Connor Mosack (No. 28 Chevrolet Performance Chevrolet) outdueled a dominant Tanner Gray (No. 18 PlaceofHope.com Toyota) to earn his second career ARCA Menards Series victory in Saturday’s Tide 150 at Kansas Speedway. Mosack took the lead from Gray, who had led every lap after starting from the General Tire Pole, for a single lap on a restart following the third and final caution of the day and then retook the lead from Gray with a dozen laps remaining to give his Pinnacle Racing Group team its second consecutive series victory.
Gray was dominant in the early stages of the 100-lap event. He jumped out to an early lead and by the race’s midway point had lapped up to the fourth position. After pit stops at lap 54, under the scheduled caution at the race’s midway point, Gray picked up where he left off and was able to maintain a comfortable advantage over Mosack, who had worked his way into a position to battle from the lead from his eighth starting position.
When the third and final yellow flag of the day was displayed for Ryan Roulette’s spin in turn two, all of the lead lap cars came down pit road for their second set of fresh tires. Mosack was able to snatch the lead at the line as the field completed the first green flag lap after the restart, but Gray was able to retake the lead as the field completed lap 83.
Mosack stayed in Gray’s tire tracks and finally worked his way underneath Gray to complete lap 88. He would lead the rest of the way. Mosack won last year’s fall race at Kansas driving for Joe Gibbs Racing, and in that race defeated Carson Kvapil who was driving for Pinnacle Racing Group. It also marks the second consecutive ARCA Menards Series victory for Pinnacle Racing Group; the team won at Dover Motor Speedway last week with Connor Zilisch driving.
Dean Thompson (No. 55 Thompson Pipe Group Toyota) finished third, his Venturini Motorsports teammate Kris Wright (No. 15 FNB Corporation Toyota) was fourth, and Talladega winner Jake Finch (No. 20 Phoenix Construction Toyota) rounded out the top five.
Sixth-place finisher Andres Perez (No. 2 Max Siegel Inc. Chevrolet) unofficially leads the ARCA Menards Series championship standings by six points over Greg Van Alst (No. 35 CB Fabrication Ford), who finished 12th.
The next race for the ARCA Menards Series is the General Tire 150 at Charlotte Motor Speedway on Friday, May 24. The race will be televised live on FS1 starting at 6 pm ET; it will also be broadcast live on select affiliates of the MRN Radio network nationwide. ARCARacing.com will have complete event information including live timing & scoring; follow @ARCA_Racing on Twitter for up-to-the-minute updates.
ARCA PR
