In one of the wildest races in ARCA history, a win at Daytona can mean a lot for Greg Van Alst and his small team.
On the final lap of the ARCA race at Daytona, Alst made a last lap pass on Jason White in the final corner, and held off the rest of the field to earn his first career win.
“Guys like me are not supposed to be able to do this,” stated an emotional Alst during an interview. “It’s everything I’ve got, it’s the only speedway car we’ve got, there’s no way I was going to bring it home without the steering wheel and a trophy, and that was it. This is for all the short-track racers out there that don’t think you can get to this level, I’ve worked my ass off to get here, and we did it, yeah!”
Alst first raced in ARCA back in 2002, and didn’t return to the series again until 2021, running for his own team. When he’s not racing, he operates a fencing company called Top Choice Fence.
Joe Gibbs Racing driver Connor Mosack came home in the second position, with Sean Corr ending up in the third spot. Lavar Scott, making a one off start with Rev Racing, and Mandy Chick, running her first superspeedway race, would finish in fourth and fifth, respectively.
Venturini Motorsports would end their winning streak at Daytona, as Amber Balcaen scored the highest finish for the team, sixth position, with teammate Jesse Love finishing seventh, along with Jack Wood and Jason White earning eighth and ninth. Despite spinning in the late stages of the race, Dale Quarterley would round out the top ten.
Jason Kitzmiller, who led several laps throughout the race, would finish in 19th after being involved in a late race wreck. Frankie Muniz, making his first ARCA Menards Series start, finished in 11th after surviving most of the chaos up front.
The second ARCA Menards Series race will take place on 10 March, at Phoenix Raceway, which will also be a combination race with the West Series.
