Taylor Mayhew Steals ARCA West Win at Las Vegas Bullring

For the fourth consecutive team in the 2026 ARCA Menards Series West season, there was a last-lap pass for the win. In the Kyle Busch Classic at The Bullring at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, Taylor Mayhew used a bump-and-run in turn 4 to pass Robbie Kennealy and win the race by a nose.

Mayhew scored his first West victory on Friday, Oct. 2, in his fourth career West start and ninth in the ARCA platform. Mayhew gave Cook Racing Technologies its first West triumph of the season, as the organization already has one in the ARCA Menards Series East and two in the ARCA Menards Series courtesy of Kaden Honeycutt.

“Aw man, if I’m going to be completely honest with you, it wasn’t me; it was all my guys behind me for working their absolute butts off getting me out here,” Mayhew told FloRacing after his triumph. “We had a super fast car all weekend, and again my crew worked their butts off because we had a little bit of issues before qualifying, so weren’t able to do that. Started last, then picked them off one at a time and then, yeah, I gave Robbie a little bumper. I mean, he would’ve done the same thing, he said. So congrats to both of those Jan’s cars. They were really fast tonight. Mason and Trevor, they just, I don’t know, they just lost it. Now, super proud of my whole team. Can’t believe I’m here.”

Mayhew started 23rd after not qualifying due to his team fixing a mechanical woe on his No. 17 Chevrolet. His first win came on a night when Kurt Busch, among others, joined the broadcast booth to celebrate the life of Kyle “Rowdy” Busch.

“Yeah, that’s huge,” Mayhew said. “My dad knew Kyle pretty well so just to have this one on the shelf is going to be pretty cool.

He just finished ahead of the Jan’s Racing Team duo of Kennealy and Cole Denton in second and third.

Making his series debut, Vito Cancilla wound up fourth followed by Trevor Huddleston in fifth.

Huddleston was the fastest in practice and led the vast majority of the race. However, in an overtime restart, Huddleston and Mason Massey collided, bringing out the caution and setting the field up for a one-lap dash to the checkered flag.

Massey finished sixth, with Tyler Tomassi, Eric Johnson Jr., Eric Rhead, and Andrew Chapman completing the top 10 in seventh through 10th, respectively.

The race at the Vegas bullring featured attrition, a fast pace, and comers and goers.

The action started when pole sitter Helio Meza encountered a flat tire on his No. 28 Chevrolet early in the action. While Pinnacle Racing Group changed the tire, he lost valuable laps, winding up P18.

A week after its drivers went 1-2-3 in points in the main series, Nitro Motorsports had its trio of drivers endure rough outings at the 0.375-mile Nevada short track.

Mia Lovell lost the brakes on her No. 15 Toyota, slamming into the wall en route to a disappointing 23rd-place DNF. Then, Sam Corry found trouble with a flat tire that worsened into a 22nd-place result. Furthermore, Donald Theetge ventured to pit road for an unscheduled stop before the final overtime, settling for a 13th-place effort.

Others also dealt with flat tires which hurt their finishing positions. Kyle Keller ran second for much of the event, but problems on his No. 4 relegated him to 20th place. Hailie Deegan, who won the most recent race at Madera Speedway, had a flat tire which sent the race into overtime. Her Bill McAnally Racing team changed the tire, but she finished in 16th place.

After 167 laps, the night belonged to Mayhew, another first-time winner in the ARCA West this year, joining Corry, Denton, Massey, Carson Brown, and Ethan Nascimento.

ARCA West Race Results from the Las Vegas Bullring

The West field has 15 days off until it goes to Phoenix Raceway. The one-mile Arizona track will host the series for the penultimate race of the season on Saturday, Oct. 17, with the green flag set to fly at 10 p.m. ET, with live coverage provided by FloRacing.