ARCA WEST: Henry Barton takes last in series debut as three others do not start
by Ben Schneider / LASTCAR.info Staff Writer
(Photo: Nascimento Motorsports/Facebook)
Henry Barton finished last for the 1st time in his ARCA Menards Series West career in Saturday’s MMI Oil Workers 150 at Kevin Harvick’s Kern Raceway when his No. 21 Nascimento Motorsports Toyota fell out with a vibration after completing 2 of 150 laps.
The finish came in Barton’s ARCA debut.
A 17-year-old driver from San Francisco, California, Barton recently signed a deal with the Nascimento Motorsports team that includes balancing Pro Late Model competition with select starts in the ARCA Menards Series West. A Blakesley Sports Media press release published to Racing America shared in February that Barton is scheduled to run at least four ARCA West races with the team in 2024.
On Saturday, Barton got the opportunity to make the first of these starts, qualifying a respectable 14th with a time of 19.094 seconds. Unfortunately for Barton, his time on track was short-lived as he began trailing the pack before the race even began, running only two laps on track before pulling behind the wall with “vibration” as the listed reason for the DNF.
23 cars appeared on the entry list. Of these 23, 22 were able to set a qualifying time. David Smith anchored timing and scoring with a time of 26.986, over six seconds off the pace of the 21st-place driver, longtime ARCA West owner-driver Bobby Hillis Jr. Curiously, the 23rd entry (also owned by Hillis), the No. 0 of Tony Huffman, appeared to take the green flag after not making a qualifying attempt, but is also currently listed as the first DNS on Racing-Reference’s results sheet. The other two DNS entries belonged to Kennealy Keller Motorsports, as Phoenix last-place finisher Danica Dart and Robbie Kennealy were unable to start the race due to an on-track incident and an engine failure respectively.
Barton’s No. 21 car trails the pack on the race start, while Huffman’s red and gold No. 0 appears as the second-to-last car on the grid coming to the green flag. (Screenshot: Flo Racing)
Following Barton up the running order in the race was Cody Kiemele, who was sidelined by crash damage after completing 36 laps. 2014 ARCA champion Mason Mitchell was next to pull behind the wall as overheating issues after 58 laps prematurely ended his first West Series start since 2015. Hillis and Smith rounded out the Bottom Five, running at the finish 13 and 12 laps down respectively.
Up front, Kole Raz edged out West Series veteran Trevor Huddleston in the thrilling battle to take his first career victory in only his third series start. Tyler Reif completed the top three after leading a race-high 110 laps from pole position.
DID NOT START
23) #1-Robbie Kennealy
22) #11-Danica Dart
21) #0-Tony Huffman
THE BOTTOM FIVE
20) #21-Henry Barton / 2 laps / vibration
19) #77-Cody Kiemele / 36 laps / crash
18) #23-Mason Mitchell / 58 laps / overheating
17) #27-Bobby Hillis, Jr. / 137 laps / running
16) #05-David Smith / 138 laps / running
2024 LASTCAR ARCA MENARDS SERIES WEST OWNERS CHAMPIONSHIP (After Race 2 of 12)
1st) Kennealy Keller Motorsports, Nascimento Motorsports (1)
2024 LASTCAR ARCA MENARDS SERIES WEST MANUFACTURERS CHAMPIONSHIP (After Race 2 of 12)
1st) Chevrolet, Toyota (1)
2nd) Ford (0)
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.
2024 LASTCAR ARCA MENARDS SERIES WEST DRIVERS CHAMPIONSHIP (After Race 2 of 12)