Brent Crews secures ARCA East Collection Proprietor’s Title for Joe Gibbs Racing with one other victory at Bristol Motor Speedway within the Bush’s Beans 200.
BRISTOL, TN. – Though Joe Gibbs Racing was unable to have a good time one other driver’s championship within the ARCA Menards Collection East for 2025, they departed Bristol Motor Speedway on Thursday victorious in a number of regards.
Brent Crews Proprietor’s Title
Brent Crews delivered a stellar, wire-to-wire efficiency to safe his third East Collection victory on the season and fifth total on the ARCA Menards Collection platform. The dominant efficiency additionally enabled Crews to offer the No. 18 Toyota its fourth consecutive East Collection proprietor’s title.
Whereas Crews obtained a win and an proprietor’s championship, Isaac Kitzmiller locked up the East Collection driver’s championship by tallying an eighth-place end.
Crews understood there could be excessive requirements positioned upon him when he joined Gibbs’ ARCA Menards Collection program for the 2025 season. He has confronted minimal points replicating the success of those that got here earlier than him within the No. 18 by showcasing maturity and composure in all his begins so far.
“There’s been plenty of success with the Joe Gibbs Racing crew from Cup all the way in which all the way down to ARCA,” Crews mentioned. “I used to be simply making an attempt to fill the sneakers. Rising up watching Kyle Busch dominate with JGR, watching William [Sawalich] have robust runs and with Sammy [Smith] having the ability to win too, I got here right here with what I wanted in my head.”
Max Reaves and William Sawalich Contribute to Proprietor’s Title
Crews shared the No. 18 within the East Collection with reigning champion William Sawalich and rookie Max Reaves, who drove the automotive in three of the primary 4 occasions.
Reaves by no means misplaced a single East Collection race, main a mixed whole of 383 of 450 attainable laps. Age restrictions prevented Reaves from contesting your complete schedule. So, the accountability fell upon Crews to shut out the East Collection marketing campaign strongly.
A lower tire Crews sustained at Dover Motor Speedway solely proved to be a brief setback for Gibbs’ proprietor’s title ambitions within the East Collection. Crews responded by main the ultimate 58 laps at Lucas Oil Indianapolis Raceway Park, together with his runner-up exhibiting within the following race at Iowa Speedway additional solidifying Gibbs’ benefit within the proprietor’s championship.
With nearly no issues relating to the proprietor’s title for Thursday’s Bush’s Beans 200, Crews centered his consideration on including one other victory to his resume in 2025. Crews needed to take care of lapped site visitors and several other restarts, however remained infallible by each problem to go to Bristol’s Victory Lane for the primary time.
As Crews celebrated, Kitzmiller relished in changing into an East Collection champion together with his CR7 Motorsports crew after avoiding bother all night. The importance of the milestone was not misplaced upon Kitzmiller, who considers himself lucky to affix an elite listing of drivers who possess an East Collection title.
“It feels superior,” Kitzmiller mentioned. “All of the coaching I do, it’s paid off. Clearly, I’ve received extra championships to win and hopefully there may be many extra to come back. It’s superior to win such a championship like Kyle Larson has gained, together with many different people who find themselves racing for wins on Sundays. It’s superior.”
The East Collection proprietor’s title was in the end out of attain for Kitzmiller. The Twenty first-place run for Crews at Dover was the one time the No. 18 completed worse than second all 12 months.
Crews by no means doubted the vehicles ready by crew chief Matt Ross could be able to successful races every weekend. All he wanted to do was fulfill his position. William Sawalich and Sammy Smith had executed so lately. Each had been rewarded with two East Collection championships of their very own.
By the mixed effort of Crews and Reaves, Gibbs’ gold customary within the East Collection persists for an additional 12 months. For Crews, it’s an honor to assist Gibbs obtain one other ARCA Menards Collection milestone. He hopes to tally extra victories with this system earlier than the 12 months ends.
“[Gibbs] clearly is aware of learn how to win,” Crews mentioned. “Coming in right here, one of the best factor you are able to do is match [the success]. My thought was to simply attempt to win races and put myself in good positions to get the proprietor’s championship. That’s what me and Max [Reaves] had been in a position to do. He’s been an important teammate of mine having the ability to win races after I’m not there and vice versa.”
Tristan McKee finishes second at Bristol on Thursday night. The ARCA Menards Collection nationwide factors chief, Brenden Queen, got here house in third. Rounding out the highest 5 had been Leland Honeyman and Thomas Annunziata.
Tyler Reif, Jake Finch, Isaac Kitzmiller, Jason Kitzmiller, and Patrick Staropoli had been the remainder of the highest ten finishers.
Subsequent Up
With the 2025 East Collection season ending, two ARCA Menards Collection Platform 2025 championships are but to complete. The subsequent chapter within the nationwide ARCA Menards Collection season takes place on Sept. 20 with the Kentuckiana Ford Sellers ARCA 200 at Salem Speedway, which is able to broadcast stay on FS2.
