For the second time this week, Sean Hingorani has won an ARCA Menards Series West race at Irwindale Speedway.
Hingorani retook the lead from teammate Isabella Robusto after she had a mechanical failure. After some late-race dramatics, including an official replay review of the final restart, the 17-year-old took the checkered flag for the second time this week.
Jack Wood finished in second, marking his best effort of the season for Bill McAnally Racing.
“Wasn’t expecting to run like that, didn’t really think we had the speed to run second,” Wood told FloRacing post-race. “Things just kinda fell our way there at the end, and we executed on restarts.”
Tyler Reif crossed the line in third place, with polesitter Nick Joanides finishing fourth, and Jaron Giannini finishing fifth in his second career ARCA start.
To round out the top 10, Kole Raz finished sixth, followed by Todd Souza in seventh, Jake Finch in eighth, Trevor Huddleston in ninth, and Eric Johnson Jr. in 10th.
On the initial start of the race, polesitter Joanides fell to the rear of the field due to an unapproved adjustment, leaving the lead to Robusto. Robusto retained the lead after some contact with Reif, but quickly lost it to Huddleston, who made an aggressive move to the bottom of the racetrack. The two continued to run first and second until lap 15 when a spin by Garrett Zacharias brought out the first caution of the race.
The following restart saw less competition up front, as Huddleston settled into a car-length lead over Robusto by the time the field entered turn 3. The two ran within a couple of car lengths of each other for the majority of the green-flag run, until lap 53 when the two raced side-by-side. The pair made contact, but Huddleston kept the lead, with Robusto riding closely behind. All the while, polesitter Joanides made his way up to fourth by this point in the race.
However, 10 laps later, while working through lapped traffic, Huddleston got loose on the bottom of the racetrack, paving the way for Robusto to pass for the lead.
From that point, Robusto put a gap over Huddleston, as Joanides and Hingorani closed in on the front pair. By the time the race reached 50 laps to go, Robusto held a second and a half lead over Huddleston, thanks in part to lapped traffic.
However, it would be the same lapped traffic that slowed Robusto a few laps later, allowing Hingorani and Huddleston to close the gap, despite running side by side.
As the leaders worked through the traffic with just under 30 laps to go, Robusto led by 1.5 seconds over her teammate Hingorani, who had made the pass for second.
Only a few laps later, disaster struck for Robusto. The 19-year-old made contact with the outside wall from the lead, forcing her to drive her Venturini Motorsports entry right down pit road, ending her race prematurely.
Meanwhile, Hingorani capitalized on the misfortune of his teammate and gained the lead with under 25 laps to go. The caution flew a few laps later as Huddleston slowed on track from second place with a flat tire, similar to Robusto’s issue only a few laps prior.
The field took the green flag again with 10 laps to go, and Hingorani jumped to the lead after Joanides spun his tires, stacking up the inside line behind him. The stack up allowed Reif to move to second.
The caution flew once again with under five laps to go, as Finch went around in turn 4 after contact with Joanides, setting the race up for a green-white-checkered overtime finish.
On the restart, Hingorani pulled away from Reif, and despite a late charge from Wood, held off the field to take the checkered flag. There was a bit of post-race dramatics, as there was an official review of Hingorani jumping the final restart, but ARCA officials deemed it legal, giving the VMS driver the win.
The next time ARCA West will hit the track again is Saturday, July 27, at Shasta Speedway in Anderson, California. The next ARCA-sanctioned race, however, will take place on Friday, July 19, when the ARCA Menards Series and ARCA Menards Series East run a combination race at Lucas Oil Indianapolis Raceway Park. The green flag for that race will wave at 5:30 p.m. ET that evening.
About the author
Josh joined Frontstretch in 2023 and currently covers the ARCA Menards Series. Born and raised in Missouri, Josh has been watching motorsports since 2005. He currently is studying for a Mass Communication degree at Lindenwood University
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