Brent Crews wins ARCA race on last lap at Phoenix
Photo by ARCA Racing photo
AVONDALE, Ariz. — Coming to the white flag in Friday’s General Tire 150 at Phoenix Raceway, it appeared Brent Crews would settle for a strong-but-disappointing second in his first outing with Joe Gibbs Racing.
Instead, Crews found himself celebrating his first pavement victory in the ARCA Menards Series. A second attempt at a one-lap shootout provided Crews an opportunity to chase down the dominant driver of the night in Brenden Queen, who he edged to the finish line after muscling his rival out of the way in Turn 3.
Long familiar with the efficiency Queen has displayed at short tracks in the southeast, Crews knew a perfect restart was imperative to overtake him on the final lap. Besting Queen on the ARCA Menards Series platform was something Crews took pride in as he celebrated his victory.
“I raced Brenden [Queen] the whole year last year,” Crews said. “We raced him for CARS Tour wins, and then coming here to the ARCA Menards Series at a track like Phoenix to race for the win was really special. A great job to [Pinnacle Racing Group]. They had a winning car today, so I’m grateful for the caution at the end.”
The third triumph in the ARCA Menards Series for Crews required more patience and diligence compared to his other wins at the Illinois State Fairgrounds and DuQuoin State Fairgrounds, respectively.
Crews displayed his dirt-track expertise at the historic facilities by enjoying near-flawless outings with only minimal opposition. The DuQuoin win was Crews’ most impressive of the two, as he survived an overtime restart to lead all 102 laps from the outside pole.
On Friday, just like at DuQuoin, Crews had to battle for a victory beyond regulation, this time as the one playing offense. A stellar restart on Crews’ behalf kept him within striking distance of Queen during the initial launch, which set him up for the race-winning move.
Queen, who was three weeks removed from an emotional victory at Daytona International Speedway, expressed frustration over how the General Tire 150 concluded. But he stopped short of assigning full blame to Crews. He felt Crews would have never gotten to his bumper had his execution on the final restart been better.
“The only way they could beat us was to knock us out of the way,” Queen said. “Honestly, I’m going to look at it as ‘I have to do a better job on that restart’. In my defense, I never should have let him get close enough. I gave him the bottom in [turn] one to try and not get hit because he had such a run off [turn] two because I cleared him.
“I almost wish I wouldn’t have cleared him and stayed door-to-door, then I could have run him up the hill or something.”
All that separated Queen from staying perfect across two ARCA Menards Series appearances was a spin by Tim Viens on the frontstretch during the final lap of regulation, which brought out the penultimate caution.
With the late-race heartbreak, Pinnacle Racing Group found themselves on the receiving end in an ongoing series of late-race battles with Joe Gibbs Racing. The two organizations engaged in fierce duels with Connor Zilisch and William Sawalich respectively last year, while 2023 saw Luke Fenahus steal two victories away from Sawalich in overtime while driving for PRG.
Crews’ poise during the late-race shootout enabled Gibbs to get the upper hand on PRG and build on the momentum they possessed with Sawalich. Being able to obtain an ARCA Menards Series pavement win was a cathartic moment for Crews, who expressed his gratitude to both Gibbs and his family for helping him reach that milestone.
“Winning this race is so special for me,” Crews said. “It was my mom’s birthday [on Thursday], so I’m dedicating this win to her. I can’t thank the Joe Gibbs Racing enough. [There was] no practice, so showing up to the track with a car this fast was pretty cool.”
Treyten Lapcevich earned a strong third-place finish in what is currently his only planned ARCA Menards Series race of 2025. The rest of the top five consisted of Lawless Alan and Lavar Scott.
Kole Raz, Thad Moffitt, Patrick Staropoli, Robbie Kennealy and Corey Day were the rest of the top-10 finishers.
The next time the ARCA Menards Series takes to the track will not be until Apr. 26 at Talladega Superspeedway, a race that will broadcast on FS1 starting at 12:30 p.m. ET. For the ARCA Menards Series West, the series’ next event is at Tucson Speedway on April 5 with FloRacing providing the on-track coverage.
RACE RESULTS
Pos. No. Name Sponsor Laps Diff.
1 18 Brent Crews JGR Toyota 165
2 28 Brenden Queen * Best Repair Chevrolet 165 0.16
3 15 Treyten Lapcevich * Bare Knuckle Fighting Championship Toyota 165 0.537
4 20 Lawless Alan AUTOParkit Toyota 165 1.287
5 6 Lavar Scott Max Siegel Inc Chevrolet 165 1.727
6 76 Kole Raz * Cyclum Nextgen Travel Centers Ford 165 1.772
7 46 Thad Moffitt Pristine Auction Toyota 165 2.043
8 25 Patrick Staropoli Syfovre Toyota 165 2.109
9 1 Robbie Kennealy * Jan’s Towing Ford 165 2.183
10 77 Corey Day Hendrickcars.com Chevrolet 165 2.233
11 5 Eric Johnson Jr Sherwin-Williams Toyota 164 1 Lap
12 50 Trevor Huddleston High Point Racing/Racecar Factory Ford 164 1 Lap
13 13 Tanner Reif Central Coast Cabinets Toyota 164 1 Lap
14 73 Andy Jankowiak Phillips 66 Lubricants Toyota 163 2 Laps
15 71 Kyle Keller Jan’s Towing/Jan’s Racing/Argus Construction Ford 161 4 Laps
16 11 Cody Dennison Timcast/Flux Toyota 160 5 Laps
17 51 Blake Lothian * Texas Lawbook Chevrolet 158 7 Laps
18 3 Adrian Ferrer * Central Coast Cabinets Toyota 157 8 Laps
19 23 Tyler Reif Sigma Performance Svc/Vegas Fastener Mfg Chevrolet 156 9 Laps
20 31 Tim Viens GoHitchGo Toyota 155 10 Laps
21 99 Michael Maples DonRay Petroleum/Maples Motorsports Chevrolet 154 11 Laps
22 06 Brayton Laster AutoRepairVINStickers.com Toyota 151 14 Laps
23 12 Tim Monroe PVW/Universal Technical Institute Ford 145 20 Laps
24 19 Jake Bollman * NAPA Auto Care Chevrolet 143 22 Laps
25 72 Jonathan Reaume * RBR Engineering Chevrolet 124 41 Laps
26 9 Tony Cosentino Universal Technical Institute Toyota 81 84 Laps
27 97 Jason Kitzmiller A.L.L. Construction Chevrolet 38 127 Laps
28 03 Alex Clubb Yavapai Bottle Gas/Race Parts Liquidators Ford 30 135 Laps
29 05 David Smith Shockwave Marine Suspension Seating Toyota 28 137 Laps
30 10 Brad Perez Fast Track Racing/UTI Ford 24 141 Laps
31 55 Isabella Robusto * Mobil 1 Toyota 19 146 Laps
32 67 Ryan Vargas Maples Motorsports Chevrolet 13 152 Laps
33 48 Brad Smith Gary’s Speed Shop Ford 8 157 Laps
34 86 Alex Malycke* Yavapai Bottle Gas/Race Parts Liquidators Ford 0 165 Laps
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