Indianapolis, Ind. – At Dover Motor Speedway, Brent Crews ended his ARCA Menards Series race with his No. 18 Toyota engulfed in flames due to a crash. At Lucas Oil Indianapolis Raceway Park, he ended it with white smoke from a celebratory burnout after he won the race.
Crewsâ victory narrows the owner points battle between his Joe Gibbs Racing team and Brenden âButterbeanâ Queenâs Pinnacle Racing Group team to an 11-point PRG lead.
Queen continues to lead the driver standings with Lawless Alan in second, Lavar Scott in third, Jason Kitzmiller in fourth, and Isabella Robusto in fifth. Fresh from covering the race at IRP, Mark Kristl has the latest Frontstretch ARCA power rankings below.
1. Brenden Queen
Queen led a race-high 91 laps and tied Alan for the most points in the race by a series regular.
Queen leads the series in wins, top fives, pole awards, laps led and has the best average finish among the top 10 in points. Of course, he has the points lead.
His time in an ARCA car may also prove beneficial. Although he scored a podium finish in the ARCA car at IRP, he only managed a 16th-place result in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series race afterward.
âThe ARCA race started off good and we were able to lead 80, 90 laps there and lost the balance, got too free there at the end,â Queen told Frontstretch after his doubleheader. âI gave that one away.â
Queen next goes to a racetrack where PRG enters as the back-to-back winners: Iowa Speedway. Heâll be a solid favorite to win the Atlas 150 there.
2. Brent Crews
As the second driver to score multiple wins in the national division, Crews jumps to the runner-up spot in these rankings.
He took the lead on lap 93 and never looked back, leading the final 58 laps en route to a 3.318-second triumph.
âI just want to thank the good Lord above for keeping us safe,â Crews said in a post-race release. âThere is so many race fans here tonight, oh my gosh. Iâm so happy to see a packed crowd. Thank you, guys, for coming out. I know it is really hot and grueling. I was exhausted out there, but yeah, this JGR (Joe Gibbs Racing) group did an absolutely fabulous job at the break. The 28 (Brenden Queen) was really fast the first half, honestly, I was doing everything I could to hang with him. I knew we had something. I knew Matt (Ross, crew chief) and the team had something up their sleeve to give me that extra little bit at the halfway break, and that is exactly what they did. My JBL Toyota Camry was lights out tonight.â
Crews now has five career victories in the ARCA platform, and heâll have more opportunities to take more trophies as he will pilot the Nitro Motorsports in the two dirt track races.
3. Lawless Alan
Butterbean and Crews led all but one lap at IRP. Alan led that one. His second-place performance flew under the radar on a humid night, but he came up one spot shy of his second win this season.
âNot to buzz my tires on the last restart, mostly,â Alan said post-race. âThat way, I could slide them, maybe dirty them up a little bit, but he did a good job. He did a good job controlling the race, not buzzing his tires. So, hats off to them, but go get âem next week.â
4. Lavar Scott
Another race, another top-five effort from Scott. He leads the series in top 10s, but again, he lacked contending speed. Over a tenth of a second behind Alan, a little more than three-tenths behind Queen and almost three-and-a-half tenths behind Crews. Translation? Rev Racing must find that speed to keep Scott running up front and in championship contention.
âI mean both, right, you have to find the balance and find the mixture,â Scott told Frontstretch post-race. âThere was a few mistakes that I could have made there that could have hurt us in points, but I just thought about that and kind of did what we had to do to still finish fifth. But yeah, youâve got to find the mixture. Youâve got to have speed to try to get the win, but if youâre not having the speed days, come up with a good points day.â
5. Isaac Kitzmiller
Isaac Kitzmiller is 2-0 racing against his father Jason Kitzmiller in ARCA competition. Furthermore, Isaac Kitzmiller leads the ARCA Menards Series East point standings with two races left to go.
Itâs a storyline that has fallen by the wayside. Kitzmiller leads Tyler Reif by 14, Zachary Tinkle by 24, Takuma Koga by 49, and Austin Vaughn by 58, but none of the top five have won this season. Moreover, the top five have combined to lead nine laps. Compare that to Crews, Butterbean and Max Reaves, whoâve all led more than 100 laps in the East season.
The storyline, unfortunately, is diminished by the fact that half of the East season is combination races with the main series, including IRP. Furthermore, with the main series having a good championship battle and the East regulars not as strong â the opposite of last year â folks are focusing on the national series drivers.
All this to say, Isaac Kitzmiller is indeed a wheelman. In his two starts in the combo races, heâs wound up fourth and seventh. Itâs impressive to see and equally celebratory when interviewing the father-son duo about racing together.
Paint Scheme of the Race
Vaughn is full time in the East with a first-year underdog team. He has a fifth-place result at Flat Rock Speedway. In the first combo race at Dover, he finished 14th after starting 17th. At IRP, he started 14th once qualifying was set via the rulebook due to its cancellation from inclement weather.
Unfortunately, his second-best starting spot of the season ended with his worst finish of the season and a torn-up racecar.
Itâs also a shame because Vaughnâs No. 34 Safford Trading Company Ford stood out under #ARCANightinAmerica to earn him the Paint Scheme of the Race Award.
Vaughnâs team confirmed he will be at Iowa for the Atlas 150. Hopefully, itâll be a contender for another Paint Scheme of the Race Award, too.
Vaughn, the top five, and the rest of the ARCA field will compete at Iowa on Friday, August 1. The Atlas 150 will go green at 7 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.