General Tire Stock Car Weekly: July 27, 2022
Catch up on the latest news around the ARCA Menards Series every Wednesday with the General Tire Stock Car Weekly!
Gray Earns Third ARCA Win of 2022 in General Tire Delivers 200; IRP Next Up
David Gilliland Racing driver Taylor Gray took his third checkered flag of the 2022 ARCA Menards Series season on Friday at Pocono Raceway, winning a darkness-shortened General Tire Delivers 200 after an eventful race. While Gray led a majority of the laps, he also fell off the lead lap after a slow pit stop during the first race break and would need another caution to get back on it.
After topping off on fuel under that same yellow, Gray would retake the lead as the leaders pit after a red flag period for a multi-car accident, and he’d never give it up. A yellow for Jesse Love’s late spin was the final straw, and called the race with Gray, Nick Sanchez, Brandon Jones, points leader Rajah Caruth, and Daniel Dye in the top five. The season continues this Friday with the Reese’s 200 at Lucas Oil Indianapolis Raceway Park, which returns to the schedule after a year off; Chandler Smith won the last two races at IRP in 2019 and 2020 and is the only repeat winner in ARCA’s 13 events at the .686-mile oval.
James Bickford Earns Stock Car Summer Showdown Win at Phoenix
Charlotte Phoenix driver James Bickford took the checkered flag at Phoenix Raceway on Tuesday night in the third round of the Stock Car Summer Showdown, an iRacing-based esport series organized by Jim Beaver eSports, Maconi Setup Shop, and Next Level Racing. The series uses iRacing’s ARCA Menards Series platform, which rides on General Tire, and resembles the same cars that Bickford wheeled to two victories and 19 top-10s in 27 starts in what was then known as the K&N Pro Series West in 2014 and 2015.
Bickford took the lead for the first time on Lap 94 of 100, getting around eNASCAR Coca-Cola iRacing Series pro Garrett Manes and never looking back. Manes led a race-high 38 laps and finished second, while polesitter and Sonoma winner Blake Reynolds led 32 laps to come home third as the top JBES entry. Open qualifier Brett Punkari and Charlotte winner Seth Reiter completed the top five. The series resumes in two weeks’ time from Talladega Superspeedway.
Watch ARCA Racing
ARCA Menards Series races are shown live on FS1 (streamed live on the Fox Sports App) and on MAVTV (streamed live on FloRacing). Tape-delayed races are also aired on USA. Check local listings for more details.