ARCA: Alex Clubb and team overcome steep odds to start Kansas race
by Ben Schneider, LASTCAR.info Staff Writer, and Brock Beard, LASTCAR.info Editor-in-Chief
ALL PHOTOS: Brock Beard
Alex Clubb picked up the 8th last-place finish of his ARCA Menards Series career in Saturday’s Tide 150 at Kansas Speedway when his #03 Race Parts Liquidators Ford fell out with handling issues after completing 54 of 100 laps.
The finish came in Clubb’s 51st career start.
Now an established veteran of the series, Clubb began competing in ARCA in 2015, running three races with Carter 2 Motorsports. While his first appearance on this site would not come until the 2019 series race at Elko Speedway, by the current LASTCAR.info ARCA last-place finish definition, his first LPF in the series would be considered the 2015 ARCA race at Winchester. Clubb was classified 26th of 27 cars, but Josh White’s “did not start” status left Clubb as the apparent first true “DNF” from the event.
In recent seasons, Clubb’s ARCA schedule has steadily expanded. After running only the series finale at Kansas in 2020, Clubb made seven starts in 2021, then doubled that total to 14 in 2022 and 2023. In 2024, Clubb took his team full-time and opened the season by tying his career-best finish with an eighth-place at a chaotic Daytona race.
Clubb’s car in inspection following their late arrival.
The original entry list of 26 drivers was trimmed by two following an unfortunate incident involving Kimmel Racing. On their way to the track, the team’s red #68 Ford broke loose of its straps and banged against the team’s other car, causing significant damage to both race cars. The team left within 45 minutes of Friday’s test session.
Clubb didn’t participate in the test, nor in Saturday’s lone practice session, and very nearly missed the race itself. Clubb’s crew converted the car – one of only three in his inventory - from an unpowered “roller” to a race-ready car in just 11 days, completing it in Saturday’s early-morning hours. They then loaded up and began their seven-hour trip to the track, but while passing through Missouri suffered a wheel issue on their trailer. This delayed their arrival until just ten minutes from the rain-delayed opening practice, during which the team completed inspection. At the time, the crew was still applying the decals, ultimately leaving off the final part of the wrap behind the rear tires. At the far end of the ARCA garage, the crew then raced the clock until the green flag. At one point, the team fired the engine, only to discover an oil leak. Theirs was the last to join the staging line, and was pushed to the grid mere moments later. The team’s tentative plan was to pull behind the wall after completing a lap, but only if there remained serious issues with the car.
The CRI crew working to get Clubb’s car on track.
The rain that delayed practice also cancelled qualifying, so the field was set by practice speeds. This placed Clubb last on the 24-car grid alongside fellow underdog Brad Smith in the #48 Copraya.com Ford. Both would be joined by 12th-place Christian Rose, whose #32 West Virginia Department of Tourism Ford incurred a pre-race penalty, and 16th-place Ryan Huff, whose #10 Williamsburg Contracting / Shenco Ford stopped on the track entering Turn 1 at the start of the second pace lap.
When the green flag dropped, Huff looked under Smith’s car at the stripe with Clubb to Huff’s outside. By the end of Lap 1, Clubb was still in last, and already by open track. He only held the spot briefly as, on Lap 2, Tanner Reif coasted onto pit road in his #42 Vegas Fastner Manufacturing Chevrolet. Reif reported he still had fuel pressure, but the car had lost power. He backed into the nearest opening to the garage, where the crew hooked up their laptop, then worked in the area of the fuel cell before moving to under the hood. After five laps, the engine re-fired, and he returned to the track in last place. This occurred at the end of the first caution for a spin involving Ryan Roulette, after which Clubb was last in line, but now 23rd on the track. Both Clubb and Smith then began to lose laps on pace, soon to be joined by Michael Maples, whose #99 Don Ray Petroleum LLC / Maples Motorsports Chevrolet came in for an extended pit stop that dropped him to 23rd on Lap 12. Maples lost a fourth lap on the 26th circuit, putting him just one ahead of Reif.
