A last-lap three-wide pass for the lead allowed Tanner Reif to win his first ARCA Menards Series West race in over three years at Tucson Speedway on Saturday (April 5).
Surviving a race defined by tire conservation and comers and goers, Reif saved enough tire to take the lead on the white flag from Jake Bollman and held off Eric Johnson Jr. in the final set of turns to reach victory lane.
“Everything was perfect, I had to work so hard for it,” Reif told FloRacing. “I was crying in the car, I didn’t compose myself at all. I’m so proud of the team and what we can accomplish.”
Johnson ended up second, coming just a few hundred feet short of his first career win. Bollman, who fell about a lap and a half short, came back to the line in third. Kyle Keller finished fourth with Trevor Huddleston rounding out the top five in fifth.
“You can sit there and think about it a million ways, but I wasn’t gonna leave anything on the table, but I wasn’t gonna wreck him for it,” Johnson said post-race. “That was good, hard short track racing.”
The remainder of the top 10 saw Caleb Shrader in sixth, Robbie Kennealy in seventh, Todd Souza in eighth, Blake Lothian in ninth and Cody Dennison in 10th.
Of the 13 drivers who started the race, six different ones led laps. Souza, Huddleston, Johnson, Reif, Keller and Bollman each found themselves out front for at least one lap.
Bollman started on the pole, but Huddleston led the first lap. The veteran of the West series utilized the outside lane to get around Bollman on the initial lap, clearing him for the lead by the time the field worked into turn 3. Bollman continued to lose touch from the lead, as seven laps later Keller made his way around him for second. One lap later, Keller was around Huddleston, marking the first official lead change of the race.
Further back, the racing was incredible early in the going. Four cars battled for fourth for a number of laps, seeing a handful of three-wide moments on multiple occasions.
Just as it seemed like Keller would settle in, Souza took the lead on lap 17, the third different leader of the race at that point.
While Souza settled in as the leader, the remainder of the field continued to see its share of comers and goers. Both Strike Mamba Racing drivers, Dennison and Lothian, drove inside the top five and Bollman fell back to seventh.
By the time the field worked lap 50, Souza had a lead of over a second and a half over Dennison, but only three cars had gone a lap down. It appeared as if Bollman, Reif and Huddleston were each in tire conservation mode, showing a clear difference in strategies throughout the field.
Twenty laps later, that tire conservation started to become evident. Huddleston and Keller both got around Dennison in short order, and Huddleston caught Souza quickly after. Two laps later, Huddleston made the pass for the lead.
Though it appeared the race would run flag to flag, Tim Goulet went for a single-car spin on lap 75. While attempting to evade the spinning No. 31, Souza made contact with the outside wall.
As the field took the green flag for the restart, Huddleston retained the lead into turn 1. The damage to Souza’s No. 3 Toyota became evident, as both Keller and Kennealy got by him by the time the field worked its way back around. Souza fell out of the top five a few laps later.
Huddleston had a quiet, uncontested lead for about 15 laps, but tire conservation continued to show as the race went on. Johnson, who ran as the final car on the lead lap for the entirety of the opening run, drove right up to the bumper of Huddleston with 55 laps to go. About 10 laps later, Johnson got to Huddleston’s inside as they were working around the lapped car of Mariah Boudrieau. After remaining side by side for just over a lap, Johnson cleared Huddleston for the lead.
The battle picked back up with 35 laps to go, with Huddleston using a little bumper to draw back side by side with Johnson. Again, though, Johnson prevailed, as by 30 laps to go, the two were single file, bumper to bumper. Johnson began to pull away as the laps winded down but Bollman, who had been in tire savings mode, reeled in Huddleston for second. The two-car battle quickly became a three-car battle, and with 20 laps to go, Bollman used the outside lane to get around Huddleston.
Five laps later, Bollman continued his late charge, passing Johnson for the lead, again on the outside. Behind them, Reif charged around Huddleston after utilizing the same tire-saving strategy that Bollman had for much of the race.
The final five laps set up an incredible finish between Bollman, Reif, and Johnson. Bollman held the lead until the white flag flew when the three leaders were three wide coming across the line. Bollman, who was put in the middle, didn’t have enough left on his tires to defend, allowing Reif and Johnson to split him into turn 1. Out of turn 4, Reif used fresher tires on the bottom to drive under Johnson for the lead and the win out of turn 4.
The win marked Reif’s first since 2022 when he won at Evergreen Speedway driving for Sunrise Ford Racing.
ARCA West Tucson Results
The next time ARCA takes to the racetrack, it’ll be the ARCA Menards Series East on April 19 at 1:30 p.m. ET, for the return of the famed Rockingham Speedway. The West series now endures nearly two months off, returning on May 24 at Colorado National Speedway. Both events will be broadcast exclusively on FloRacing.
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