LEXINGTON, Ohio — Jeff Gordon is back in the top five.
Okay, actually, it wasn’t Gordon, it was Thomas Annunziata. It also wasn’t in the NASCAR Cup Series, it was the ARCA Menards Series.
Annunziata finished fourth at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course in his No. 44 Ford, painted nearly identical to Gordon’s iconic No. 24 “Rainbow Warrior” Chevrolet that dominated the Cup Series in the 1990s.
The finish on Friday (June 21) is Annunziata’s second top five in just his third career ARCA start. The 19-year-old finished second in the season opener at Daytona International Speedway after avoiding a last-lap crash. Ironically, that came in another throwback, one that throws back to the classic NASCAR film Days of Thunder.
Unlike Daytona, which involved a little bit of luck, Annunziata’s run at Mid-Ohio was all skill, using his road racing expertise from his tenure in the Trans-Am National Championship to qualify a career-best fifth earlier in the afternoon.
The Colts Neck, N.J. native seldom left the top five the entire afternoon, running around second or third throughout. Following the halfway break, Annunziata found himself third but spent a majority of the second half of the race fending off Gio Ruggiero.
“Definitely learned a little bit more about the racing,” Annunziata told Frontstretch after the race. “It’s aggressive … definitely elbows out.”
A late caution for Lavar Scott set up a three-lap shootout to the finish. As the leaders entered turn 2 (more commonly known as “the keyhole”), then-second-place Connor Mosack drove in deep to try to take the lead back from Brent Crews. Annunziata took advantage of Mosack’s No. 28 sliding slightly up the track and slipped by underneath to take the lead.
“It looked like Mosack tried going down the inside in the keyhole,” said Annunziata. “I went even lower. I wheel hopped a little bit and moved him out of the way. We were three-wide coming off the corner and got them cleared. But that’s just racing.
“But going into turn 4 I got dumped.”
A Cinderella story was not meant to be for Annunziata and the Ferrier-McClure Racing group, as going into turn 4, Mosack sent Annunziata wide in retaliation for the contact in the keyhole. Annunziata made a quick lawn-mowing run in the grass before returning to the course in sixth.
“Not sure how I feel about that,” said Annunziata. “He came over here and said that I was roughing him up first, which is true, but everyone’s roughing each other up. So I don’t really appreciate getting wrecked.”
Annunziata was able to get back around the No. 17 of Marco Andretti to finish fifth. However it was then revealed that Mosack had been penalized for jumping the restart. Although he crossed the line first, he was not awarded the win, instead being handed a black flag and a 30-second time penalty. He was credited with finishing 13th, the last car on the lead lap.
With Mosack’s penalty, Annunziata was bumped up to fourth in the final running order. While it wasn’t the win he and his team were hoping for, it was another great finish for the young driver.
“[I’m sure it] won’t be the last time you guys will see me, and [I’ll] still try to get this thing in victory lane,” said Annunziata.
Perhaps running a throwback scheme is his good luck charm.
With just three starts in his ARCA career and a few more on the way, his finishes at both Daytona and Mid-Ohio leave him with utmost confidence with stock cars.
“I finished second at Daytona and I almost won the race here today,” said Annunziata. “I know I have the talent to do it. I have a great group of guys around me to do it.”
The one problem for him, as it is with most who want to go stock car racing, is funding.
“Unfortunately this sport, it comes down to funding,” said Annunziata. “So I’m looking for more funding and hopefully we can get some more rides in the future.”
Annunziata noted that he will run the ARCA race at Watkins Glen International with hopes of running some more ovals should funding be found. He also said the plan was to run some more races on a limited schedule with JD Motorsports in the NASCAR Xfinity Series after making his debut at Sonoma Raceway.
All the while, he will continue to run full-time in Trans-Am, where he is currently second in points in the TA2 class. Trans-Am is also at Mid-Ohio this weekend, and he will start last in the TA2 race on Saturday (June 22) after his qualifying time was disallowed.
The hope is that funding will come the more he puts his name out there and does well.
“Just continue to get notoriety and experience under my belt and hopefully we’ll see what happens next year,” said Annunziata.
Anthony Damcott joined Frontstretch in March 2022. Currently, he is an editor and co-authors Fire on Fridays (Fridays); he is also the primary Truck Series reporter/writer and secondary short track writer. He also serves as an at-track reporter and assists with social media when he can. A proud West Virginia Wesleyan College alum from Akron, Ohio, Anthony is now a grad student. He is a theatre actor and fight-choreographer-in-training in his free time.
You can keep up with Anthony by following @AnthonyDamcott on X.
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