Kicking off things down in the Valley of the Sun for NASCAR’s annual spring date at Phoenix International Raceway was the youngsters of the ARCA Menards Series. Though not as many eyes were on this race due to the lack of a celebrity in the field, fans of the ARCA Series kept a keen eye on this race as it was the first “normal” race of the 2025 ARCA Menards Series season. The General Tire 150 did not disappoint in putting on a show. Here are the three main takeaways from tonight’s ARCA race from Phoenix.
Making his asphalt oval debut tonight was Brent Crews, driving the Joe Gibbs Racing number 18 JBL Toyota. Crews scored the pole for tonight’s race due to qualifying being washed out and the starting lineup being decided by series owner points. So, the question was how well would Crews fare leading the field to the green tonight? In the end, he did a bang-up job. From the drop of the green flag, Crews rocketed out to the front and though he did have some who contested his lead, he was able to clear any challengers to lead a good chunk of this race. He remained in control of the race until Lap-57 when he was passed by Butterbean Queen as they navigated their way through lapped traffic.
During the halftime break, the number 18 JGR crew seemed to make the right adjustments to Brent Crews’ machine. The young CARS Tour Rookie of the year wasted little time challenging Branden Queen for the lead once again. He took back the lead in convincing fashion. As the run went on, however, he radioed in shortly after losing the lead once again to Branden Queen, complaining that his number 18 Toyota was running loose. This led him to having to slow up the pace in order to conserve his right side General tires.
In the closing laps of the race, Crews slowly started to reel Queen in. But, as the field took 10 to go, Queen pulled away yet again. After a series of restarts, Crews was able to take charge on the final lap, winning in his JGR debut. It is clear that he has a bright future in this sport.
We’ve had medical doctors involved in the sport of racing before. Dr. Jerry Punch’s tenure with ESPN comes to mind. But never before have we had a medical doctor on the entry list as a competitor. Tonight, however, we did. Dr. Patrick Staropoli made his debut in the ARCA Menards Series all the way back in 2015 as he was getting ready to graduate from Harvard University. The debut came at Daytona where he finished 21st. He made a couple of other starts, including one in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series in 2016. However, his racing career was temporarily put on hold after sponsorship dollars dried up.
After the temporary end of his stock car racing career, Staropoli went to the University of Mami where he obtained his medical degree. When he isn’t racing, he is working his day job as a medical and surgical retina specialist at his office in Bellaire, Texas. It just goes to show that it’s never too late to chase your racing dreams, no matter your career path. Staropoli is expected to make a handful of starts this season for Venturini Motorsports.
He was having a great run inside the top-10 shortly after the halftime break. Unfortunately, hard racing with his Venturini teammate led to him going around and spinning out. Fortunately for him, though, he was able to keep it off the wall and received minimal, if any, damage during the incident.
After the restart, he made a march back into the top 10. He ultimately finished in 8th.
2024 CARS Tour Champion Branden “Butterbean” Queen impressed by winning the season-opening race at Daytona a couple of weeks ago. He started this race in the 4th position and slowly and methodically worked his way through the field. After a couple of cautions, he found himself starting alongside race leader Brent Crews upon the restart. And though Crews was able to clear Queen initially, as the run went on and the leaders approached lapped traffic, Crews faded. Queen was able to snatch the lead away from Crews on Lap-57 and he led the field into the halftime break.
Queen faded some following the halftime break, falling to his CARS Tour rival, Brent Crews. However, following a spin by Patrick Staropoli, Queen regained the lead upon the restart. Queen ran it out, taking the white flag. However, on the white flag lap, the number 31 car spun out, triggering a caution. Unlike NASCAR, in ARCA a green flag finish is guaranteed. This meant that there would be a restart for Queen and Crews to duke it out for the race win.
Coming to the green, Queen spun his tires, falling into the clutches of Crews and Tyler Reif. This caused a stack up which resulted in Thad Moffit, getting into the back of Reif which sent Reif into the inside wall. This triggered yet another caution, being we’d line up again for another restart.
Again, the restart didn’t go to Branden Queen’s liking. Heading down into the first corner, Queen saw Crews challenging up high while the number 15 ran down low. The two were able to clear the 15, however, and they raced hard to the finish. Queen gave it everything he had but, in the end, it wasn’t enough. After making contact with the wall coming to the line, Queen had to settle for 2nd. That said, this was still an impressive run for the young driver. It is clear that he’s the championship favorite early in the 2025 ARCA season.
The ARCA race from Phoenix is officially in the books! What did you make of that race, Daily Downforce readers? It was certainly tamer than ARCA races typically are. Let us know your thoughts by commenting on all of our socials.
