Finley Secures First Career ARCA Victory in Nashville

In 13 ARCA Racing Series presented by Menards races, Chad Finley held a best finish of third that he gained at Berlin in 2009, and again at Pocono and Rockingham in 2010. All that changed tonight when the Dewitt, MI native brought the No. 51 Auto Value Parts Stores Chevrolet SS to victory lane.

Finley took the lead late in the race thanks to having a fresh set of General Tires. It was a wreck-filled ending to the event with drivers like Cody Lane, Bobby Gerhart, Thomas Praytor, Vinnie Miller and a few others getting involved in incidents. Things got heated in the infield after an incident between Gerhart and Miller resulted in the race ending prematurely for both drivers. The drivers appeared to have a verbal disagreement, but the matter remained civil.

Kyle Weatherman, who once again dominated another Fairgrounds Speedway race in Nashville, found himself finishing in second after winning the pole. Weatherman was unable to hold off Finley during the second to final green flag run after using up all of his equipment.

Christian Eckes made his ARCA debut last season in this race where he finished eighth, but tonight he was a man on a mission, and had one of the fastest cars of the evening. During one of the pit stops, one of the crew members left the wedge wrench in the car, and Eckes had to make an unscheduled return to pit road. The 2016 Snowball Derby champion was able to work his way back through the field, and secure his best career finish of third in the series.

Austin Theriault was in contention for the lead for most of the race, but lost sight of the lead late. He was able to bring home yet another top-5 finish, the fourth of his career, after opening the season with a win at Daytona.

Mason Mingus, whose plans to run in Nashville didn’t come to fruition until earlier this week, finished fifth. The former series regular was racing in place of injured Justin Fontaine.

Results from Nashville