Sammy Smith scored the victory in the season finale for the ARCA Menards Series at Toledo Speedway on Saturday. Smith, piloting the No. 18 Toyota for NASCAR veteran racer Kyle Busch, scored his sixth victory of the season.
Jesse Love led the majority of the race up front before losing the top spot when he received a tap from Sammy Smith in a three-car battle for the lead with Grant Enfinger. Love, who showed some post-race displeasures to winner Sammy Smith, rebounded to finish runner-up.
With the win, Sammy Smith clinched the 2022 owner points title for owner Kyle Busch.
Grant Enfinger went on to finish third in his first ARCA start since 2018.
Taylor Gray and Rajah Caruth rounded out the top five.
Nick Sanchez claimed the 2022 ARCA Menards Series driver championship by placing sixth. Sanchez entered the event two points ahead of Daniel Dye and had to finish within three spots ahead of Dye before owner points became a factor.
Early on, Daniel Dye led the standings before issues slowed the team down. First, he had issues getting the car re-fired after the first race break. Then second, had a mechanical issue with a ball joint that sent the No. 43 team to the garage area for 36 laps before returning. Dye finished 18th.
Sanchez finishes the year with three victories, 10 top five, and 16 top 10 finishes.
The rest of the top 10 finishers included Landon Pembelton, Matthew Gould, Greg Van Alst, and Amber Balcean.
The series heads into its offseason and will return next season on the high banks of Daytona International Speedway during Speedweeks in February 2023.
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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