LEXINGTON, Ohio — Jeff Gordon is back in the top five.
Okay, actually, it wasn’t Gordon, it was Thomas Annunziata. It also wasn’t in the NASCAR Cup Series, it was the ARCA Menards Series.
Annunziata finished fourth at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course in his No. 44 Ford, painted nearly identical to Gordon’s iconic No. 24 “Rainbow Warrior” Chevrolet that dominated the Cup Series in the 1990s.
The finish on Friday (June 21) is Annunziata’s second top five in just his third career ARCA start. The 19-year-old finished second in the season opener at Daytona International Speedway after avoiding a last-lap crash. Ironically, that came in another throwback, one that throws back to the classic NASCAR film Days of Thunder.
Unlike Daytona, which involved a little bit of luck, Annunziata’s run at Mid-Ohio was all skill, using his road racing expertise from his tenure in the Trans-Am National Championship to qualify a career-best fifth earlier in the afternoon.
The Colts Neck, N.J. native seldom left the top five the entire afternoon, running around second or third throughout. Following the halfway break, Annunziata found himself third but spent a majority of the second half of the race fending off Gio Ruggiero.
“Definitely learned a little bit more about the racing,” Annunziata told Frontstretch after the race. “It’s aggressive … definitely elbows out.”
A late caution for Lavar Scott set up a three-lap shootout to the finish. As the leaders entered turn 2 (more commonly known as “the keyhole”), then-second-place Connor Mosack drove in deep to try to take the lead back from Brent Crews. Annunziata took advantage of Mosack’s No. 28 sliding slightly up the track and slipped by underneath to take the lead.
“It looked like Mosack tried going down the inside in the keyhole,” said Annunziata. “I went even lower. I wheel hopped a little bit and moved him out of the way. We were…
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