As FOX Sports 1 announcer Brent Stover noted, Austin Green got faster throughout the ARCA Menards Series race at Charlotte Motor Speedway. He led 51 laps on Friday, May 23, and scpred his first career series victory.
Son of 1994 NASCAR Xfinity Series champion David Green, Austin Green captured the victory in his second career ARCA national start and first since 2020. His win is the third for Pinnacle Racing Group this season, as Brenden Queen has two wins.
Grant Enfinger led 15 laps and finished second. He piloted the No. 97 CR7 Motorsports Chevrolet in a spot start for the organization as primary driver Jason Kitzmiller didn’t compete in the race, finishing last (32nd) after only competing in practice.
Lavar Scott finished third, followed by William Sawalich in fourth. Enfinger, Scott and Sawalich raced hard for second through fourth late in the 100-lap race.
Andy Jankowiak rounded out the top five, while Andrew Patterson, Thad Moffitt, Patrick Staropoli, Garrett Mitchell and Lanie Buice completed the top 10.
Mitchell earned his career-best finish, but he spun the tires on his No. 30 Rette Jones Racing Ford on a restart, causing a large wreck.
The wreck damaged a number of racecars and ended the day for a few, including Spencer Gallagher and Isabella Robusto.
Robusto finished 24th and Gallagher 25th.
“No, just watched a replay, so unfortunate,” Robusto told Frontstretch after being released from the infield care center. “We had some speed today, so that was good. But we’ll just focus forward to the next one.”
“Not a whole ton of time to react,” Gallagher added. “The SPS Performance guys that brought a good car here today. Shame it ended so early. Not sure what happened up front on that restart there, but that’s a tough break for this team, but I know they’re going to keep on soldiering and bring good stuff to the racetrack.”
Charlotte was not kind to pole sitter Will Kimmel or series points leader Queen.
Kimmel led early in the race before a broken valve spring ended his race prematurely with a 28th-place DNF.
Queen blew a right-front tire early in the race, but the race stayed green. PRG pitted his racecar and he soldiered on, though the cautions never fell in the right time to allow him to return to the lead lap. He ultimately wound up two laps down in 14th.
While the No. 28 didn’t go back-to-back in ARCA competition, PRG’s second entry, the No. 82, won for its first time.
ARCA Charlotte Results
The next time ARCA hits the racetrack will be at Michigan International Speedway. The Henry Ford Health 200 will take place on Friday, June 6 at 8 p.m. ET with TV coverage provided by FOX Sports 2.
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.