Sammy Smith dominates at Milwaukee Mile, sets sights on another East Series championship – ARCA

WEST ALLIS, Wisc. — There was a degree Sunday throughout the Sprecher 150 on the Milwaukee Mile when Sammy Smith didn’t have the dominant automobile. Taylor Grey took the lead from Smith close to the midway level of the occasion and led by way of the second of two scheduled race breaks.

That point, although, was short-lived. Smith regained the lead on the following restart and proceeded to go away little question he was the driving force to beat Sunday afternoon on the historic, one-mile paved oval.

Smith, 18, picked up his third ARCA Menards Collection (nationwide) victory of the yr when he took the checkered flag within the Sprecher 150, which additionally served because the penultimate race of the ARCA Menards Collection East season. In that sequence, the victory marked Smith’s fourth in six races this yr.

“I’m undecided what we did there that (first) cease, however it wasn’t excellent,” Smith stated of the primary race break Sunday. “I used to be ready to stick with [Gray], however I felt like we would have liked to get away from him to guard my lead, and the adjustments we made on the final cease have been superior.”

Smith, who began Sunday’s race on the Basic Tire Pole, entered Sunday’s race with a 27-point lead over Grey within the East Collection championship standings. That edge will develop because the sequence enters its season-finale at Bristol Motor Speedway on Thursday, Sept. 15, for an additional mixture race with the ARCA Menards Collection.

Driving for Kyle Busch Motorsports in 2022, Smith is the defending East Collection champion. He has registered a top-five end in all six East Collection races this season.

Smith additionally has a top-five end in 9 of his 11 ARCA Menards Collection begins in 2022.

Not together with Brandon Jones, who received a mixture race at Iowa Speedway in June, Grey stays the one driver not named Smith to win within the East Collection this yr. He has 5 top-five finishes in six East races.

“I really feel like we simply misplaced quite a lot of entrance grip there on the finish,” Grey stated of Sunday’s race at Milwaukee. “Second stage, I assumed we had a extremely good automobile. After which we didn’t do sufficient for the observe getting tighter at time went on. Simply want to return to the store and maintain working and maintain getting higher.”

Daniel Dye, Rajah Caruth and Nick Sanchez completed third, fourth and fifth, respectively, at Milwaukee. That’s notable contemplating these three drivers are in a decent race for the 2022 ARCA Menards Collection driver’s championship.

Sanchez entered the fifteenth race of the season with a 13-point edge over Dye in second and a 17-point lead over Caruth, his Rev Racing teammate, in third. That lead will shrink with Sanchez having completed behind each Dye and Caruth at Milwaukee.

5 races stay within the ARCA Menards Collection season, with occasions on the DuQuoin State Fairgrounds (Sept. 4), Kansas Speedway (Sept. 10), Bristol Motor Speedway (Sept. 15), Salem Speedway (Oct. 1) and Toledo Speedway (Oct. 8) nonetheless on the schedule.

Landon Pembelton, Jesse Love, Jake Finch, Greg Van Alst and Matthew Gould rounded out the highest 10 at Milwaukee. Gould’s Tenth-place end got here in his ARCA Menards Collection debut.

Sunday’s race almost ran incident-free, as the one warning for an accident arrived on Lap 3, when Alex Clubb reduce a tire and hit the wall to carry out the primary yellow flag of the afternoon.

The Sprecher 150 additionally served because the eighth leg of this yr’s Sioux Chief Showdown, a sequence inside the ARCA Menards Collection. As he did within the East Collection standings, Smith grew his lead over Grey within the Showdown standings along with his victory.

The ARCA Menards Collection returns to motion Sunday, Sept. 4, with the Rust-Oleum Automotive Finishes 100 at DuQuoin, the second of two dust races on the schedule. If Love, the Springfield Mile winner from final week, takes the checkered at DuQuoin, he’ll win a $50,000 bonus as a part of the Efficiency Seed Dust Double.

The East Collection will probably be again in motion on Sept. 15 for its championship race at Bristol.