. Herzog, sporting NAPA as the sponsor on his No. 16 Chevrolet, started eighth out of 15 cars.
Jake Drew and Paul Pedroncelli Jr. rounded out the top five finishers.
Trevor Huddleston gave chase to leader Tanner Reif all evening long in his No. 50 entry. However, in the green-white-checker restart with two to go, Huddleston made contact with Jake Drew and Cole Moore and slid back to sixth. Huddleston began the night in fourth.
Takuma Koga, Sebastian Arias, Todd Souza, and Joey Iest rounded out the top 10.
Iest brought out the caution on lap 60 when his No. 54 machine made hard contact with the outside wall. Iest showed strength upfront, sitting second on the leaderboard when the incident occured.
The final yellow of the night came out with four circuits to go when lapped car Chris Lowden received a tap from third-place runner Jake Drew. Lowden’s No. 11 then slid up into the outside wall.
Lowden finished 13th and 10 laps down.
Only two yellows as a result of on-track incidents slowed the field while the second caution of the night was for the halfway break at lap 75.
The ARCA Menards Series West will return on April 23rd at Kern County Raceway Park. Coverage of the event will air live on FloRacing.
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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