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2024 ARCA Dover Brent Crews (Credit: Bonnie Cash/ARCA Racing used with permission)

Photo: Bonnie Cash/ARCA Racing used with permission

Brent Crews Makes Last-Lap Pass to Win ARCA Race at Phoenix

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In his season debut, and first race for Joe Gibbs Racing, Brent Crews found victory lane at Phoenix Raceway on Friday (Mar. 7) in the ARCA Menards Series.

After a pair of one-lap shootouts, Crews had to wait until the final turn to pass Brenden Queen for the win after dominating much of the first half of the race. Queen washed up in the middle of turns 3 and 4 on the white flag, allowing Crews to sneak by for the win.

“Just can’t thank the Joe Gibbs Racing crew enough,” Crews victoriously told FOX Sports. “To show up with no practice and win is pretty cool.”

Queen held on to finish second but was frustrated with Crews.

“Only way to beat us is to knock us out of the way,” Queen told FOX Sports. “It’s just frustrating, but I’m not gonna look at it as what he did, but what I can do better.”

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The General Tire 150 was a combination race featuring the national division and ARCA Menards Series West. As such, Crews captured the third win of his main series career, the third straight year too, and his first West one.

Treyten Lapcevich crossed the line in third, making his debut for Venturini Motorsports. Lawless Alan finished fourth, with Lavar Scott rounding out the top five.

The rest of the top 10 saw Kole Raz finish sixth, Thad Moffitt in seventh, Patrick Staropoli in eighth, Robbie Kennealy in ninth and Corey Day in 10th.

At the drop of the green flag the field, which had no practice nor qualifying, spread out three and four wide in typical Phoenix fashion.

Crews, who started first, jumped out to a quick lead, and by the end of lap 1, had a gap of nearly a second over the pack. That lead extended to nearly two seconds by lap 5. However, Reif closed the gap quickly a few laps later, as Crews struggled with lapped car Tim Viens. By the time the field had the competition caution flew on lap 20, Crews started to pull away again, keeping the lead. 

Just as the scheduled yellow flag flew, full-time competitor Isabella Robusto found herself on pit road with smoke bellowing from the front end of the car and was behind the wall a few laps later.

After a lengthy caution period, the field took the green flag once again on lap 31, with Crews replicating the initial start to a tee. He pulled out to a quick lead over second place Tyler Reif and began to pull away from there. However, Queen got around the younger Reif brother within a few laps, and another quick caution flew. This time, it was for Jake Bollman, who cut a tire in turn 2, making contact with the outside wall. 

The third restart of the night offered no changes, as Crews took the outside lane but gained uncontested control of the lead by the time the field worked its way around the track for a lap. Queen remained within about a second of Crews for about 10 laps, before pulling up beside him on lap 52. Lapped traffic ended the battle prematurely, but the two remained within two cars lengths of each other for multiple laps. 

By lap 58, Queen turned the lapped traffic into an advantage, using Cody Dennison as a pick to take the lead from Crews into turn 1. Queen pulled away from Crews and the rest of the field from there, continuing to do so into the lap 75 scheduled race break. 

Another full-time competitor, Jason Kitzmiller, found himself on pit road with damage from the wall early in this green flag run, ending his evening early. 

On the restart out of the race break, it was the first time the driver who restarted first didn’t lead the next time around. Reif got around Queen for the lead, and Crews got around him for second, as the three pulled away from the rest of the field in the process. By the next lap, it was Crews who was in the lead, passing Reif on the exit of turn 2. Crews would begin to pull away from both Reif and Queen as the run went on, however. 

The run would be short, though, as Venturini teammates Lapcevich and Staropoli made contact, sending Staropoli around for a spin. That warranted the fourth caution of the evening. 

The field took the green flag again with 55 laps to go, and Queen didn’t get beat on this restart. He held off Crews and Reif, who fell backward, to regain control of the lead. As the green flag run progressed, Crews never let Queen get away by more than a second for about 15 laps. However, with 35 to go, the wheels began to fall off, as Crews battled a loose condition, and Queen extended the lead to over a second and a half.

When the field took 20 laps to go, Crews was exactly one second behind the leader Queen. Despite Crews closing in a few times, Queen kept prevailing and extending his lead. The Daytona International Speedway winner took the white flag with a near two-second advantage, but things changed drastically from there.

While Kyle Keller was out of gas on the white flag, Queen had bigger issues to deal with. Viens spun in turn 4 on the final lap, bringing out a yellow and setting up a one-lap shootout.

On the first attempt, Reif was spun by Moffitt, making significant contact with the inside wall on the restart, bringing out yet another yellow.

When the field tried again, it was much cleaner. Crews and Queen battled into turn 1, with Lapcevich nearly making a heroic three-wide move, but it didn’t stick. Queen held the lead into turn 3, but Crews had a better run off of 4, passing for the win in the final turn.

ARCA Results from Phoenix

The next time the ARCA national division touches the racetrack, it’ll be at Talladega Superspeedway on April 26. The green flag will fly at 12:30 p.m. ET with live coverage provided by FOX Sports 1. As for the West drivers, they return on April 5, as they will stay in Arizona, racing at the Tuscon Speedway. Live coverage will be provided by FloRacing with a start time to be determined.

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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The white flag lap was underway when the spin took place The car owners and Nascar need to change the rule With a budget racing series all it did was wreck race cars and cost the real race winner his victory Lapcevich benefited from the restart after a great race

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