The penultimate race of the 2024 ARCA Menards Series season certainly delivered drama. Five cautions’ worth yielded only 17 of the 28 drivers finishing the race at Kansas Speedway and only seven finished on the lead lap.
When the checkered flag flew, Tanner Gray celebrated with his second winning burnout of the season. He then hopped into his No. 15 TRICON Garage Toyota and finished a season-best sixth in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series race, also at Kansas afterward.
Rev Racing drivers Andres Perez and Lavar Scott will finish first and second, not necessarily in that order, in points when the season finishes on Saturday (Oct. 5) at Toledo Speedway. However, neither is on the front row of the power rankings post-Kansas.
1. Tanner Gray
Gray was dominant at Kansas. He posted the fastest lap in the race, led at the halfway point and led a race-high 88 of the 100 laps.
Even with damage sustained to his left-rear tire on the final restart, Gray prevailed with a 0.312-second margin of victory.
“It’s obviously gratifying when you can come here and close these things out,” Gray said post-race. “We’ve been in a position to win most of them this year, but I haven’t done a good a very good job on the restarts at the end. It’s been a lot of fun racing with [Joe Gibbs Racing] this year and hopefully we can do this some more in the future.”
Entering this year, Gray had 15 ARCA starts with stats reading three top fives, nine top 10s and 16 laps led. This year, he has two wins, five top fives, five top 10s and 260 laps led.
Yes, he is in top-tier equipment in the No. 18 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota, but it still takes skill to win races. Just ask all the series regulars who have been shut out of victory lane.
Gray’s Kansas performance has him not only in the rankings but also out front in first.
2. William Sawalich
Even though he was underage and therefore ineligible to compete at Kansas, William Sawalich still leads the series in a number of categories: Wins, top fives, poles, laps led, and most Richmond Water Heaters Halfway Leader awards.
Gray’s win was Joe Gibbs Racing’s 10th win of the ’24 season, matching Jesse Love’s championship-winning total from last year. The No. 18 team also won 10 times in 2021 en route to the championship with Ty Gibbs. This year, the No. 18 team is 99 points ahead of the VMS No. 20 in owner points. So long as Sawalich starts at Toledo, the team will win the owners title for the fourth time in five years.
Those accolades have Sawalich second on the power rankings leaderboard.
3. Connor Zilisch
Connor Zilisch started at the rear of the field due to unapproved adjustments after qualifying. He quickly drove through the field, up to third at the halfway point. However, his right-front tire blew right before the competition caution. As a result, he restarted sixth. Undeterred, he piloted his No. 28 Pinnacle Racing Group Chevrolet up to a runner-up finish.
“Yeah, it was fun,” Zilisch said about driving through the field. “Kansas is really cool. Obviously we started at the back and had to come up through the field today which was fun … unfortunate we finished second but still a good day.”
Zilisch has five wins and eight top fives in nine career ARCA starts. Those three races where he didn’t win? He finished second. Eight out of nine times have been either first or second. That’s phenomenal. And it earns him third in these power rankings, just like at Kansas and Bristol, trailing the No. 18.
4. Lavar Scott
Barring a catastrophe for Perez, Scott will finish second in the points. At Kansas though, he made a sizeable cut into the points deficit, at least raising the possibility of drama at Toledo.
Remember, Zilisch entered Bristol Motor Speedway with a comfortable lead in the ARCA Menards Series East standings. Drama unfolded and Sawalich won the title as Zilisch wound up with a DNF. It’s possible.
Scott, though, is having a run in the second half of the season that I envisioned for him when I picked him to win the title. Six top fives, eight top 10s, 100 laps led and all lead-lap finishes.
At Kansas, he finished third, the benefactor of Corey Day tangling with Andy Jankowiak on the last lap.
“It was definitely going to be hectic,” Scott told Frontstretch post-race. “Obviously there was a lot of fast cars up there and all wanted track position. So I knew something could’ve happened and when I seen how close the No. 82 [Day] and 73 [Jankowiak] were entering turn 1, I knew if the 82 slides up some they’re probably going to hit and that’s what happened. So when it happened, I went to the bottom and protected and came home with a third-place finish.”
5. Andy Jankowiak
Jankowiak appeared to have a shot at scoring his first career victory at Kansas in that final dash to the finish. Unfortunately, Day, who was making his third career start, slid up into Jankowiak, fencing him and costing him a podium result. Instead, Jankowiak wound up seventh, last on the lead lap.
He was not pleased with Day post-race.
“I guess I got to stop being so nice to everybody cause I’m trying to give guys room out there and it’s not coming back the other way,” Jankowiak said afterward. “We’re getting run over by, you know, Hendrick Motorsports cars. I don’t know. We’re a smaller team and we’re fighting really hard for good finishes here. We had a top-five day and we feel like, you know, we’re all going to come home with a pretty good finish though that we didn’t need to finish where we did. So, frustrated but whipped her around so we got a seventh, so I guess it probably could’ve been worse.
“I’ll be thinking about those last couple of laps a little bit. I probably had a chance where I could’ve really forced the nose in there, but if we’re going to get one, I don’t want to do it that way.
“Just cost me too much momentum there on the front straightaway, and, not that it was the same guy, courtesy just isn’t returned. It just sucked. I get it if we’re coming to the line for a win, but we’re going to be second, third, fourth, somewhere in there, so three-wide, make it a show for the fans. Like what are we doing?”
Jankowiak’s desire to race respectfully inside the top five coupled with his result earns him the final spot in these rankings.
Paint Scheme of the Race
Admittedly, this one was difficult, partly because of the DNFs (eight of the 28 drivers failed to even complete half of the 100-lap race).
Nevertheless, Amber Balcaen’s No. 22 ICON Toyota is a solid paint scheme, and she certainly garnered her sponsors airtime. She stayed out on track during the final caution flag period and led three laps, the first of her career. While she was no match for Gray, even after making contact with him via a shove from Zilisch, she still tied her career-best result of sixth. Her performance plus TV time earns her the Kansas Paint Scheme of the Race Award. Balcaen’s noteworthy day received recognition from Frontstretch too via a post-race video.
The green flag for the ARCA season finale at Toledo will fly on Saturday, Oct. 5 at 4 p.m. ET, with live coverage provided by FOX Sports 2 and FloRacing.
About the author
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.
A daily email update (Monday through Friday) providing racing news, commentary, features, and information from Frontstretch.com
We hate spam. Your email address will not be sold or shared with anyone else.