ARCA WEST: Todd Souza first starter behind the wall at Portland for the second year in a row
by William Soquet, LASTCAR.info Staff Writer
PHOTO: Joe Samaniego / GRID Network
Todd Souza finished last for the 4th time in his ARCA Menards Series West career in Friday’s Portland 112 at Portland International Raceway when his No. 3 Central Coast Cabinets Toyota stopped on track after completing 4 of 57 laps.
The finish came in Souza’s 123rd career ARCA West start. It was his first since last year’s Portland race, 11 races ago.
The 2023 season stayed busy for Souza. In July, news broke that he intended on retiring from full-time driving at the end of the season. That news, ironically, coincided with a good summer and fall stretch run that saw him score seven straight top-ten finishes, including a sparkling runner-up effort at Madera to Kaden Honeycutt. He also switched numbers midseason, as Tyler Reif was welcomed to the Central Coast Racing team in the flagship #13.
CCR concentrated its 2024 efforts on Reif, who again stepped into the saddle of the #13. The team also switched to running exclusively Toyota cars, with the goal of eventually gaining support from Toyota Racing Development. Souza’s plan then changed. He elected to run a second car, the #3, full-time as a ride for interested one-off or part-time drivers. Should the seat not fill for a race, Souza would fill it. One race turned into two, and two turned into three as Souza then appeared on the Portland entry list. His best effort was the second race at Kevin Harvick’s Kern County Raceway, finishing ninth.
In all, 24 cars appeared on the entry list, of which 23 made laps in practice. The sole car who did not was Tony Huffman, driving the #0 car for Bobby Hillis’ Fierce Creature Racing team. Huffman did not make it out for qualifying, either.
Dave Smith, driving the #77 for Performance P-1 Motorsports, did make it out for practice. He was 18th in the charts. Qualifying was much the same story, as the driver put down the 19th-best time.
Neither driver took the green, however.
Souza was having an eventful day as well. The car spun through the grass in practice, although it escaped major damage. The car also experienced a mechanical issue in qualifying, although Souza still qualified 16th. However, after four laps, his car stopped on track, causing the first caution. He retired from the race because of those issues. Racing-Reference listed his reason out as ‘crash’, although the car seemingly had no visible damage.
Caleb Shrader, driving for Pitts Racing, was out with drive train issues next. Tanner Reif, driving for Naake-Klauer Motorsports, also had mechanical issues that forced him out,. Eric Johnson Jr. was 19th, out after a crash in Turn 12. Jake Walker rounded out the Bottom Five, making a flame-filled exit just short of the finish line.
DID NOT START
24) #0-Tony Huffman
23) #77-Dave Smith
THE BOTTOM FIVE
22) #3-Todd Souza / 4 laps / crash
21) #6-Caleb Shrader / 20 laps / drive train
20) #88-Tanner Reif / 45 laps / mechanical
19) #19-Eric Johnson, Jr. / 45 laps / crash
18) #23-Jake Walker / 48 laps / mechanical
2024 LASTCAR ARCA MENARDS SERIES WEST OWNERS’ CHAMPIONSHIP (After Race 3 of 12)
1st) Kennealy Keller Motorsports, Nascimento Motorsports, Central Coast Racing (1)
2024 LASTCAR ARCA MENARDS SERIES WEST MANUFACTURERS’ CHAMPIONSHIP (After Race 3 of 12)
1st) Toyota (2)
2nd) Chevrolet (1)
3rd) 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 3 of 12)
