After starting from the pole, Jesse Love won the General Tire 200 from Talladega, leading the most laps. The win also marks Venturini Motorsports’ first win of the 2023 ARCA Menards Series main division.
Love’s teammate Gus Dean finished runner-up, giving Venturini a 1-2 finish. 2020 series champion Bret Holmes finished third at his home track, with Andres Perez De Lara finishing fourth in his first career superspeedway race. Sean Corr rounded out the top five.
As for the remainder of the top ten, Jack Wood finished sixth in the second Rev Racing entry, with Taylor Gray finishing seventh, in what was also his first career superspeedway race. Scott Melton, Frankie Muniz, and Jason White rounded out the top ten.
Original pole sitter Gray dropped to the rear prior to the green flag, putting the start in the hands of Love. He fired off from the lead early, holding it with relative ease throughout the first green flag run of the race. With most of the field running single-file, Love easily kept Perez de Lara and Amber Balcaen in tow.
The race stayed that way until the first caution, a single-car spin, taking out Daytona winner Greg Van Alst. After Balcaen pulled out of line from third due to a mechanical issue, the lead pack was stacked up. Van Alst took advantage of this, but was hooked by Melton, who was running inside the top five. Van Alst’s car hooked right into the outside wall, taking the 41-year-old out of the race prematurely. Balcaen took her Venturini Motorsports No. 15 to the garage with a mechanical failure.
After a lengthy caution period, the field took the green flag again, but the run wouldn’t last long, as a large crash began further back in the field shortly after the start-finish line, involving Tim Richmond, Hunter DeShautelle, Logan Misuraca, Jon Garrett and Jason Kitzmiller. Kitzmiller spun going up through the gears for the restart, and spun back into the field, initially collecting Garrett and Misuraca.
Others spun but sustained minimal damage. DeShautelle joined the wreck late, hitting the Kitzmiller car that had come to a rest from the earlier spin hard in the rear bumper. DeShautelle, Richmond, Misuraca, Garrett, and Kitzmiller were all taken out of the race.
After the race restarted again, it was a six-lap dash to the halfway break. The run was largely single-file and led by Rev Racing teammates Wood and Perez de Lara. During that stretch, Andy Jankowiak had a lengthy pitstop to…
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