Nick Sanchez went to victory lane for the first time in his ARCA Menards Series career on Saturday night (Oct. 23).
Sanchez passed Ty Gibbs on a green-white-checkered restart to win the Reese’s 150 at Kansas Speedway.
“Aero, I just tried to have a great restart,” Sanchez told MAVTV on how he won. “Winning is unreal. It’s been two years since I’ve gotten a win and I got [my first] one in ARCA. … It took us all 20 races to get here, but we got it.”
Gibbs won the championship by just starting the race, and Corey Heim won the General Tire Superspeedway Championship for Venturini Motorsports.
How about @Nicksanchez080?!?
The @RevRacin driver steals the win at @kansasspeedway from champion @TyGibbs_ in a green-white-checkered finish for his first victory ? pic.twitter.com/iLkZeaXFJW
— ARCA Menards Series (@ARCA_Racing) October 24, 2021
“It’s been awesome,” Gibbs told MAVTV. “I wish we could have won the race there. It doesn’t matter. We won the championship.
“… It’s awesome for him [car owner and grandfather Joe Gibbs] and my whole family, I wouldn’t be here without them. Family is everything.”
When he was reminded that he won the NASCAR Xfinity Series race earlier on Saturday at Kansas, Gibbs jokingly said “Oh, I forgot about that one.”
Heim finished in third, but he almost had that taken away from him. He was initially penalized for passing Gibbs before he crossed the line on the final restart. But after the control tower reviewed it, the penalty was rescinded and his finish stood.
Drew Dollar finished in fourth as the last car on the lead lap, and JP Bergeron rounded out the top five.
It looked from the start that Gibbs would win the race and the championship as he rocketed away from the field. Gibbs, at one point, lapped everyone up to the second position.
After the race break, Sanchez challenged Gibbs, but to no avail, as the No. 18 continued to dominate the night. That changed Eric Caudell cut a tire and hit the wall with six laps left.
? Caution ?
Eric Caudell has a right front tire go down with just SIX laps to go at @kansasspeedway
Can anybody beat @TyGibbs_ to the checkered?@MAVTV | @_TrackPass pic.twitter.com/I22k8l27gk
— ARCA Menards Series (@ARCA_Racing) October 24, 2021
Sanchez made a move around Heim on a green-white-checkered restart and quickly got to Gibbs and passed him. Sanchez held on through the final lap to win his first race in ARCA.
