It’s better to be lucky than good. Why not be both on back-to-back Saturday nights? At Berlin Raceway, Sammy Smith was the lucky beneficiary of Daniel Dye’s No. 43 experiencing mechanical woes. Smith won there for his first ARCA Menards Series victory. Then at Elko Speedway, Smith was exceptionally good.
The 18-year-old wheeled the No. 18 Toyota to the pole, then led 233 of the 250 laps en route to victory in the Menards 250.
Rajah Caruth kept his points lead, now five points ahead of his Rev Racing teammate Nick Sanchez and nine points ahead of Dye. Toni Breidinger remains fourth in points and Greg Van Alst gained one spot to fifth place in the standings.
After three straight Saturday night races at three short tracks, how are the top five the power rankings faring?
1. Sammy Smith
Smith won at Elko by 4.119-seconds ahead of Jesse Love. Smith set the pole with a lap at 14.397 seconds. So, Smith won by about a third of a lap ahead of Love, after 250 laps to boot.
Despite competing in only half the races this season, Smith has tied for the most wins and now has led the most laps, 384 compared to the second-highest, Dye with 224.
ICYMI:@sammysmithSS dominated the day at @elkospeedway. Leading both the practice and qualifying sessions, before leading the most laps in route to his second straight @ARCA_Racing win. Here is what he had to say post-race. #ARCA pic.twitter.com/IqN2zgOxVa
— Mitchell Breuer (@MitchellB66) June 26, 2022
Smith has climbed to ninth in the championship standings, 171 points behind Caruth. With 12 races left this season, Smith would need to gain about more 15 points per race than his fellow ARCA championship contenders. While it is not impossible, it certainly is a daunting task for Smith. It will be interesting to see how he performs in the next three races at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course, Pocono Raceway, and Lucas Oil Indianapolis Raceway Park, all of which are vastly different tracks.
2. Rajah Caruth
Pre-race, Caruth told Frontstretch that his Rev team missed it in qualifying, leaving him with a 12th place starting spot. He added the team took a big swing to hopefully make his No. 6 faster. Caruth indeed gained five positions, finishing seventh, but two laps down. Still, Caruth only lost two points to Dye and gained four on Sanchez.
P7 at Elko. Points leader by 4. T-minus 12 days until my first road course race at Mid-Ohio.#teamchevy | @DiscoverSVG pic.twitter.com/FgqSdxzirF
— Rajah Kirby Caruth (@rajahcaruth_) June…
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