Beginning with the 2022 ARCA Menards Series season, Frontstretch ARCA editor Mark Kristl tweeted his ARCA top five power rankings. These rankings will now be posted on Frontstretch for all our tremendous readers.
Shockingly, in the closing laps of the Zinsser SmartCoat 200 on Saturday (June 18), Daniel Dye experienced a mechanical gremlin in his No. 43 Chevrolet. As a result, Sammy Smith scored his first ARCA Menards Series victory at Berlin Raceway.
Smith is riding back-to-back stout performances since he fully took over the No. 18 Kyle Busch Motorsports Toyota in the main ARCA competition.
In the championship standings though, Rajah Caruth leads his Rev Racing teammate, Nick Sanchez, by one point and Dye by 11 points.
After 200 laps at the 0.438-mile short track in Marne, Mich., how do the ARCA power rankings shake out?
1. Nick Sanchez
After practice, Sanchez told his team that his No. 2 Chevrolet needed to be faster. In that practice session, Sanchez was the sixth-quickest. He then qualified sixth for the race.
Of course, Sanchez appropriately finished in sixth place. Coincidentally, Sanchez finished in sixth at Berlin in 2021 too. With a series-best of two victories this season and six straight top-10 finishes, Sanchez earns the top spot.
2. Rajah Caruth
Caruth told Frontstretch that Berlin reminds him of Florence Motor Speedway, a track where Caruth has ample experience. In his first ARCA race at Berlin, Caruth started seventh. As Dye set a blistering pace during the race, Caruth fell one lap down. He received the lucky dog via a lap 66 caution, and Caruth stayed on the lead lap for the rest of the race. When the checkered flag flew, Caruth finished fifth, the highest of the full-time competitors.
Caruth did not have race-winning speed. But he also did not make any mistakes, and these performances will aid Caruth in his quest for the ARCA championship.
3. Daniel Dye
It was a heartbreaking night for Dye. Dye undoubtedly had the fastest car all night and appeared to become the sixth ARCA repeat winner at Berlin. Instead, on lap 195, a mechanical gremlin snatched Dye’s win away. Dye’s GMS Racing team has been snake-bitten by mechanical failures in back-to-back races, costing him two potential wins, as well as perhaps the points lead.
Instead, Dye is still in third place, though his championship hopes are still intact. In fact, thanks to winning the pole, leading the most laps and…
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