JOLIET, Ill. — Report by Race Chaser Online Managing Editor Jacob Seelman — ARCA photo —
Call him the ‘Comeback Kid’.
After crashing his Lira Motorsports Ford in Menards Pole Qualifying on Saturday afternoon, Ryan Reed pedaled the drive of his career, charging from last to the top five in 12 laps and then leading the final 70 laps of the SCOTT 150 to claim his first career ARCA Racing Series presented by Menards victory Saturday afternoon at Chicagoland Speedway.
The win makes Reed the sixth-consecutive driver to score his first career victory in the series this season, joining Blake Jones (Talladega), Todd Gilliland (Toledo), Kyle Weatherman (New Jersey), Trevor Bayne (Pocono) and Ross Kenseth (Michigan).
“Since we unloaded, Carlos (Lira) gave me a car that it was my job to mess up, really, which I tried to in qualifying, but, luckily, we were good enough to overcome that,” Reed said. “All of the guys did a great job. My job was easy in this thing from the moment I hopped in it — we just kind of cruised.”
Reed, who drives full-time for Roush Fenway Racing in the NASCAR XFINITY Series, becomes the 15th different winner in 15 ARCA races all-time at Chicagoland Speedway.
“I have to thank Jack [Roush] for letting me [come] and drive this thing,” Reed added. “It was a lot of fun.”
“Ryan did a great job,” Roush said of his driver. “Carlos gave him some advice after he wrecked in qualifying. He said he needed to proceed tonight like a mouse chasing cheese, just a little bit at a time.”
Cautions plagued the early portion of the event, with four yellow flags flying by the time the race reached quarter-distance. The most serious of those were the third and fourth yellows on laps 12 and 24 — Cody Coughlin blew two right front tires after starting from the pole and leading the first three laps of the event, the second tire failure on the frontstretch ending his night with severe right front damage to his JEGS Toyota.
Will Kimmel took the lead on lap four and led until lap 19, when the ARRIS Toyota of Coughlin’s teammate Daniel Suarez charged to the bottom of the race track to pace the circuit. Kimmel rolled back by on the next lap and continued to pace the field until the restart following Coughlin’s second incident, when Ryan Reed charged from the back after a crash in qualifying to take the lead for the first time at lap 31.
From there, Reed put on a clinic at the front of the field, stretching his advantage out to almost two seconds over Kimmel by the time the race reached the halfway point. Though Kimmel would cut back into the lead, shaving it down to three tenths of a second, the fifth caution of the night would change the complexion of the event when Suarez’s motor expired in a massive fireball at lap 64.
That yellow would send all the leaders down pit road, but do nothing to slow Reed’s momentum. The Bakersfield, Calif. native won the race off the pit lane, led the field back to green with 29 laps remaining and never looked back en route to his first career ARCA victory in his 16th start.
Grant Enfinger, who appeared to not be a factor through the first half of the event, roared back to life in the closing stages, taking the runner-up spot from Will Kimmel with 14 laps to go and holding onto the position to the end.
“It was a great night for us at GMS Racing,” Enfinger said. “We were fighting tightness all day yesterday in practice and it was completely opposite today in the race and we were incredibly loose. After the last pit stop, [crew chief] Kelly Kovski made the call to make some really great adjustments that I wish we could have made earlier in the race.”
“I was hoping for a late race caution to race for the lead but second place is a great finish for us. Thank you to Alamo Rent-A-Car and all of our supporters.”
Will Kimmel, Matt Tifft and Frank Kimmel rounded out the top five. Frank was running second coming to the final restart, but adjustments made by crew chief Ryan ‘Pickle’ London did not suit the Menards Toyota’s liking, sending the ten-time series champion sliding backwards in the closing stages.
Matt Kurzejewski finished sixth to garner his fifth straight top ten finish in ARCA competition, followed by Josh Williams in seventh, who was making his debut for Cunningham Motorsports. Sarah Cornett-Ching tied her career-best mark with an eighth place result, the last car on the lead lap.
Austin Wayne Self, who charged to second behind Reed on the restart, lost a left rear tire with 19 laps to go after contact from Matt Tifft while the pair was battling inside the top three, turning the 18-year-old’s night sour. Self was credited with the 12th finishing position, two laps down.
The next ARCA Racing Series event will be the Herr’s Chaste the Taste 200 at Winchester Speedway on Sunday, June 28 (CBS Sports Network).
RESULTS: ARCA Racing Series; SCOTT 150; Chicagoland Speedway; June 20, 2015
- Ryan Reed
- Grant Enfinger
- Will Kimmel
- Matt Tifft
- Frank Kimmel
- Matt Kurzejewski
- Josh Williams
- Sarah Cornett-Ching
- David Levine
- Tom Hessert
- Bobby Gerhart
- Austin Wayne Self
- Tom Berte
- James Swanson
- Bobby Hamilton Jr.
- Tyler Audie
- Bo LeMastus
- Ed Pompa
- Andy Seuss
- Ryan Heavner
- Thomas Praytor
- Daniel Suarez
- John Lowinski-Loh
- Con Nicolopoulos
- Josh White
- Cody Coughlin
- Wayne Peterson
- Mark Meunier
- Mike Harmon
- Kevin Hinckle
- Richard Hauck (DNS)