Over the next several laps, Reif steadily closed the gap on Clubb, Smith, and Maples. On Lap 33, the trio were four laps down, two ahead of Reif, who was now six behind. That gap dropped to one by Lap 40, then four circuits later, all four were on the same lap. Reif finally dropped Clubb to last on Lap 48, then climbed past Smith on Lap 50, just before the halftime break. Under the caution, Clubb’s crew discussed coming into the pits to check tire wear as the driver had concerns over the right-front. For now, they stayed out – in part because Lawless Alan endured a lengthy stop in the stall directly behind his, spoiling a strong start by the #33 AutoParkIt Racing Ford. Alan left just before Clubb entered pit road, where the crew checked over the tires, then gave him a push-start to rejoin the race. Clubb reported debris on the apron near the blend line, then came in a second time on Lap 58 for fuel. He took the restart, one lap after which he was again three seconds back of the next car in line. On Lap 65, he returned to pit road, then pulled behind the wall just short of his stall.
LASTCAR.info among the logos on the rear decklid of Brayton Laster’s No. 31.
“Yeah, we just parked it, it wasn't handling good,” said Clubb. “And we had no time to even do setup. We just had time to scale it and get our weights right. So no pull-down, no anything like that to do anything with coil bind or bump stops. We just put it together and came and we're hoping to make a lap and made a little more than that. We were embarrassingly slow, but we got it out there, so we got something to work on for Charlotte, at least. But you had to burp it like three times through the tri-oval to get it to turn and pivot. So that's not good when you can't get through the tri-oval.”
With the car in one piece, Clubb plans to run it again in Charlotte.
The rest of the field finished under power with Reif climbing to 18th at the checkered flag, clear of the Bottom Five. Smith took 23rd, 12 laps down to race winner Connor Mosack. Brayton Laster took home 22nd in his #31 @Cyber_Fox_onX.com / CarAggio.com Chevrolet – a car which also carried the LASTCAR.info logo on the rear decklid.
“It's our first time here as a team and myself as a driver,” said Laster. “We had a lot of speed and we're very disadvantaged going to a big track like this - motor wise. chassis wise, and set-up wise. . .We knew it was gonna be a dogfight going in. And we were actually pretty impressed early on - we were running Top 16, Top 17 and we thought a Top 15 run with very reasonable. . . We had that halfway break and we lost a couple laps there, had trouble getting the fuel can in and getting the tire, the left-rear on so we'd lost a lap or two there, and that cost us a little bit. But we got really dialed in there for that second half and I think we were flying pretty good. We were running a lot better pace-wise as far as, ‘Hey, we're not getting lapped as much and we're actually keeping up with these cars.’ And then at the end of that second half, there was a point in there where there are some pretty faster cars where they wouldn't quite gap as much and we actually started to catch some of the "B-Team" cars there at the end, so I'm happy with that."
Completing the group were Kevin Hinckle in Wayne Peterson’s #06 KH Automotive Ford and Ryan Roulette, whose #12 Bellator Recruiting Academy / VFW Ford was on the same lap as Hinckle, seven down to the leaders.
Up front, Connor Mosack took his second straight win at Kansas in the ARCA Menards Series, driving the same #28 Pinnacle Racing Group Chevrolet that Connor Zilisch took to Victory Lane last week at Dover. Tanner Gray finished second after leading most of the race, ironically driving the same #18 Toyota for Joe Gibbs Racing that Mosack drove to the win last fall.
THE BOTTOM FIVE
24) #03-Alex Clubb / 54 laps / handling
23) #48-Brad Smith / 88 laps / running
22) #31-Brayton Laster / 90 laps / running
21) #06-Kevin Hinckle / 93 laps / running
20) #12-Ryan Roulette / 93 laps / running
2024 LASTCAR ARCA MENARDS SERIES OWNERS CHAMPIONSHIP (After Race 5 of 20)
1st) Fast Track Racing (2)
2nd) Kennealy Keller Motorsports, Peterson Motorsports, Clubb Racing Inc. (1)
2024 LASTCAR ARCA MENARDS SERIES MANUFACTURERS CHAMPIONSHIP (After Race 5 of 20)
1st) Chevrolet, Toyota (2)
2nd) Ford (1)
AUTHOR’S NOTE: Click HERE throughout the 2024 ARCA season to view the full drivers’ standings for both the ARCA Menards Series and its East and West divisions. You can also find the manufacturers’ and owners’ standings for all three series HERE.
