A Rivalry Brews, Gibbs wins over Heim at Winchester

The ARCA Menards Series makes a stop in central Indiana at the Winchester Speedway for the Calypso Lemonade 200, round six of the Sioux Chief Showdown, and the 11th race of the ARCA Menards Series schedule. The race went for 200 laps on a cool summer evening with Corey Heim on the pole. He and Ty Gibbs continue to fight for the championship. There will be race breaks on lap 75 and lap 125, Ty Gibbs won this race a year ago.

Corey Heim won the pole and Ty Gibbs started next to him in second as the green flag waved at Winchester. Heim and Gibbs battled side by side on the opening lap as Heim took the lead. They continued to fight for the lead like it was the final lap in the opening laps. Heim was able to hold on as Nick Sanchez settled into third. Ty Gibbs took the lead on lap 12 as Nick Sanchez closed in on Heim. This while battling around lapped traffic. Then on lap 28, Heim went after the lead and made contact with Ty Gibbs. Heim lost ground and Sanchez got up to second to take the advantage. Lots of physical racing going on early at Winchester. Then shortly after, Ty Gibbs suffered damage after making contact with the lapped car of Brandon Varney. Gibbs would have to go to the tail end of the field after making repairs, as this could mean big championship implications. As Heim continued to lead, Daniel Dye moved by Sanchez for second by lap 60, as Ty Gibbs moved to fourth as he got around Taylor Gray. Then a lap later, Gibbs moved up to third by Sanchez. Sanchez had some contact with the wall earlier, which might be contributing to his struggles. The first race break came at lap 75, as the caution would come out. Brandon Varney would get the free pass during the caution.

A big wreck occurred as Taylor Gray turned the 21 of Daniel Dye into the front stretch wall, then Dye collected Sanchez in the process to bring out the red flag. Dye got out of his car, very frustrated with Gray’s driving. A very tough way for GMS Racing and REV Racing to have their race be over with just like that.

“I passed the 17 clean,” Dye said after the accident “And he just right-hooked me. I’ve seen him race like that before, but it’s not the usual. I was pretty surprised. I watched the video already. He pushed me down to the apron in three and four, and I still kept it off of him, and then he right-hooked me. He’s got one coming.”

One more race break came on lap 125 as Corey Heim continued to lead the most laps. However, Ty Gibbs was not done quite just yet, and the damage he had earlier didn’t seem to slow him down at all. On lap 142, Ty Gibbs had chased Heim down and battled for the lead. With under 40 to go, Gibbs stayed all over the back bumper of Corey Heim. Almost as if someone was waiting for something big to happen. Greg Van Alst meanwhile as able to work around Parker Chase for third. Heim got sideways off of turn four with eight laps to go, then with three to go Ty Gibbs bumps into Corey Heim and sends him spinning! Definitely payback from what happened at Elko and it is safe to say that this is a rivalry in the making. Heim was able to keep going after the spin. There was a green-white-checkered restart as Ty Gibbs and Greg Van Alst led the field to the green flag. Van Alst has no chance and Ty Gibbs would hold off Van Alst and Heim for the win at Winchester. This is Gibbs’ seventh win of the 2021 ARCA Menards Season.

2021 Calypso Lemonade 200 Top 10:

1. Ty Gibbs
2. Greg Van Alst
3. Corey Heim
4. Thad Moffitt
5. Taylor Gray
6. Brandon Varney
7. Parker Chase
8. Kris Wright
9. Toni Breidinger
10. Tony Consentino

The ARCA Menards Series heads next to Watkins Glen on August 6th for a 6pm Green Flag.