Landen Lewis celebrates in victory lane after winning Saturday night’s ARCA Menards West Series race at Kern County Raceway Park. Photo: Landdn Lewis/Twitter
Landen Lewis is quickly making a name for himself.
Less than a year after winning in just his second ARCA Menards Series appearance at the DuQuoin State Fairgrounds in Illinois, Lewis managed to take home a checkered flag in his ARCA Menards Series West debut Saturday evening at Kern County Raceway Park in Bakersfield, California.
Although Kern County is more than 2,500 miles away from his hometown of Ocean Isle Beach, North Carolina, Lewis quickly took a liking to the half-mile facility during the weekend and is eager to make more trips to the West Coast following his victory.
“I’m kind of speechless at the moment,” Lewis said in victory lane. “This place is pretty freaking awesome, and I’m definitely going to be making a trip back while also running on the West tour some more.”
Lewis had plenty of West Coast expertise to lean on at Kern County in the form of his mentor Ron Hornaday, Jr., whose long list of accomplishments include four NASCAR Camping World Truck Series titles and two NASCAR Southwest Tour titles.
Mastering the restarts, which was a staple of Hornaday’s driving style, was pivotal toward Lewis coming away victorious. He ran down Jake Drew for the lead shortly after the halfway break before successfully holding him off during the final restart of the night.
Drew was confident Saturday would finally be the night that saw him break through for his first West Series win. While the second-place run was disappointing to him, Drew took solace over fortifying his small advantage in the point standings.
“P2 Drew has been the nickname for a while,” Drew said. “We had a good car, but it seems like whenever someone from out of town shows up, that’s who we have to fight with. That’s what competition is for, and it was still a good points night in general.”
Drew added that his strong run at Kern County only gives him more confidence in the ability of his team to win the West title after narrowly missing out in 2021. Despite this, he still intends to be in the same position Lewis occupied on Saturday evening.
Lewis, who was greeted with a kiss by Hornaday in victory lane, never once doubted that he would be a contender at Kern County and was thrilled to reward Cook Racing Technologies with their first victory as an organization.
“I was confident yesterday when we walked in the gate,” Lewis said. “Bruce Cook and the guys brought me a fast piece, and when we unloaded, I knew we had a car for the race. This wouldn’t be possible without Bruce Cook and the guys. They make this whole deal possible.”
Cole Moore came home in the third position with Tanner Reif building off his first career victory at Irwindale Speedway last month by finishing fourth. Paul Pedroncelli Jr., who earned the General Tire Pole on Saturday evening, completed the top five.
The ARCA Menards Series West season continues June 4 with a trip to Portland International Raceway in Portland, Oregon.
ARCA Menards West Series
Kern County Raceway Park – Bakersfield, CA
NAPA Auto Parts 150 – April 23, 2022
1. Landen Lewis
2. Jake Drew
3. Cole Moore
4. Tanner Reif
5. Paul Pedroncelli, Jr.
6. Todd Souza
7. Trevor Huddleston
8. Austin Herzog
9. Takuma Koga
10. Amber Slagle
11. Nick Joanides
12. Bridget Burgess
13. Sebastian Arias
14. Kyle Keller
15. Andrew Tuttle
16. Tripp Gaylord
17. Joey Iest
18. Paul Pedroncelli
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