After the checkered flag flew at Talladega Superspeedway for the ARCA Menards Series General Tire 200, the words of crew chief Kevin Reed Jr. rang true. “Lawless was flawless.”
Indeed.
“Finally!” Lawless Alan exclaimed after collecting his first career ARCA victory Saturday (April 25) in just his 10th career start in the series. Alan was the control car for the one-lap green-white flag overtime restart and remained the leader when the caution flew for a multi-car wreck behind him. That ended the race before the field was fully up to speed, leaving Alan’s strong restart the winning move.
“Oh, that feels good,” Alan said happily, feeling like a weight had been lifted as he spoke to FOX Sports 1. “First thing I got to say is God is so good, man. I didn’t have any sort of plan after Phoenix last year. Then, Toyota called me, we put this deal together with Venturini and AUTOParkit.
“I am so thankful. Man, finally got that monkey off my back, I could change my wallpaper to something happy. I think this is the worst possible thing that could’ve happened to the competition because I got the confidence that I could do it now. No what-ifs, I could do it. Man, that feels good.”
Thad Moffitt finished second, unable to really mount a charge on Alan before the caution came out.
“It sucks, but it’s good at the same time,” Moffitt said post-race. “Just dejected. You know, I thought I won that race, thought I got through the box better, thought I got down to turn 1, [Alan] just had his teammate behind him to I guess give him a push … It sucks.
“[But] Nitro’s going to win races this year. I’ve got a good group, a good team. I’m super thankful to be a part of Toyota Gazoo Racing and the TA2 program… I [just] thought we had one and we didn’t.”
That teammate helping Alan was Isabella Robusto, whose third-place effort was the best Talladega performance by a woman in ARCA history.
“Means a lot,” Robusto said about her performance. “I wish I was two spots ahead and crossed the line first but happy to come out here and finish the race, be top three. I felt like we had a good chance to do it at Daytona but it got cut short early. So, I’m happy I got my Mobil 1 Toyota Camry into pit lane after the race without many scratches on it.”
Andy Jankowiak ran fourth while Jason Kitzmiller rounded out the top-five finishers.
Lavar Scott, Jake Finch, Bryce Haugeberg, pole sitter William Sawalich and Garrett Mitchell (Cleetus McFarland) completed the top 10. For the internet sensation McFarland, it was his best career ARCA finish.
“Brother, I thought we were done,” Mitchell said. “The Ilmor engine guys came over here, pulled the valve cover off, No. 6 valve spring is broken in half and about five laps in she just turned into a dog, you know. The Kenetix No. 30 always hauls tail. I’m like, ‘What the hell’s going on?’ They’re getting on the radio, like, keep your momentum. I’m like, brother, this sucker’s wide open. You know what I’m saying?
“So, we fell out of the draft. And dude, it felt like I was riding a horse out there. Everyone was blowing by me and, thankfully, a caution came out. We stayed on the lead lap. They come on the radio, Kevin Hamlin – shoutout to my boy – he said, ‘Brother, you cannot get out of the draft.’ And they just started telling me stuff. I used knowledge from the Biff-meister [Greg Biffle] and everything I know. I just read the air and the dog we had, we stayed in there.”
But McFarland was no match for Alan, whose win was also the third straight for the Venturini No. 20 entry. VMS announced it will close after 2025, selling its assets to Nitro Motorsports, whose driver Moffitt finished second. Overall, VMS placed three of its four entries inside the top 10.
The second, and final, ARCA drafting-style race of 2025 was cleaner than the season opener at Daytona International Speedway. Only a handful of minor incidents marred the afternoon, with the largest multi-car crash coming on the final lap of the race.
Upon reviewing the footage when the caution flag flew, series officials were able to determine Alan was the victor. In his first full-time season, the 25-year-old Alan seems to have found a home in ARCA after several disappointing full-time seasons in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series.
ARCA Results from Talladega
ARCA next heads to Kansas Speedway, the lone racetrack to host the series twice on this year’s schedule. That race will take place on Friday, May 9 at 8 p.m. ET with TV coverage provided by FOX Sports 1.
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.