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Tanner Gray Survives Late-Race Restart, Wins ARCA Race at Kansas

Tanner Gray had the fastest racecar throughout the Reese’s 150 at Kansas Speedway on Friday (Sept. 27) evening. He restarted on the front row alongside leader Amber Balcaen, endured contact on the restart and his left-rear tire survived long enough to win the ARCA Menards Series race.

It’s his second career win, both coming this season, and the 10th for Joe Gibbs Racing.

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Connor Zilisch drove through the field, after starting at the rear due to adjustments made after qualifying, to finish second.

Lavar Scott finished third, followed by Corey Day and Gio Ruggiero..

Balcaen was the only driver who stayed out during the final caution flag period, but her older tires proved no match for the frontrunners and she came home sixth.

Andy Jankowiak dashed to second during the final green-flag run, but contact from Day left him in seventh, last of the lead-lap finishers.

Yes, Gray’s torrid pace left only seven on the lead lap. Lawless Alan, Isaac Johnson and Jason Kitzmiller completed the top 10 in eighth through 10th, respectively.

The penultimate race of the 2024 season saw struggles from expected contenders.

On lap 2, polesitter Isabella Robusto tried clearing herself in front of points leader Andres Perez, but instead, Robusto wound up with a wrecked No. 55 Venturini Motorsports Toyota.

“I messed up a little bit in [turns] 3 and 4 and took a little shallow of an entry and just messed up my run off turn 4 and some cars got really good runs,” Robusto told Frontstretch after being successfully released from the infield care center. “And I thought I was clear to the top. I don’t know what the replay shows but I ended up getting turned so [it] ended our day. Not how I wanted but still at least was able to run some laps.”

Perez’s day didn’t improve either. Likely due to the damage he sustained from his contact with Robusto, his No. 2 Chevrolet cut a tire and he hit the wall.

His Rev Racing team did not quit though. Although he finished 21st, the points gained leave him with a comfortable lead heading into the season finale at Toledo.

There were a few other cautions in the race, but the last one set up the single-lap dash to the finish. Third-in-points Kris Wright ran inside the top 10 for most of the race, but on lap 91, his racecar blew a tire, sending him hard into the wall and relegating him to an 18th-place result.

On the final restart, Gray took the lead, his tire withstood the contact long enough and he began the first race of his same-day doubleheader in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series to take home the ARCA trophy.

ARCA Results from Kansas

ARCA wraps its season next Saturday (Oct. 5) at Toledo Speedway. That race will take place at 4 p.m. ET on FOX Sports 2 and FloRacing.

About the author

Frontstretch.com

Mark Kristl joined Frontstretch at the beginning of the 2019 NASCAR season. He is the site's ARCA Menards Series editor. Kristl is also an Eagle Scout and a proud University of Dayton alum.

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