Tyler Ankrum wins ARCA race at Mid-Ohio
Photo Courtesy: Zach Catanzareti
Tyler Ankrum won the ARCA Menard’s Series Zinsser SmartCoat 150 at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course, earning his first ARCA National win. Ankrum was the 2018 ARCA East champion (K&N Pro Series East at the time) and has run in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series full-time since 2020. He ran the extra ARCA event to get more reps on the track before tomorrow’s Truck Series race.
It was an eventful day for Ankrum in the No. 61 Hattori Racing Enterprises Toyota as he had to work past the entire field in the late stretch of the race after getting off track and falling to the rear from the front on a restart.
He had led or battled for the lead through the entirety of the early race before the midway caution. It took him until five laps remaining to earn back the lead, but once he did there was no looking back as he continuously grew his lead on the field.
On the final lap quite a bit of controversy was stirred as 16-year-old pole-winner Sean Hingorani wrecked his Venturini Motorsports teammate Dean Thompson in retaliation for an earlier incident.
Hingorani had been strong at the front all day battling for the lead, and he and Thompson passed a struggling Jesse Love with about 10 laps remaining. Thompson led the duo, but as the racing got tighter Hingorani was not afraid of making contact while trying to drive underneath Thompson’s inside rear-quarter panel. Thompson eventually had enough, driving back against the pressure and he rode Hingorani into the grass on the front stretch causing him to spin out of contention.
Hingorani appeared to be slowing up during the closing laps to just bring the car around and finish clean. However, he had other plans, and as the leaders came around to lap him on the final lap he wrecked Thompson into a sandpit costing them both a good finish.
Jesse Love in 4th was the lone top-5 finisher for Venturini after the team had three cars run up there during the race. Love started in the rear after not running in qualifying but worked up to the lead after the halfway mark when Ankrum ran off-track and through the sand. Love held his lead until mechanical troubles slowed him up allowing Thompson to pass for the lead.
Joe Gibbs Racing driver William Sawalich had a quiet day for a 2nd-place finisher. But that was probably a good thing with the rest of the chaos happening around him at the front of the pack. The 16-year-old gained some valuable experience ahead of his second run with TRICON Garage in the No. 1 truck tomorrow. He’s starting 8th after he placed 9th at Martinsville earlier this year.
Rev Racing No. 6 driver Jack Wood earned his best career finish in any of the ARCA Series’ with a third-place day at Mid-Ohio. It was his second top-5 of the season and he’s finished top 10 in all but one of his six starts.
62-year-old road course racer Dale Quarterly rounded out the top-5 after taking a spin early in the race. While running near the front he forced a tight three-wide situation, slotting himself in the middle of Sawalich and Rev Racing No. 2 driver Andres Perez. Perez ate some contact in the incident and fell back before he drove into the back of Quarterly, spinning him into the grass.
Quarterly was able to make up his race and finish strong, but Perez had troubles with his car down the stretch and finished in 15th, 2 laps down.
Next week the ARCA National Series hosts a joint race with ARCA East at Iowa Speedway. The race is Saturday, July 15 at 8:00 p.m. ET and it will be shown on FS2.