Max Reaves wasn’t going to be denied a third time in the ARCA Menards Series East Series, taking the checkered flag at Nashville Fairgrounds Speedway Saturday (May 2nd) in dominating fashion.
Reaves scored his first victory of the season in the third race of the ARCA East Series season, leading all 150 laps en route to the victory.
Reaves’ No. 18 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota was the class of the field all night, starting from the pole position and never ended up facing any significant challenges throughout the night.
“My crew chief Matt gave me a good car, I had to win with it,” Reaves said post-race. “There at the end I was a little scared of the restart, after that we got a little bit of a gap and I was really nervous for a caution there at the end because I know what these guys do.
“We’re just going to go to every race to try and win, so we’re going to keep the same mindset.”
The victory capped a perfect weekend for Reaves, who was also the fastest car in practice session ahead of the 150 lap race.
Landon S. Huffman finished second behind Reaves with two-time winner Tristan McKee, Hunter Wright and Isaac Kitzmiller rounding out the top five.
“When we started the race, we had about a fifth to sixth place car,” Huffman told FloRacing. “I asked for a softer left-rear spring under the break and that’s what we did. I can’t thank these guys enough for sticking with me and it wasn’t pretty there at the beginning.”
Craig Pellegrini Jr., Esteban Rodriguez, Jackson Mclerran, Carson Brown and Ivis Early finished seventh through 10th, respectively.
Two cautions slowed the race during the first 75 laps, with the first incident occuring on lap 36 after Toby Blanton had contact with Issac Kitzmiller on the frontstretch. The race’s second caution came out following a crash involving Dustin Hillenburg, Michael Maples and Jeff Maconi.
In the first 75 laps of racing, Reaves quickly established control of the race, jumping out to a 2 plus second advantage over second place and had lapped up to eighth position.
Not even a late race restart following a crash on lap 124 following Quinn Davis hitting the inside wall could slow down Reaves, as he was able to set sail on the field following the final restart of the night.
ARCA Menards Series East Music City 150 Results
The next stop on the ARCA East Series schedule will be at Toledo Speedway for the Owens Corning 200 on Saturday, May 16. Race coverage begins at 7:00 p.m. ET on FOX Sports 1 with the race streaming on the FOX Sports app.
