Photo – Matt Sullivan/Getty Images
Austin Theriault muscled his way past Mason Mitchell with 17 laps to go to win at Michigan International Speedway.
The 20-year-old became the first driver in win in his ARCA début since Alex Bowman at Madison International Speedway in August 2011. Bowman also drove for Venturini Motorsports at the time.
“This race and the way I approached this race was very different,” Theriault said after the race. “I had never raced at a track bigger than a mile before. I was very conservative, yet we still finished second in qualifying. That told me we would be okay for the race.”
Theriault tried to side-draft Mitchell as the two made slight contact, the 66 car drove away to score the second win of the year for Venturini Motorsports.
“Once his (Theriault) car hit mine, my day was finished,” he said. “It caved in the whole right side. I felt like we had the car to beat. We had the dominant car all day.”
Mitchell led 65 of the 100 laps before the No. 98 faded late to settle for a runner-up finish. It was Mitchell’s second runner-up finish in as many weeks and his fifth in the last ten ARCA races.
“We have to look at the big picture,” he said. “I am coming out of here with the point lead. We are just going to stay positive. That first win will come.”
The Iowa driver set a blistering pace early on by jumping out to a 5.6 second lead over Theriault by lap 36. Both drivers came down pit road around lap 50 and the No. 98 team had trouble jacking up the one side of the car. After the cycle of green-flag pit stops, Theriault found himself in the lead by four seconds over Mitchell.
With his second-place finish, Mitchell unofficially leads the points by 30 over Grant Enfinger, who finished eighth in the race.
Justin Allison grabbed a career-best third place finish as John Wes Townley and Spencer Gallagher rounded out the top-five.
Corrigan Oil 200 Top-Ten
#66 Austin Theriault
#98 Mason Mitchell
#88 Justin Allison
#15 John Wes Townley
#23 Spencer Gallagher
#69 Will Kimmel
#44 Frank Kimmel
#90 Grant Enfinger
#22 Austin Wayne Self
#6 Josh Williams