MADISON, Ill. — Ty Gibbs didn’t wait until the last lap this time.
Returning a year later to the site of his first ARCA Menards Series victory, the 17-year-old North Carolina driver put on an impressively dominating display Saturday night in the Dutch Boy 150 at World Wide Technology Raceway at Gateway.
Despite a late-race restart, Gibbs pulled away from the field easily and drove his No. 18 Monster Energy/Terrible Herbst/ORCA Toyota across the finish line 1.716 seconds ahead of runner-up Chandler Smith.
Gibbs has now won four of nine series starts this year, and picked up his Sioux Chief Showdown victory.
It was the sixth career ARCA Menards Series win in 20 starts for Gibbs, and his ninth win across the ARCA Menards, East and West series over the last two season.
Win No. 1 came at Gateway last June, when Gibbs passed Mayer in the final turns of the final lap.
There was no such dramatics this time around.
Gibbs, who was fastest in practice, started fifth as the race lineup was set based on Sioux Chief Showdown owners points. But he quickly marched his way forward and powered past pole sitter Michael Self on lap 12.
Mayer finished third at Gateway for the second consecutive year, while Max McLaughlin and ARCA Menards Series West points leader Jesse Love were fourth and fifth, respectively.
Bret Holmes finished sixth and cut back into Self’s ARCA Menards Series championship lead. Self spun out of a top 10 spot in the final third of the race and limped to a 15th-place finish, five laps off the pace. Holmes now trails by six points after 13 races.
The finish:
Ty Gibbs, Chandler Smith, Sam Mayer, Max McLaughlin, Jesse Love, Bret Holmes, Drew Dollar, Taylor Gray, Hailie Deegan, Chase Cabre, Kyle Sieg, Gracie Trotter, Gio Scelzi, Nick Sanchez, Michael Self, Tim Richmond, Max Calles, Kris Wright, Brad Smith, Mike Basham, Owen Smith.