AVONDALE, Ariz. — Brent Crews completed a clean sweep of the two ARCA Menards Series West races at Phoenix Raceway on Saturday afternoon.
Crews led every lap in Saturday’s Desert Diamond Casino West Valley 100, the second time he has done so in a race this year after his dominant triumph at Bristol Motor Speedway in September. While the young prospect enjoyed a stress-free outing, veteran Trevor Huddleston celebrated his first West Series championship.
Crews secured his sixth victory on the ARCA Menards Series platform in 2025 and second with the West Series. Crews credited his stellar day to Joe Gibbs Racing and everyone within their ARCA Menards Series program for assembling such a fast car.
“It helps when you have a super fast Mobil 1 Toyota Camry,” Crews said. “That was a blast to drive all day. [We were] loose all day, and it’s been super slimy, but these guys never stopped working on this thing. We were able to be fastest in practice, [get] the pole and lead all the laps. It’s an honor to be here.
“Having my dad here was cool, but Coach [Joe Gibbs] in victory lane for the first time is a new one for me.”
The outcomes of the two ARCA Menards Series events at Phoenix this year were nearly identical. Brent Crews won both in a Gibbs Toyota with the Pinnacle Racing Group No. 28 following closely behind.
Crews’ first Phoenix win in March was much more intense compared to Saturday’s finale. ARCA Menards Series champion Brenden ‘Butterbean’ Queen appeared poised to claim his second victory of the season in March until a caution on the final lap set up a one-lap shootout between him and Crews.
Heading into turn three on the final lap, Crews dove under Queen and proceeded to muscle him up out of the groove. Queen made slight contact with the outside wall while Crews pulled ahead, prevailing in his first ARCA Menards Series appearance behind the wheel of Gibbs’ No. 18.
This time, there was no need for last-lap heroics. Carson Brown, the new driver of Pinnacle Racing Group’s No. 28 Chevrolet, made some inroads on Crews during the closing stages but ultimately ran out of time to avenge his team’s previous Phoenix defeat.
As Crews celebrated his victory, Huddleston put the finishing touches on a championship year in the West Series by scoring a 10th-place finish.
Huddleston wrapped up his season with four victories and 10 top fives, with the March Phoenix race being the only event in which he did not place inside the top 10.
“Now it’s real,” Huddleston said. “Before it was just a word; now that I did the burnout, it solidifies it. I kept true to my word, I said I was going to annihilate the tires. They’re gone, I don’t know where they are. Everybody who was part of this group [makes this] so special. I can’t explain how much this means to us and our team.
“There’s going to be a lot of beer drank and a lot of partying.”
Huddleston’s team, High Point Racing, is much smaller compared to many other organizations that made the trip to Phoenix for Saturday’s West Series finale. The engine in Huddleston’s No. 50 Ford was the same one used across all 12 West Series events on the 2025 calendar.
Following Crews and Brown across the start-finish line in third was Thomas Annunziata, with Tristan McKee and Leland Honeyman rounding out the top five.
The rest of the 10 consisted of Robbie Kennealy, Connor Hall, Thad Moffitt, Jake Finch and Huddleston.
