Sean Hingorani sweeps the ARCA West weekend at Irwindale Speedway by winning the West Coast Stock Car Motorsports Hall of Fame 150
IRWINDALE, Calif. — Sean Hingorani capped off his reunion with Venturini Motorsports in the ARCA Menards Series West platform by sweeping both events at Irwindale Speedway as part of Independence Day weekend.
Sean Hingorani Sweeps the ARCA West Weekend at Irwindale Speedway
The second night was more challenging for Hingorani than the first.
After his teammate Isabella Robusto lost a right front tire with 29 laps remaining, Hingorani had to hang on through two late restarts to claim his second consecutive victory. He then had to wait out a ruling on whether he jumped the final restart, but ARCA Menards Series officials’ decided there was no violation.
Although the ruling favored Hingorani, he never doubted that his last restart was perfectly executed.
“My restarts have been good all season,” Hingorani said. “These guys at Venturini really taught me how to restart these ARCA cars. We had to restart for wins last year and we got here into a position to do it this year. It just came natural to me, and I couldn’t be more thankful for my guys.”
Irwindale has quickly become one of Hingorani’s favorite tracks. Of his six West Series victories, half are at the half-mile oval.
Recapping the Race
Adding to his Irwindale win total required Hingorani to exercise patience during the opening 90 laps. He spent most of Saturday’s event following Trevor Huddleston on the top groove before methodically building momentum on the bottom eventually allowing Hingorani to take second.
Robusto’s flat tire gave Hingorani the opportunity he needed. With a clear track ahead of him, Hingorani could focus on playing defense and perfecting the final two restarts of the evening, which he accomplished to celebrate in front of the Irwindale crowd again.
Tyler Reif, who lined up on the front row for the overtime attempt, believed Hingorani should have been penalized for the advantage he obtained. Despite his frustrations, Reif took pride in being able to battle the Venturini Motorsports armada at Irwindale all weekend while driving for a small operation like Central Coast Racing.
“It was a good race up until the end,” Reif said. “I thought we had a restart line. [Connor Mosack] jumped it in the national race [at the Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course] and got a 30 second penalty. We’re a four-car garage versus a NASCAR garage out of North Carolina. We’re putting up a good fight and we’re going to get them at the next one.”
A victory for Reif on Saturday night is something he knows would have been crucial toward withstanding a surging Hingorani.
The Venturini Partnership is Building Momentum for Hingorani
The charge from the defending West Series champion comes after bouncing around three different organizations during the first four events of the 2024 season. Now that he has settled back into the Venturini fold, Hingorani is confident he can keep accumulating trophies and secure a second consecutive title.
“We need to keep our momentum up,” Hingorani said. “I feel like we’ve been executing really well every week. We had a brake failure at Portland [International Raceway] and that’s the only setback we’ve had so far this year. Things have been rocky at times, but we’ve been pushing through it [and now] here we are.”
The West Coast Stock Car Hall of Fame 150 Results
Jack Wood took advantage of the late-race chaos to bring home a second-place finish at Irwindale, his best performance of the 2024 season so far. Following Reif in the top five was polesitter Nick Joanides, who started at the rear of the field after making an unapproved adjustment, along with Jaron Giannini.
The ARCA West Point Standings
Sean Hingorani now holds the lead in the series point standings by two points over Tyler Reif. Jack Wood, Trevor Huddleston, and Kyle Keller complete the top five.
Next Up
After a hectic three days at Irwindale Speedway, the ARCA Menards Series West competitors get a brief reprieve before traveling to Shasta Speedway on July 27. The Shasta 150 commences at 8:30 p.m. PT/11:30 p.m. ET that evening, with live coverage provided by FloRacing.