ROSEVILLE, Calif. — Ethan Nascimento (No. 4 Nascimento Motorsports / RJ’s Paintshop Chevrolet) prevailed in a frantic five-lap dash to the finish in Saturday’s ARCA Menards Series West NAPA Auto Parts 150 Presented by West Coast Stock Car Motorsports Hall of Fame at All American Speedway.
Nascimento traded the lead three times with reigning series champion Trevor Huddleston (No. 50 High Point Racing / Racecar Factory Ford) after the final restart at lap 146, and traded paint with him on the final lap to move Huddleston up the track and out of the lead down the backstretch. The two made more contact in turns three and four and then had a drag race to the finish line, which Nascimento got to first by just 0.039 seconds.
Nascimento is the tenth first-time winner at All American Speedway in the last 13 ARCA Menards Series West races at the track.
Nascimento’s victory is the third time in the last seven races that saw a last-lap pass for the victory. Gio Scelzi (2020) and PJ Pedroncelli (2021) also made a last-lap pass to seal the victory.
Hailie Deegan (No. 16 Columbia Bank Chevrolet) notched her second consecutive third-place finish at team owner Bill McAnally’s home track, finishing just 0.219 seconds behind Nascimento. The BMR shop is located just 10 minutes from the track, and McAnally is a former promoter of the speedway.
Defending race winner Robbie Kennealy (No. 1 Jan’s Towing / Jan’s Racing Ford), the defending race winner, ran as high as second but was pinned in the inside lane on a restart inside the final 50 laps and gave up a couple of positions before racing his way back to fourth. It is his fifth top-five finish of the season.
Will Robinson (No. 25 Ivy Asset Group Toyota) had a quiet run to finish fifth, his best career series finish; he previously finished 16th at Tucson Speedway and 13th at Colorado National Speedway.
Cole Denton (No. 71 Jan’s Towing / Jan’s Racing Ford) started from the Sioux Chief PowerPEX Pole and led early but slowly faded through the field, often due to starting in the inside lane on restarts. Denton, who turned 16 just before the previous race at Portland International Raceway, scored his series leading third Sioux Chief PowerPEX Pole Award of the season earlier in the day.
Eric Johnson, Jr. (No. 5 Pacific Office Automation Toyota) battled just to get to the racetrack after his flight from home in La Center, Washington to Sacramento was canceled. He and his father rented a car and made the 14-hour drive to the track, arriving just 10 minutes before the driver’s meeting. Johnson qualified a career-best second and led the first handful of laps before fading through the field, eventually finishing seventh.
Andrew Chapman (No. 55 High Point Racing / Racecar Factory Ford) recovered from a spin with Kenna Mitchell (No. 13 Central Coast Cabinets Ford) to finish eighth. Mitchell, who clinched the track’s Late Model championship earlier in the night, needed to pit for repairs and finished 15th, 31 laps in arrears.
Josiah Reaume (No. 72 RBR Engineering Chevrolet) finished ninth, his second career top-ten finish and best of his career. He finished tenth earlier this season at Tri-City Raceway.
Fifteen-year-old Donald Witkowski (No. 77 King Taco / REX MD / Wallace Signs Toyota) finished tenth in his ARCA Menards West debut.
Mason Massey (No 19 NAPA Auto Care Chevrolet) entered the night 18 points out of the ARCA Menards West points lead, but engine issues sidelined him after 87 laps. With his 17th-place finish, and combined with Huddleston’s second place finish and bonus points for leading the most laps, Huddleston unofficially leads the series standings by 35 points over Massey with four races remaining.
