Trevor Huddleston Dominates ARCA West at Madera

For the fourth time in his career and the first time this season, Trevor Huddleston found victory lane in the ARCA Menards Series West. The 28-year-old led the most laps en route to victory at Madera Speedway Saturday night (Sept. 28).

While being interviewed for the win in victory lane, Huddleston proposed to his girlfriend, as the two met at the track 10 years prior.

Finishing runner-up behind Huddleston was Sean Hingorani, who took over the championship lead after Tyler Reif had mechanical issues halfway through the race. 

Ethan Nascimento crossed the line in third, with Eric Johnson Jr. finishing fourth, and Kyle Keller rounding out the top-five, in fifth.

Pole sitter Jaron Giannini, Takuma Koga, Henry Barton, Rip Michels and Michael Killen completed the top 10 in sixth through 10th, respectively.

At the start of the race, Giannini took the lead as the field worked out of turn 4 for the first time. However, just seven laps later, Huddleston pulled a crossover on him, taking possession of the lead shortly before the caution flag fell for a spinning Jack Wood. 

The field saw the green flag wave once again on lap 17, with Huddleston quickly regaining possession of the lead. However, the run wouldn’t last long, as the caution flew once again less than 10 laps later. Eric Nascimento stalled his No. 4 on the frontstretch on lap 22 to bring out the yellow. 

After a quick yellow flag period, the green flag waved once again on lap 25, but the race would quickly see another yellow as Michels spun on the exit of turn 4.

The green flag waved again on lap 30, with Huddleston again taking the lead. However, it was Hingorani who was the biggest mover on the restart, getting around Giannini for second. Huddleston, however, pulled away from the battle, receiving little to no pressure for about 25 laps before yet another caution was thrown on the track. This time, Kyle Whisner went for a spin on the exit of turn 2, losing it on his own at the rear of the field. 

It would again be a quick yellow flag period, as the field took the green flag four laps after the caution flew. This particular restart which much closer, as Hingorani got to the outside of Huddleston. However, with the preferred line, Huddleston got out front and began to pull away from Hingorani. Behind the leader, a hard-fought three-way battle took place for multiple laps, featuring Nascimento, Giannini and Hingorani. 

Roughly seven laps past the halfway mark in the race, the caution fell once again. This time, it was David Smith who went for a spin on the exit of turn 2. A few laps prior to the caution, Takuma Koga went airborne after contact with Souza, but both drivers continued. 

On the restart, Huddleston was again contested by Hingorani, with the two even making slight contact. Despite an attempted bump and run, the driver of the No. 50 was able to begin pulling away from Hingorani once again. The green flag run ended quickly, though, as the caution flew again with 52 laps to go. Wood again went for a spin, and well after the car came to a rest in the middle of turns 3 and 4, Whisner made contact with the front end of the No. 16. Wood’s car leaked significant fluid from the contact, prompting a lengthy red flag for clean up. Despite this, Wood continued on. 

As the cars got rolling again, championship leader Reif’s No. 13 did not refire and was pushed to pit road, dropping him outside the top 10 with less than 50 laps to go. 

The green flag waved again on lap 109 with 41 laps to go, and Huddleston quickly jumped out to the lead as the field fell single file behind him. Just as it appeared the race would go green to the end, Killen went for a spin in turn 1. Under the caution, Reif attempted to gain a few more spots to buffer the championship gap, but he stalled again on the race track, effectively ending his night.

With less than 20 laps to go, the race restarted yet again, and it was Huddleston who reclaimed the lead. Hingorani received some pressure from Giannini on the restart, but the field quickly fell single file once again after a few laps.  

The caution would fly one more time with under five laps to go, as Wood went around for the third time in the race, and it appeared as if he had help from Souza. 

On the final restart of the race, Hingorani gave Huddleston the most pressure he had received all race, but a slip up in turn 3 coming to the white flag gave Huddleston the edge he needed to take the checkered flag. 

ARCA Menards Series West West Coast Stock Car Motorsports Hall of Fame 150 Results

The next time ARCA West takes to the track, it’ll be next Saturday, Oct. 5. The series will head to the All American Speedway, with the green flag coming shortly before 11 p.m. ET. The race will be aired on FloRacing.