Disaster for #ARCA championship contenders Amber Balcaen and Greg Van Alst. It looks like Balcaen just got into Van Alst to send him spinning, and they had a big crash. pic.twitter.com/xtVDcKHEPq
— Toby Christie (@Toby_Christie) June 15, 2024
What a disastrous situation for a pair of ARCA Menards Series championship contenders in Friday night’s Atlas 150 at Iowa Speedway. On Lap 24 of the 150-lap event around the 0.875-mile short track, Amber Balcaen made contact with the rear of Greg Van Alst’s No. 35 machine.
After the tap, Van Alst lost control in Turns 3 and 4, and he went for a ride into the outside wall. With him, went Balcaen as the two championship contenders crashed extremely hard. Marco Andretti also had nowhere to go and piled into the incident as well.
Following a trip to the infield care center, Van Alst was shown a replay of the crash, and he described what he saw.
“I mean, it looks like [Balcaen] just pushed us down into the corner,” Van Alst said with dejection in his voice. “I mean, I don’t know. It’s hard to see in the sun.”
At the end of the day, Van Alst felt it was far too early in the race to make the move that Balcaen made.
“I don’t know. Probably too early to be that aggressive, but it is what it is.”
Coming into the day, Van Alst ranked second in the ARCA Menards Series championship standings, just 16 points behind point leader Andres Perez de Lara. Balcaen came into the race third in the standings, 33 markers back. Both drivers’ championship hopes will take a massive hit on Friday night.
