MADERA, Calif. — Trevor Huddleston topped the ARCA Menards Series West portion of the 51st Harvest Classic at Madera Speedway on Saturday night.
Huddleston won the West Coast Stock Car / Motorsports Hall of Fame 150 in a door-banging duel with 2023 ARCA Menards Series West champion Sean Hingorani.
Huddleston proposed to his longtime girlfriend Nastasia Dodd in victory lane as well at the speedway where they first met.
“What a race! This car…absolutely epic! Race Car Factory, High Point Racing, everybody who made this possible – I can’t thank them enough. Getting these wins isn’t easy,” Huddleston said.
Jaron Giannini scored the General Tire Pole Award in just his third start in the series over 17 entries. Huddleston worked his way to the inside of Giannini to take the lead by lap eight. 2023 polesitter Eric Nascimento Jr. slowed to a stop with mechanical woes to end his evening early on lap 25.
Fourth-starting Sean Hingorani worked his way up to second by lap 33 with a three quarter of a second gap behind Huddleston. Huddleston’s lead grew to over one full second while Giannini reeled Hingorani back in for second.
Ethan Nascimento then challenged Giannini for third. Nascimento worked upstairs to the outside of Hingorani briefly by lap 69 for second in a dynamic race among the drivers in second, third, and fourth. The next caution flew on lap 82 when Japanese driver Takuma Koga tangled with Canadian David Smith in turn two. The incident erased a nearly three second lead for Huddleston over the fierce second place battle.
Nascimento slipped back to fourth on the restart and fell into an entertaining scrum with two-time Short Track Shootout winner Kyle Keller.
Jack Wood spun in turn three on lap 102 and was hit hard by Kyle Whisner, requiring a red flag for fluid cleanup.
When the red flag was lifted, incoming points leader Tyler Reif of Las Vegas was unable to re-fire the No. 13 Toyota, forcing him to retire from the race and costing him the points lead over Hingorani.
Nascimento battled back to third with a three-wide maneuver underneath Giannini with ten laps to go. Wood spun in the fourth turn with five to go, setting up a sprint to the finish.
Huddleston and Hingorani went side-by-side over the final two circuits. They banged doors coming to the line and Huddleston grabbed the checkered flag by just half a car length, or a mere .084 seconds on the timing and scoring. Nascimento finished third, followed by 17th-starting Eric Johnson Jr. in a career-high fourth. Keller earned his third consecutive top-five finish in fifth.