Tanner Gray earns a thrilling ARCA Menards Series victory at Kansas Speedway on Friday evening in the Reese’s 150.
KANSAS CITY, Kan. — Although the stat sheet will show Tanner Gray dominated Friday’s Reese’s 150 at Kansas Speedway, his journey to the checkered flag was anything but smooth.
Tanner Gray Earns a Thrilling ARCA Menards Series Victory at Kansas
Contact with Amber Balcaen on the day’s final restart left Gray with a slow leak in his left rear tire, but he still had enough car and tire to hold off Connor Zilisch, Corey Day, and Andy Jankowiak in the final laps. Gray’s resolve, and his tire, lasted until the checkered flag, resulting in his second ARCA Menards Series victory of 2024.
One more lap and Gray would have been denied the victory because his left rear tire went flat just as he reached the first turn on the cooldown lap. He was fortunate the tire lasted to the finish so that he could celebrate putting together a complete race behind the wheel of Joe Gibbs Racing’s No. 18 Toyota.
“It’s obviously gratifying when you can come here and close these things out,” Gray said. “We’ve been in a position to win most of them this year, but I haven’t done a good a very good job on the restarts at the end. It’s been a lot of fun racing with [Joe Gibbs Racing] this year and hopefully, we can do this some more in the future.”
Almost a Kansas Sweep for Tanner Gray
Gray nearly swept the two ARCA Menards Series events at Kansas this year.
The Tide 150 in May saw Gray lead a race-high 86 laps from the pole. Despite building a ten-second advantage at one point, Gray could not fend off Connor Mosack in the Pinnacle Racing Group No. 28, who made the race-winning pass with 14 laps remaining.
Joe Gibbs Racing versus Pinnacle Racing Group at Kansas
Instead of dealing with one PRG Chevrolet on Friday evening, Gray had to deal with two. One, piloted by Zilisch, and the other, piloted by Day in the No. 82. Both young prospects kept Gray honest throughout the Reese’s 150, with Day nearly taking the lead from Gray twice.
Contact with Day while battling for the lead initially had Gray worried about his left rear tire. The decision by Gray’s crew chief Matt Ross to leave him on track while Day pitted proved to be the correct one, as Gray held steady and survived the intense final restart to take home the win.
Of the three drivers chasing Gray, Zilisch had the best opportunity to overtake him with Gray and Jankowiak colliding in the first turn on the final lap. Despite a valiant charge, Zilisch needed an additional lap to take advantage of Gray’s tire failure after the checkered flag.
Connor Zilisch Seeking Redemption after His Disappointing Outing at Bristol
Fresh off a disappointing outing at Bristol Motor Speedway that saw his ARCA Menards Series East title hopes get erased due to a crash with Logan Misuraca, Zilisch felt Kansas was a perfect venue to rebound. He believed a victory was possible without Gray’s punctured tire had Balcaen not stayed out on the final restart with older tires.
“I don’t really know what the thought process was on [Balcaen’s] team staying out there,” Zilisch said. “I get it. There’s three to go and you want a chance at the win, but it’s frustrating. We had a car capable of winning there, but I’m still super proud of this Pinnacle Racing Group team. We had a good clean day and I learned a lot.”
Despite the East Series championship last week, the season-long rivalry following both Gibbs and PRG was still on. Gray’s triumph at Kansas gave the Gibbs No. 18 team ten victories in the national ARCA Menards Series this season compared to the six wins by the PRG No. 28.
Gray notching another win for Gibbs was destiny, ensuring he could finish out a dominant afternoon. The circumstances may have been stressful, but Gray trusted his own experience and the speed of his car to cap off an efficient day at Kansas.
“After about five or seven laps, I thought we were a pretty dominant car,” Gray said. “This is a testament to everyone at Joe Gibbs Racing. We had a lot of adversity thrown at us throughout the race and we were able to handle it all, so I’m really proud of them.”
The Reese’s 150 Results
Lavar Scott came home third behind Gray and Zilisch, with Day and Gio Ruggiero completing the top five. Rounding out the top ten were Balcaen, Jankowiak, Lawless Alan, Isaac Johnson, and Jason Kitzmiller.
The ARCA Menards Series Point Standings
Andres Perez leads the series point standings by 35 points over Lavar Scott heading into the series finale next week.
The ARCA Menards Series Season Finale is Next
Only one race remains before the 2024 ARCA Menards Series season officially goes into the record books. Next Saturday, October 5th at Toledo Speedway, a champion will emerge during the Owens Corning 200, which airs live on FS2 at 4 p.m. ET.