ARCA/ARCA WEST: Opening-lap crash spoils Danica Dart’s debut
(Photo: Christian/@TheLowkeyGenius)
by Ben Schneider / LASTCAR.info Staff Writer
Danica Dart finished last for the 1st time in her ARCA Menards Series West career in Friday’s General Tire 150 at Phoenix Raceway when her No. 07 Evers Farms / Pioneer Performance Chevrolet fell out with crash damage sustained on the opening lap of the race.
The finish came in Dart’s ARCA debut.
Dart enters the 2024 season as an ARCA Menards Series West rookie for the newly-formed Kennealy Keller Motorsports team, which launched in September of last year. In an interview last month with Kickin’ the Tires’ Vincent Delforge, Dart revealed that her father named her after former IndyCar and NASCAR driver Danica Patrick, whose 2008 IndyCar Series win in Japan came less than a year after Dart was born. Dart’s own racing career began in quarter midgets at the age of six, eventually moving up to Bandoleros and later running the Junior Late Model Series in the Pacific Northwest at age eleven. More recently, Dart won Stateline Speedway’s 2021 Junior Late Model championship and continued to progress through the Late Model ranks before advancing to the ARCA West platform this season.
At the time of this writing, Dart intends on running a minimum of eight West Series races for KKM with the possibility of expanding up to ten, while Late Model commitments to run the Montana 200 and Idaho 200 will see her skip the road course races at Portland and Sonoma. Dart will also run the No. 11 throughout the remainder of the season rather than the No. 07 — Phoenix’s status as a combination race with the national ARCA Menards Series tour meant No. 11 was already in use by a Fast Track Racing entry.
Building on the strong entry list at the season-opener at Daytona, 43 cars appeared on the entry list, meaning multiple drivers would fail to qualify for the second race in a row. The first of these three was Brad Smith, who rented a car from Rev Racing and, according to MRN, only intended on running a few practice laps before withdrawing to maintain his points bonus eligibility for ARCA’s full-season status. Cody Dennison, meanwhile, was unable to rebound from a disappointing DNQ at Daytona, as his lap of 30.069 seconds was once again not fast enough to make the race. Finally, Garrett Zacharias overcame a spin in practice and subsequent fuel fire to make a qualifying attempt, though his time of 29.810 also fell short of Dart’s 29.594, giving Dart the race’s final non-provisional starting position and placing her 40th on the grid.
Unfortunately, Dart’s debut ended about as quickly as it began. A multi-car crash in the dog leg brought out the race’s first caution flag on the opening lap. By the time the FS1 broadcast’s replay caught the accident unfolding, David Smith’s No. 05 car was smoking heavily with Michael Maples’ No. 99 and Cody Kiemele’s No. 77 beginning to spin out of control. This left Dart with virtually no time to react to the incident, and the damage she sustained from hitting both Kiemele’s car and the outside wall was enough to leave her in 40th with a last-place finish. Kiemele’s crash damage also proved terminal as he placed 39th, though Smith was able to continue until a separate incident with Eric Johnson Jr. and Jake Bollman forced him to retire from the race after 54 laps, leaving him 32nd. Maples, meanwhile, salvaged a 29th-place result and completed 105 laps, the final car running at the finish.
Following Dart and Kiemele up the running order were Brad Perez and Brayton Laster, driving the Nos. 11 and 10 respectively for Andy Hillenburg’s Fast Track Racing. Perez completed 14 laps before overheating problems forced him behind the wall, while electrical issues sidelined Laster after 17 laps. Rounding out the Bottom Five was West Series veteran Bobby Hillis, Jr., whose No. 27 Fierce Creature Racing entry pulled behind the wall after 24 laps with “brakes” as the listed reason out.
Up front, William Sawalich picked up right where he left off in the 2023 West Series finale at Phoenix, once again winning the race from pole position and leading the most laps (66) along the way. Giovanni Ruggiero finished second, leading 49 laps of his own. Sawalich and Ruggiero were the race’s only two leaders as their 115 laps led accounted for the entire race, with inclement weather shortening the event’s distance down 35 laps from an expected 150.
NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series regular Grant Enfinger, 2023 ARCA Kansas race winner Connor Mosack, and defending West Series champion Sean Hingorani rounded out the top-five. Also of note, Isabella Robusto narrowly missed out on a top-five finish in an impressive and long-awaited ARCA debut, coming home sixth after starting the race from the same position and running as high as third in between.
THE BOTTOM FIVE
40) #07-Danica Dart / 0 laps / crash
39) #77-Cody Kiemele / 0 laps / crash
38) #11-Brad Perez / 14 laps / overheating
37) #10-Brayton Laster / 17 laps / electrical
36) #27-Bobby Hillis, Jr. / 24 laps / brakes
2024 LASTCAR ARCA MENARDS SERIES OWNERS CHAMPIONSHIP (After Race 2 of 20)
1st) Fast Track Racing, Kennealy Keller Motorsports (1)
2024 LASTCAR ARCA MENARDS SERIES WEST OWNERS CHAMPIONSHIP (After Race 1 of 12)
1st) Kennealy Keller Motorsports (1)
2024 LASTCAR ARCA MENARDS SERIES MANUFACTURERS CHAMPIONSHIP (After Race 2 of 20)
1st) Chevrolet (2)
2024 LASTCAR ARCA MENARDS SERIES WEST MANUFACTURERS CHAMPIONSHIP (After Race 1 of 12)
1st) Chevrolet (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 owners’ and manufacturers’ standings for all three series HERE.
2024 LASTCAR ARCA MENARDS SERIES DRIVERS CHAMPIONSHIP (After Race 2 of 20)
2024 LASTCAR ARCA MENARDS SERIES WEST DRIVERS CHAMPIONSHIP (After Race 1 of 12)
