General Tire Stock Car Weekly: May 4, 2022
Catch up on the latest news around the ARCA Menards Series every Wednesday with the General Tire Stock Car Weekly!
Gray Gives Mustang First ARCA Win in General Tire 125 at Dover
Monster, meet Mustang. Taylor Gray and David Gilliland Racing gave the Ford Mustang its long-awaited first ARCA Menards Series appearance at Dover Motor Speedway on Friday in the General Tire 125, and it’s now one for one. Gray led all but nine laps of the 125-lap race to beat Jesse Love (leader of the other nine) for his first career East division victory.
The win enabled Gray to claw to within two points of championship leader Sammy Smith in the East standings as Smith finished fifth. Conner Jones, one of Love’s three teammates at Venturini Motorsports, came home third, while Rev Racing’s Rajah Caruth also finished ahead of Jones in fourth. 10 of the race’s 15 starters made it to the finish. The race will air on the USA Network on Friday at 12PM ET/9AM PT.
East Series Returns to Action in Nashville
Nashville Fairgrounds Speedway will play host to the second race of the only back-to-back weekends in ARCA Menards Series East action in 2022, with a 200-lap battle on tap for Saturday night. After serving as a host of the national division from 2015-19, the race was shifted to the East division last year, with Smith leading 103 of the race’s laps. Second place finisher Mason Diaz (41) and third place finisher and polesitter Mason Mingus (56) led the remaining 97.
With just seven races on the East calendar in 2022, points are paramount in every race. Smith and Gray have given themselves some distance on Leland Honeyman, whose eighth place finish on Friday now has him 16 points back of Smith and 14 behind Gray in third. Christian Rose and Stephanie Moyer are separated by two points in their battle for fourth, with Rose a further 19 points back of Honeyman. After Nashville, the East series takes a month off before returning on June 11 at Iowa Speedway for the Calypso Lemonade 150, a combined race with the national division.
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.