ARCA Menards Series West at Portland International Raceway – Portland 112 Post-race notes

ARCA

  • Landen Lewis scored his second career ARCA Menards Series West victory and his first of 2023 in Friday’s Portland 112 at Portland International Raceway. Lewis started from the General Tire Pole and led 18 of the race’s 57 laps – taking the lead for the final time in turn four on the final lap – to take the victory.  
  • Lewis is the only driver to finish among the top five in each of the series’ four races in 2023; hefinished second in each of the first three races at Phoenix Raceway, Irwindale Speedway, and Kern County Raceway Park. 
  • Cole Custer finished second in his first West start since he finished fourth at Sonoma Raceway in 2019. Custer led a race-high 22 laps and led the field to the green on the final restart with two laps to go. He and eventual winner Lewis unofficially traded the lead three times in the final two laps. 
  • Six-time ARCA Menards Series East winner Dale Quarterley finished third. Quarterley also finished third last year at Sonoma Raceway, and he’s expected to compete in the General Tire 200 at Sonoma this Friday. 
  • William Sawalich made a dramatic comeback to finish fourth. Early in the race, he was racing for position with Cole Custer when Custer slowed unexpectedly. Sawalich could not avoid and damaged the front bodywork on his racecar. The Joe Gibbs Racing team made repairs, removing the hood and the left front fender, and despite a drastic reduction in downforce Sawalich scored his first career West top-five finish. 
  • Parker Retzlaff scored his second career West top-five in two career series starts in fifth. He also finished fifth at Worldwide Technology Raceway at Gateway in 2019. 
  • Bradley Erickson finished sixth, his fourth top-ten finish to start the 2023 season. Erickson and race winner Landen Lewis are the only drivers to finish among the top ten in each of the first four West races this season. 
  • Two drivers finished in the top ten in their ARCA Menards Series West debut: Caleb Schrader finished seventh and Eric Johnson, Jr. finished tenth. 
  • Davey Magras finished ninth in his first start of 2023. He made his series debut last year at Portland, finishing seventh. 
  • Sean Hingorani and Trevor Huddleston made contact in the final corner of the final lap while racing for second and third. Both slid off track and dropped to eleventh and twelfth respectively. 
  • Riley Herbst led 17 laps before engine issues sidelined him, dropping him to 18th at the finish. 
  • The next race for the ARCA Menards Series West is the General Tire 200 at Sonoma Raceway on Friday, June 9. The race is scheduled for 6:30 pm ET/3:30 pm PT and will be streamed live onFloRacing. 

ARCA PR

Spread the love