Gibbs wins again, Smith captures East Championship at Bristol

The ARCA Menards Series and ARCA Menards Series East come together for a fun Thursday night of racing at Bristol Motor Speedway. This race is the season finale for the East Series, as Sammy Smith is looking to secure the Championship with a finish of 19^th or better, in the field of 33.

Ty Gibbs and Sammy Smith led the field to the green flag for 200 laps at Bristol as Gibbs would take the early lead. The caution came out for Richard Garvie in the #01 on lap 4, when he went for a spin. Mason Diaz came down pit road with issues early on as well, as the race restarted on lap 9. Sam Mayer ends up running into a spinning Jason Kitzmiller to bring out the second caution of the night, as Ty Gibbs managed to avoid the accident barely. Mayer was done for the day. Kitzmiller ended up smacking the wall earlier in the race as well. The next restart came on lap 38 with Gibbs, Smith, and Daniel Dye as the top three. Gibbs avoided another incident after Jade Buford went spinning, as Gibbs held on to the lead. The race restarted on lap 70 as Gibbs continued to lead. A race break then took place on lap 75.

The 87 of Chuck Buchanan spun on lap 97 to bring out the next caution, as he had a nudge from the 46 of Thad Moffitt. After the next race break, and with 69 laps to go, it’s still the Gibbs and Smith show upfront with Ty Gibbs taking the lead once more, Sammy Smith in second, and Taylor Gray in third. Andy Jankowiak slammed the inside wall with 63 laps to go to bring out a caution, as he got tapped from behind by Parker Chase. The race resumed with 53 to go and once again Ty Gibbs was the boss of the field. Thad Moffitt went for a spin after getting a bump from Drew Dollar just a few laps later. More trouble for Thad Moffitt with 39 laps to go, as he had a broken brake line as well as a flat tire.

Ty Gibbs would go on to get his 10^th ARCA win of the season, as well as a fellow Joe Gibbs Racing driver, Sammy Smith, capturing the 2021 ARCA Menards Series East Championship. As for the ARCA Menards standings, Gibbs has a 26 point lead over Corey Heim. The ARCA Menards Series heads next to Salem, Indiana on October 2nd.