Tanner Reif rallied late to take the victory in Saturday’s ARCA Menards Series West event at Tucson Speedway, after a hard-fought battle in the final laps from Eric Johnson, Jr., and Jake Bollman.
The victory marks just the third in Reif’s West Series career, snapping a nearly three-year-long winless streak, which dates back to Evergreen Speedway in 2022.
Saturday’s 150-lap contest began with Kyle Keller and ARCA Menards Series West points leader Trevor Huddleston racing in close proximity for 16 laps, after polesitter Jake Bollman lost several positions at the start.
Then, out of nowhere, the lead shifted into the hands of Todd Souza.
Souza, driving the No. 3 Central Coast Cabinets Toyota, was then able to build a lead of more than a second and a half before the No. 50 High Point Racing machine began to close the gap.
Trouble soon struck for Souza. As the long-time ARCA West team owner was lapping Tim Goulet, in the No. 31 for Rise Motorsports, Goulet made contact with Souza, causing him to crash into the outside retaining wall down the backstretch. This incident resulted in significant damage to the right front side of Souza’s Toyota Camry.
After the only caution of the race, Huddleston took the lead back on Lap 70 and would build a lead away from Johnson Jr.
Johnson Jr. began to reel in the No. 50 Ford Mustang driven by Huddleston lap by lap until he finally caught up to him for the lead with 38 laps to go.
The second-year ARCA Menards Series West driver made his move to take the lead from Huddleston for the first time that night and the first time in his ARCA West career, leading a total of 31 laps. However, Bollman quickly fought back to reclaim the lead, with Reif closely following. This set the stage for a thrilling three-car duel among Bollman, Johnson Jr., and Reif.
With just under ten laps to go, Bollman pulled away from Reif and Johnson Jr. by nearly a second before both drivers gradually reeled in the race leader.
As the field approached the final laps, Reif and Johnson Jr. engaged in a three-wide battle for the win, seeing the white flag with three laps to go still three abreast at the start and finish line.
Johnson Jr. utilized the outside lane to his advantage as Reif passed Bollman in the bottom lane, entering Turn 3 side-by-side for the race win.
Reif secured the inside lane and gained enough momentum off Turn 4 to leave Johnson Jr. in his rearview mirror to earn his first victory of the 2025 ARCA West season.
“Everything was perfect, I had to work so hard for it,” Reif said in a post-race interview with FloRacing. “I was crying in the car, I didn’t compose myself at all. I’m so proud of the team and what we can accomplish.”
Johnson Jr., who came up just short, told FloRacing about racing Reif cleanly in the closing laps and his attempts at scoring his maiden ARCA West win.
“I wasn’t gonna leave anything on the table, but I wasn’t gonna wreck him for it, that was good, hard short track racing.”
The remaining spots in the top five were filled by Bollman, Keller, and Huddleston after 150 laps around the bullring in the desert.
Caleb Shrader made a strong return to ARCA West competition after nearly a year, finishing in sixth place. Rookie Robbie Kennealy followed closely in seventh. Despite having a damaged race car, Souza managed to secure an eighth-place finish. Blake Lothian finished ninth, and Cody Dennison rounded out the top ten at Tucson Speedway.
Tanner Reif managed to slide into the points lead in the ARCA Menards Series West, leaving Tucson (via tiebreaker) over Trevor Huddleston. The top five, which includes Eric Johnson, Jr., Kyle Keller, and Robbie Kennealy, leave the third race of the season within eight points of the lead.
Colorado National Speedway will host the fourth ARCA Menards Series event of the 2025 season on May 24, during Memorial Day Weekend.
