General Tire Stock Car Weekly: February 21, 2024

Catch up on the latest news around the ARCA Menards Series every Wednesday with the General Tire Stock Car Weekly!

FIND YOUR NEW TIRE WITH GENERAL TIRE:
HOME | TIRE SEARCH | DEALER LOCATOR

How you feel about Gus Dean’s triumph in the season-opening Daytona ARCA 200 last Friday depends on how you feel about working with your teammates. On the one hand, the Venturini Motorsports driver did what most would do with a chance to win the biggest race of the season: he saw his opportunity to take the lead and took it. On the other, it came at the expense of teammate Jake Finch, who led most of the race.

Finch moved to the top line for the final one-lap restart with the understanding that Dean would allow him to drop down and take the point back. Instead, Dean ended up well in front with a run in Turns 1 and 2 and moved up to defend before Finch took contact from behind that spun him and ended the race under yellow. That incident came on the same night when Dean got pushed into fellow Venturini driver Toni Breidinger as part of an early wreck that also collected the other two Venturini cars of Kris Wright and Amber Balcaen.

In the end, though, Dean still gets to say he gave VMS its milestone 100th ARCA win, and it’s his own first ARCA victory since 2018 at Elko Speedway. Thomas Annunziata, last year’s Daytona winner Greg Van Alst, Christian Rose, and Tim Richmond were among those who survived the last-lap wreck to finish in the top five. Underdog Willie Mullins earned the General Tire Pole Award, led nine laps, and added the Reese’s Sweet Move of the Race, but was involved in a Lap 62 wreck with Scott Melton and finished 28th.

WATCH ARCA RACING

ARCA Menards Series races are shown live on FS1 or FS2 (streamed live on the FOX Sports App and FloRacing). Standalone ARCA Menards Series East and West events are streamed live on FloRacing and shown on tape delay on TV. Check local listings for more details.