For the third time in 2025, Trevor Huddleston is a winner in the ARCA Menards Series West, finding victory at Madera Speedway on Saturday (Sept. 27).
Huddleston also won the 2024 edition of the event and proposed to his girlfriend in victory lane afterward. This year, with his eighth career triumph in the West series, he extended his points lead with only two races left this season.
Huddleston took the lead early and never surrendered it, holding off a late charge from Kyle Keller to take the victory.
“[Keller] raced me clean,” Huddleston told FloRacing. “A win’s a win, you never know when it’s gonna be your last.”
Keller finished second, falling just short of capping off an impressive late-race charge. Eric Johnson Jr. finished third, narrowly beating out Robbie Kennealy, who finished fourth after the two had a lengthy battle late in the race.
“I think I needed a little bit of drive off there at the end,” Keller said post-race. “We decided last minute, this morning, to change to a backup car; we didn’t even have enough numbers to put on.”
Joey Iest rounded out the top five, finishing fifth. Jaron Ginnaini finished sixth after starting on the pole, Andrew Chapman in seventh, Tanner Reif eighth, Blake Lothian ninth and Eric Nascimento 10th after running inside the top three early in the race.
Though Giannini qualified on the pole, it took less than a full lap for him to lose the lead. Huddleston got around him on the outside lane down the backstretch on the initial lap, taking the lead. The field was quickly racked up once again, however, as Jake Bollman lost an engine on lap 3.
After a lengthy red flag delay to clean the track, the first restart of the race looked much like the initial start. Huddleston utilized the outside lane to power around Giannini, taking the lead. Giannini looked to be under pressure from Nascimento, but another caution delayed that battle on lap 12.
The battle resumed quickly after the restart, as Huddleston kept control of the lead, and Nascimento got around Giannini in turn 4 on the first lap back green. However, the slow start to the race continued, as Cody Dennison went for a spin.
The race finally settled into a bit of a groove after the Dennison spin. Huddleston drove away after the restart, and Giannini and Nascimento spent a number of laps battling for second.
The battle for second stretched for well over 40 laps, with Giannini keeping the spot when the fourth caution of the night fell. Nick Joanides went around in turn 4, just in front of Huddleston. Todd Souza got run over from behind by Dennison in the chaos to evade the spun No. 77 as well, ending Dennison’s night early.
After another very lengthy red flag period, Huddleston kept control of the lead on the restart just past halfway. Kennealy made an impressive move for second behind him, after Nascimento and Giannini made contact entering turn 1, washing both up the track. Giannini fell back to fifth in the process. A piece of debris on the backstretch created yet another caution a few laps later, again preventing the race from falling into a groove.
Restart after restart, Huddleston was untouchable from the lead. The post-debris caution restart saw much of the same, with the battle for second being the best action on track, with Johnson and Keller fighting it out, with Keller ultimately taking the position. Johnson ran the final portion of the race with his hands full throughout, as he and Kennealy had a spirited battle late for third as well.
After many, many cautions in the first two-thirds of the race, the last 50 laps or so went green. Huddleston kept the lead after the final restart, and despite a late charge from Keller, he never surrendered it. Keller was able to put the bumper to Huddleston a few times in the closing laps, but never moved him, allowing Huddleston to win at Madera.
ARCA West Results from Madera
The ARCA West season has two more races left and will next head to the Las Vegas Motor Speedway Bullring on Friday, Oct. 10. The green flag for that event will fly at 10 p.m. ET with live coverage 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