Jesse Love gets his second win of the season at Irwindale Speedway

            The ARCA Menards Series West celebrated Independence Day from Irwindale, California, for the ENEOS 125 Presented by NAPA Auto Parts at Irwindale Speedway. Jesse Love was the pole sitter, and starting next to him was Trevor Huddleston. Toyotas had seven cars starting in the top ten.

#ARCAMenards West is 🟢 at Irwindale 💻 -> @NASCARonNBC #ENEOS125 pic.twitter.com/7o2unhU3Hk — ARCA Menards Series (@ARCA_Racing) July 5, 2020

Jesse Love led early from the get-go with Trevor Huddleston right on him. At times, Love was able to distance himself from Huddleston. Love began to put cars a lap down, and those cars allowed Huddleston to close in on him. He almost got the lead from Love, but a lapped car prevented him from taking the lead. While those two were battling for first place, another great battle was going on between Todd Souza, Brittany Zamora, and Holley Hollan for ninth place. The first caution came out at lap 41 for a spin by the number 88 car, driven by Bridget Burgess.

With drivers only having one set of tires available to them, no one came to pit road under the caution. Most of the passing was happening on the outside lane, the lane of choice for most drivers. Jesse Love picked the outside lane for the restart. The race resumed on lap 45; Love was able to power his way to the front and keep the lead. Love dominated this race and continued to put more cars a lap or more down. The second caution came out on the 77th lap when Brittany Zamora ran into the back of Holley Hollan and turned her around into turn one just in front of the leaders. Luckily for Hollan, her car did not hit the wall and made little contact with Zamora’s car, leaving it with no significant damage.

🚨 Evasive maneuvers required by race leaders 😱#ARCAMenards | #ENEOS125 pic.twitter.com/0r8mexXZz2 — ARCA Menards Series (@ARCA_Racing) July 5, 2020

Once again, no one came to pit road, and Love chose the outside lane. The race resumed with 44 laps to go. The green flag only lasted a couple of laps before the third caution came out for the number 78 car driven by Jack Wood. He was battling for the seventh position with Devin Dodson and couldn’t stick his car to the middle lane and lost control of the car, sliding down to the infield of the track.

Jack Wood couldn't make the middle groove stick.#ARCAMenards | #ENEOS125 pic.twitter.com/0EuGDizX1M — ARCA Menards Series (@ARCA_Racing) July 5, 2020

Under the caution, only three cars came to pit road but not the leaders. Love continued to choose the outside lane for restarts. The race got back underway, with 38 laps to go. Trevor Huddleston almost got the lead from Love, but the outside lane helped Love get in front of Huddleston to remain in the lead. With 31 laps to go, Brittney Zamora’s car had a flat right-front tire, and she had to come to pit road. Less than two laps later, Holley Hollan’s car got loose in turn one and hit the 11 car of Dustin Ash along with clipping the 78 car of Jack Wood. This time she suffered damage to the front of her car and had to pit.

The race restarted with 25 laps to go, Trevor Huddleston again tried to overtake Love, but once again, the outside lane prevailed, and Love remained in the lead. The latest green flag lasted ten laps until the fifth caution came out as the number 13 car of Todd Souza came up and got into the left rear corner of the number 12 car, driven by Lawless Alan. Those two were battling for the seventh position.

The race got back underway with 11 laps to go with the battle for first heating up. Jesse Love went wide into turn one allowing Trevor Huddleston to get in front of him. Love then went inside and got loose, almost hitting Huddleston. Huddleston then tried to go low, as they were heading into turn one. Gio Scelzi tried to dive to the bottom, but Blaine Perkins was there, and Scelzi went around and hit the turn one wall to bring out the sixth caution of the day. Scelzi had significant damage to the left-rear of the car and was done for the day. He would finish in 14th place.

"Chaos on that restart!" Trevor Huddleston to the lead. And Gio Scelzi in the wall.#ARCAMenards | #ENEOS125 pic.twitter.com/zSgNrr7R85 — ARCA Menards Series (@ARCA_Racing) July 5, 2020

With Love having success in previous restarts on the outside, Trevor Huddleston chose the outside lane as the race resumed with five laps to go. Jesse Love was able to move up the track taking momentum away from Huddleston for the lead. Jesse Love pulled away and went on to win the ENEOS 125 Presented by NAPA Auto Parts by 0.680 seconds over the second-place finisher Trevor Huddleston.

Jesse Love picks up win No. 2 of 2020 Congratulations @jesselovejr1 🏁#ARCAMenards | #ENEOS125 pic.twitter.com/AQoGDxY9VI — ARCA Menards Series (@ARCA_Racing) July 5, 2020

The rest of the top ten finishers were Gracie Trotter in third, her best career finish so far. Blaine Perkins finished in fourth place, Devin Dodson in fifth, Johnny Borneman III in sixth, Todd Souza in seventh, Dustin Ash eighth, Lawless Alan ninth one lap down, and Takuma Koga tenth also one lap down.

            The ARCA Menards Series West will have a month off before resuming the season on August 8th from Evergreen Speedway in Monroe, Washington.

#ARCA #ARCAWest