Brent Crews rebounds at Lucas Oil IRP to score another victory in 2025
Photo by ARCA Racing photo
BROWNSBURG, Indiana—Brent Crews helped Joe Gibbs Racing check another box in the ARCA Menards Series Friday evening at Lucas Oil Indianapolis Raceway Park.
Gibbs’ ARCA Menards Series program had yet to win at Lucas Oil Indianapolis Raceway Park prior to the LiUNA! 150 presented by Dutch Boy. Excellent second half adjustments from crew chief Matt Ross enabled Crews to overtake Brenden Queen and pull away for his second ARCA Menards Series national win of the year and third overall.
Crews has now won half of the ARCA Menards Series events he has entered in 2025. He knew adjustments would be needed to eclipse Queen’s stellar pace, but commended Ross for perfecting his car during the closing 75 laps.
“I was exhausted,” Crews said. “This JGR group did an absolutely fabulous job at the break there. [Queen] was really good in the first half and I was giving everything I had trying to hang with him. I knew Matt [Ross] and the crew had something up their sleeve to get me that extra little bit at the halfway break and that’s exactly what he did.”
A trip to Victory Lane for Crews was a stark contrast compared to how his most recent ARCA Menards Series appearance at Dover Motor Speedway ended.
Crews was biding his time behind Queen during the opening stint when he blew a right-front tire off Turn 4 and made contact with the outside wall. The 21st place finish Crews sustained that day was the first time Gibbs’ team had placed outside the top 10 in an ARCA Menards Series event since William Sawalich crashed out at Dover the previous year.
Eager to re-establish Gibbs’ efficient status quo, Crews implemented the same strategy from Dover, stay patient and wait until the halfway break to adjust. Despite early contact with Queen, Crews made it to the competition yellow with an intact car, giving Ross the opportunity to prime his driver for the second half.
As Queen lost the balance on his car, Crews applied pressure to his rear bumper. The pass for the lead occurred with 58 laps left when Queen’s car got loose coming off Turn 2, allowing Crews to dive underneath him in the next set of corners and successfully grab the lead.
Two subsequent restarts caused Queen to lose track position and nearly fall outside of the top five during the final green flag run. Queen regrouped and successfully battled back to third, but he expressed disappointment after watching a potential fifth victory of the year fall by the wayside.
“We just got way too loose,” Queen said. “I’m proud of the effort from these Pinnacle guys. Led a lot there, but we were too tight on throttle. It wasn’t like we made a big change or anything, but just enough to where I was loose in and loose off. Restarts weren’t going our way either, so we had to fight there and get what we could.
“Honestly, to get back to third there after being shuffled to fifth or sixth, I feel like that’s a good day for us.”
Queen’s second half struggles also caused him to slightly lose his advantage in the ARCA Menards Series point standings. Lawless Alan, who entered the night second in points, placed runner-up to Crews, though Queen’s late charge minimized the damage.
Crews triumph gave him a jolt of energy entering the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series event that succeeded the LiUNA! 150 presented by Dutch Boy. He hopes to rack up more accomplishments for Gibbs before the season concludes.
“I have a lot more energy now that I’ve won,” Crews said in Victory Lane. “I think I’d be more down in the dumps if I didn’t. I’m just excited to go on this journey with Toyota Gazoo Racing and [drive] all these cool cars. It’s absolutely fabulous and I’m ready for the rest.”
Isabella Robusto ended her night in the fourth after being passed by Queen late, with Lavar Scott rounding out the top five.
The rest of the top 10 finishers were Connor Mosack, ARCA Menards Series East points leader Isaac Kitzmiller, Jason Kitzmiller, Hunter Wright and Thad Moffitt.
Next up for both the ARCA Menards Series and ARCA Menards Series East is a visit to Iowa Speedway next Friday, Aug. 2. The green flag for the Atlas 150 will wave at 6 p.m. CT/7 p.m. ET, with FS1 providing live coverage.
RACE RESULTS
Pos. No. Name Sponsor Laps Diff.
1 18 Brent Crews* JBL Toyota 150 –
2 20 Lawless Alan AUTOParkIt Toyota 150 3.318
3 28 Brenden Queen* BRC Chevrolet 150 5.705
4 55 Isabella Robusto* Mobil 1 Toyota 150 6.276
5 6 Lavar Scott Max Siegel Inc. Chevrolet 150 7.143
6 82 Connor Mosack WTC/Friends of Jaclyn Chevrolet 150 7.436
7 79 Isaac Kitzmiller* A.L.L Construction/Carter Cat Chevrolet 150 8.664
8 97 Jason Kitzmiller A.L.L. Construction/Carter Cat Chevrolet 150 10.738
9 95 Hunter Wright* VisitWilcoTN.com/Cedar City RV Toyota 150 11.575
10 46 Thad Moffit Induction Innovations Toyota 150 13.665
11 2 Lanie Buice* Max Siegel Inc Chevrolet 150 14.67
12 40 Andrew Patterson* Carrier/Habegger/Support the Trades Chevrolet 150 15.148
13 70 Sam Corry* Nitro Motorsports Toyota 150 15.881
14 23 Tyler Reif Vegas Fastener/Sigma Performance Services Chevrolet 150 18.992
15 25 Mason Mitchell Pro-Seed Toyota 150 19.299
16 11 Zachary Tinkle Racing for Rescues/Fast Track Racing Toyota 150 19.523
17 68 Regina Sirvent* Por Amor A Puebla Ford 150 20.015
18 9 Cody Dennison Timcast Toyota 150 21.96
19 31 Quinn Davis* Risemotorsports.com/Key Heating & Cooling Toyota 147 3 Laps
20 96 Jackson McLerran* JSJ Construction/ARYLCO LLC/StuffthebusKY.com Toyota 146 4 Laps
21 10 Tony Cosentino NASCAR Technical Institute/Fast Track Racing Ford 145 5 Laps
22 03 Alex Clubb Berry Performance & Accessories/Race Parts Liquidators Ford 143 7 Laps
23 7 Kadence Davenport* Davenport/Concrete/Logan Contractor Supply/Roger’s Companies Chevrolet 143 7 Laps
24 98 Mike Basham Shearer Speed Toyota 141 9 Laps
25 06 Brayton Laster* PeerlessPump.com Toyota 140 10 Laps
26 48 Brad Smith Gary’s Speed Shop Ford 111 39 Laps
27 69 Brian Finney Excell Coating/Merritt Island Air & Heat/Bob Steele Chevrolet 103 47 Laps
28 67 Presley Sorah* Health Markets/GoGut Microbebiotic/M&M Electric Chevrolet 99 51 Laps
29 99 Michael Maples Don Ray Petroleum/Maples Motorsports Chevrolet 89 61 Laps
30 34 Austin Vaughn* Safford Trading Company Ford 49 101 Laps
31 12 Takuma Koga Macnica Yit Ikedo/CKB/Fast Track Racing Toyota 49 101 Laps
32 01 Matt Kemp* Double H Ranch/ FastTrackRacing.com Toyota 20 130 Laps
33 86 Doug Miller* Berry Performance & Accessories/Race Parts Liquidators Ford 10 140 Laps
34 85 Becca Monopoli* Orlando Health Ford 5 145 Laps
Our Partners
.png)
