by Ben Schneider

LASTCAR.info Staff Writer

Bradley Erickson finished last for the 1st time in his ARCA Menards Series West career in Friday’s Star Nursery 150 at The Bullring at Las Vegas Motor Speedway when his #23 L&S Framing / SPS / Spencer Clark Foundation Toyota fell out with mechanical issues after completing 41 of 155 laps.

The finish came in Erickson’s 14th career West Series start.

Erickson was born into a racing family. His grandfather, Phil Erickson, is a former American IndyCar Series competitor, winning a race at Dodge City Raceway Park in 2001. The younger Erickson’s own racing career began at the age of five as he competed in quarter midgets at the South Mountain Speedway, his home track. In 2019, Erickson began competing in legends cars, winning several races and earning a promotion to late model competition in 2020 and 2021.

In 2022, Erickson made his ARCA West debut at Irwindale Speedway for Naake-Klauer Motorsports. He competed in a total of four races for the team with a best finish of seventh twice - first at the Bullring and then at the season finale in Phoenix. When the series returned to Phoenix at the start of 2023, Erickson picked up a career-best, finishing in a strong third position in a combination race with the national ARCA Menards Series tour.

Initially planning to run the full season with Naake-Klauer in 2023, Erickson recently made a surprise team switch with four races remaining. Prior to Roseville, he left the team’s No. 88 entry to join Sigma Performance Services, a Las Vegas-based team owned by Joe Farre and T.J. Clark. After a 14th-place run at Roseville, a mechanical issue ended his night early at the Bullring, relegating him to a 21st and last-place finish in his second race with the team. 

In total, 22 cars first appeared on the entry list. However, due to the withdrawal of Tim Goulet’s #31 entry, only 21 started the race. Bobby Hillis Jr. anchored the field in practice, setting a lap time of 16.336 seconds, roughly a quarter of a second behind the next slowest entry of David Smith. While Hillis also set the slowest lap time in qualifying with a 16.073, the field was anchored by Roseville winner Kaden Honeycutt, who lost an engine in practice and was therefore unable to set a qualifying time. Mariah Boudrieau equaled Hillis’ time down to the thousandth of a second, with Smith and series debutant Monty Tipton rounding out the Bottom Five starting spots

After Erickson’s retirement from the race, Hillis was next to pull behind the wall as brake issues ended his night after 59 laps. Takuma Koga then lost power on Lap 79, bringing out the caution and forcing him behind the wall with electrical issues. Monty Tipton bested Koga by 50 laps before transmission issues brought his race to an end, while Nick Joanides recovered from an early spin to finish 17th, the final car running under power.

Up front, in an ironic twist, Dylan Cappello took the win in Erickson’s former No. 88 car in only his second career West Series start. Cappello inherited the lead from series points leader Sean Hingorani, who led the first 124 laps from pole position before brake issues caused his right-front wheel to begin smoking under caution. The issue did not go away, so Hingorani was eventually forced to stop so the brake fire could be extinguished. Hingorani attempted to carry on, bringing out the final caution after stopping on track when the offending right-front now cut down the tire. Hingorani settled for 16th, allowing runner-up finisher Trevor Huddleston to close the gap in the points standings to 26 with two races remaining in the season.

THE BOTTOM FIVE

21) #23-Bradley Erickson / 41 laps / mechanical

20) #27-Bobby Hillis Jr. / 59 laps / brakes

19) #7-Takuma Koga / 76 laps / electrical

18) #49-Monty Tipton / 126 laps / transmission

17) #41-Nick Joanides / 140 laps / running

2023 LASTCAR ARCA MENARDS SERIES WEST MANUFACTURERS CHAMPIONSHIP

1st) Ford (6)

2nd) Toyota (3) 

3rd) Chevrolet (1)

2023 LASTCAR ARCA MENARDS SERIES WEST OWNERS CHAMPIONSHIP

1st) Lowden-Jackson Motorsports (2)

2nd) Fast Track Racing, Performance P-1 Motorsports, Central Coast Racing, High Point Racing, Jerry Pitts Racing, Bill McAnally Racing, Nascimento Motorsports, Sigma Performance Services (1)

AUTHOR’S NOTE: Click HERE to view the full standings for both the main ARCA Menards Series and the ARCA Menards Series East and West divisions. You can also find the full manufacturers’ and owners’ standings HERE.

2023 LASTCAR ARCA MENARDS SERIES WEST DRIVERS CHAMPIONSHIP