Chandler Smith, driver of the No. 20 Toyota for Venturini Motorsports, took home the checkered flag in Friday evening’s General Tire 150. This was Chandler’s first career victory at Phoenix Raceway and the first race at Phoenix Raceway in the history of the ARCA Menards Series.
With an overtime restart, the 17-year-old Bounty Rookie of the Year contender held off Michael Self and a hard-charging Ty Gibbs for the final two laps. Self finished a mere 0.303 seconds behind Smith. Gibbs, who was dominate early on, started on the pole and led the most laps, finished third overall. Tanner Gray, and Zane Smith would round out the top-five.
“Give it to this man right there,” Smith said in a postrace interview, pointing towards crew chief and team owner Billy Venturini. “If he wouldn’t have made that call, we wouldn’t have won the race. He made the gamble and it’s why we’re sitting here in victory lane. Bill gave me a tremendous handful tonight with this. No. 20 Toyota and look where we ended up.”
The FanShield 500 Speed Fest Weekend continues Saturday and Sunday with both the NASCAR Cup Series and NASCAR Xfinity Series taking to the track. The green flag waves in the LS Tractor 200 NASCAR Xfinity Series race at 2 p.m. on Saturday, March 7. The FanShield 500 NASCAR Cup Series race concludes the weekend on Sunday, March 8 at 12:30 p.m. Tickets for both races are still available, and may be purchased at the track, online at PhoenixRaceway.com, or by calling 866-408-7223.