Photo – AP/Nam Y. Huh
Mason Mitchell finally broke into victory lane in the ARCA Racing Series at Chicagoland Speedway on Saturday.
Mitchell passed Justin Boston for the lead with six laps to go and never looked back for his first career win in the series. The 20-year-old driver had four runner-up finishes in his last six races before his win this weekend.
Spencer Gallagher showed speed throughout the race by leading 70 of the first 72 laps before being passed by Boston.
Pole-sitter John Wes Townley ran toward the front early before a blown tire on lap 23 sent him into wall and ended his day.
Matt Tifft came home in third and hovered around the top-five all race long. The 18-year-old appeared to have a better car on the longer runs in his No. 52 Chevrolet and was the SCOTT rookie of the race. Tifft will run the next two ARCA races at Lucas Oil Raceway and Pocono Raceway.
The Ansell ActivArmr 150 was a nice showing for Will Kimmel, who led the first two laps on the day. Kimmel came home in the fourth-place, despite not having third gear late in the race.
Cody Coughlin rounded out the top-five and was fastest in the lone ARCA practice session on Friday. Second quickest in practice, Austin Wayne Self, didn’t have the same good fortune as Coughlin, as he crashed his No. 22 Dodge during qualifying and then again during Saturday’s race.
Gallagher finished sixth after leading early, as Grant Enfinger, Justin Allison, Tom Hessert and Frank Kimmel rounded out the top-ten.
With Mitchell’s win, he re-takes the points lead and now leads by 25 over Enfinger. Those two drivers are distancing themselves from the rest of the ARCA field for the championship. Frank Kimmel sits third in points, but is 250 points behind Mitchell.
Mitchell has finished in the top-ten in the last 20 ARCA races dating back to Pocono Raceway last August.
With this win, Ford (three wins) still trails Dodge and Chevrolet at Chicagoland in ARCA competition, each of which has four wins.
The series will head next to the .686 mile Lucas Oil Raceway at Indianapolis Friday night for the first time since 2012. Frank Kimmel won the last time out there to snap a four-year winless streak in the series.
The SCOTT Get Geared Up 200 presented by Federated Car Care will broadcast live on Friday, July 25 at 9 p.m. ET on FOX Sports 1.
Ansell ActivArmr Top-Ten