Treyten Lapcevich Leads Flag-To-Flag for Maiden ARCA Win at Berlin

Talk about taking a dominant win in your first race with a new team.

Treyten Lapcevich, making his second career start in the ARCA Menards Series, led all 200 laps around the 0.438-mile Berlin Raceway, claiming his first win in the series and the first win for Nitro Motorsports.

The Ontario-native began the weekend by claiming his first-ever pole in the ARCA Menards Series over championship contender Lavar Scott.

Lapcevich immediately took care of the second-place starter, Lavar Scott, once the green flag dropped, making the defending ARCA rookie of the year slide up the race track, allowing Lapcevich to begin driving away from the field.

After the first caution of the day for Trevor Ward spinning on the front stretch, Lapcevich proved to be the car to beat, as he never looked back for the remainder of the event, holding off the best in the business.

The remainder of the 200-lap contest was marked by several caution flags, albeit single-vehicle incidents. Lapcevich refused to be denied and took full advantage of the situation. After starting from the pole position, he led every lap, encountering minimal opposition from the other drivers, and smoothly made his way to Victory Lane in his second appearance in the ARCA Menards Series.

“I don’t even know what to say,” Lapcevich said after claiming his first career ARCA Menards Series win. “A big thanks to Nitro Motorsports. [My crew chief] Shannon [Rusch] and the guys had this thing hooked up. I haven’t been in the seat a whole lot this year, and these guys came together and made this possible for me. A huge thanks to Nitro for truly giving me a rocket ship.”

Lapcevich’s victory is the first for a Canadian-born driver since 2014 when road racing specialist, Andrew Ranger, claimed his fourth and final ARCA victory at New Jersey Motorsports Park. It is the first time since 2010 for a Canadian driver to win on an oval, which was last accomplished by Steve Arpin.

“I was really trying to get [comfortable] with the car on restarts to understand how hard I could push it into turn one, that second half of the race, it really started coming to life on the restarts. [so] I was able to defend a lot better and retain the lead.”

The win also marks the first for Nitro Motorsports as an ARCA program since joining the platform at the beginning of the season. They are currently a full-time operation in the Trans AM TA2 Series, where they have claimed two championships with Toyota Racing Development driver Brent Crews and Raphael Matos, respectively.

Max Reaves, who was looking to mark a fourth win and going for his first ARCA national win, wound up finishing second after qualifying fourth, following Lapcevich in his tire tracks for the entirety of the second half of the race.

The rest of the top 5 were followed by Lawless Alan, Brenden Queen, and Scott.

Isabella Robusto, Mason Mitchell, Jason Kitzmiller, Matt Kemp, and Willie Mullins rounded out the top 10 finishers. Queen still holds the points lead by now seven points over Alan and Scott as the series gears up for another iconic short track event next Saturday at Elko Speedway in Minnesota.

Berlin ARCA 200 Results