ARCA point leader Jesse Love scored his 6th win of 2023 after a crazy race at Michigan on Friday.

PC: Jesse Love X (Twitter)

Finishing Results
1. 20 Jesse Love
2. 25 Gus Dean
3. 18 Connor Mosack
4. 73 Andy Jankowiak
5. 30 Frankie Muniz
6. 11 Morgen Baird
7. 32 Christian Rose
8. 72 Cody Coughlin
9. 10 Gage Rodgers
10. 66 Jon Garrett
11. 55 Kris Wright -1 LAP
12. 15 Jake Finch -2 LAPS
13. 97 Jason Kitzmiller OUT- ENGINE
14. 65 Jeffery MacZink -5 LAPS
15. 93 Caleb Costner -7 LAPS
16. 31 Tim Goulet -9 LAPS
17. 2 Andres Perez De Lara OUT- ENGINE
18. 69 Scott Melton OUT- HUB
19. 48 Brad Smith OUT- TRANSMISSION
20. 06 AJ Moyer OUT- MECHANICAL
21. 12 Tim Monroe OUT- DRIVE SHAFT
22. 03 ALEX CLUBB OUT- CYLINDER
23. 49 JEFF SMITH OUT- PUNCTURE

Race statistics
Laps: 105
Cautions: 6
Hard Charger: 11 Morgen Baird
Fastest Lap: 18 Connor Mosack 39.233
Lead Changes: 12
Leaders: 4
Most Laps Led: 2 Andres Perez De Lara 43 laps

Race Summary

After the green flag flew, there was already a battle for the lead in the opening stages of the race between the pole sitter Andres Perez De Lara, Jesse Love and Gus Dean. All 3 drivers would battle closely and all lead laps in these first 26 laps before the first caution flew. Frankie Muniz and Jake Finch had both made contact battling for 7th which resulted in the 30 getting in the wall and nearly collecting 9th place Jason Kitzmiller. Local Michigan native Scott Melton recieved the free pass. The race resumed on lap 32 where Kris Wright making his first ARCA start since Pocono last year gave Jesse Love a good challenge for the lead. On lap 36, the first of 2 competition cautions came out.

The race resumed on lap 40 where Andres Perez De Lara battled Jesse Love for the lead and took it after a nice battle. The caution flew again on Lap 58 as local Michigan native Scott Melton came up the track and got loose off of 2nd place Jesse Love and spun into the grass. Following this, Andres Perez De Lara made a potentially costly mistake forgetting to pit as many of the other competitive cars came down pit road for tires and fuel. Others such as Cody Coughlin and Morgen Baird stayed out too. Andres ended up keeping the lead until the 2nd competition yellow on lap 71 and pitted. Right before the caution flew, the 93 of Caleb Costner blew a tire and got into the wall but was able to continue in the race. Then, everything got insane again. When the green flag flew Connor Mosack was battling hard against Jesse Love for the lead but then Gus Dean divebombed to the inside and made it stick! Something Carl Edwards wishes he could accomplish.

With 23 laps to go, Mosack caught back up to Gus Dean and both made contact, hint for later in this article and then Jesse Love, no wait ANDY JANKOWIAK, nevermind Andres Perez De Lara gets the lead! I was on my feet at this moment and it looked like my prediction was gonna win but then Connor Mosack took the lead with 12 laps to go. Unfortunately, the 2 then lost his engine and as Connor Mosack was getting close to his first ARCA victory, the yellow came out with 7 to go.

Overtime

Under ARCA overtime rules, there is a one lap dash for tracks like Michigan which results in the green and white flags being thrown together. The first attempt failed as while Connor Mosack lost the lead spinning his tires, Jake Finch rammed into the 65 of local Michigan driver Jeffery MacZink resulting in his car spinning out.

When the 2nd overtime attempt occured, the 25 of Gus Dean got a bad restart and Jesse Love was able to cruise to his 6th win this season and much closer to an almost certain championship.

PC: Tireball.com

Race Rating

Overall, I give this race a 9 out of 10 as there was action for a good majority of the race and this race is up there with many other great races this year such as Daytona, Elko, Mid-Ohio, etc.

Underdog Storylines

The pizza delivery man Andy Jankowiak fought his way up to the lead for only a few feet but the upstate New York native has so much to be proud of. In his first ever trip to Michigan, scored his best career ARCA finish in 4th and 2nd top 5 this year. We’ll see KLAS Motorsports driver next in the 73 at Watkins Glen.

Actor turned race car driver Frankie Muniz was finally able to score his first career top 5 ARCA finish for Rette Jones Racing in the 30 car. He bested her predecessor Amber Balcaen’s best finish for the 30 team last year which was a 7th at Charlotte. Muniz and Rette Jones are still looking for more sponsorship to complete the actors rookie season in ARCA.


2 time ARCA champion and team owner of Fast Track Racing, Andy Hillenburg got quite excited seeing 3 of his cars finish in the top 10. Morgen Baird got his best career ARCA finish of 6th in the 11, Gage Rodgers scored a 9th place finish in the 10, and full time competitor from Texas, Jon Garrett scored a 10th place in the 66 car which is fielded in conjunction with Veer Motorsports.

PC: Andy Hillenburg X (Twitter)

What Sweet Move?

The 3 choices given for the Reeses’ Sweet Move on the ARCA twitter page were confusing. While I can see the 97 of Jason Kitzmiller getting included for just missing the 30 of Frankie Muniz, where’s the epic move from Gus Dean to get the lead and Andy Jankowiak’s 4 wide pass for the lead??? I feel the Reeses’ Sweet Move is starting to lose legitemacy as we ended up missing 2 moves that should easily have been put up as candidates.

Beef, It’s What’s For Dinner

Dating back to many incidents at Charlotte, Gus Dean and Connor Mosack have not been the best of friends on track. That rivalry has continued into this weekend at Michigan as Gus Dean expressed his frustration after the contact with Frontstretch reporter Steven Stumpf saying Mosack has no talent and is just another rich kid.

Mosack then fired back after crashing out in the xfinity race saying that Gus had no clue what he was talking about. The beef may end here for now however as Mosack’s last scheduled race is Kansas while Gus will not be in a Venturini car until Salem.

Conclusion

Overall, great race for ARCA, a lot of great races in ARCA this year despite some races having pretty low car counts. The ARCA Menards Series returns for Race #12 at IRP this coming Friday August 11th. This will be an East Series combo event which means drivers such as William Sawalich, Sean Hingorani, Lavar Scott, Luke Fenhaus, Dale Shearer, Zachary Tinkle, and Rita Goulet will all make their return to ARCA competition.

Thank you for reading my ARCA review of the Henry Ford Health 200 at Michigan!!!

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