Austin Green Breaks Through In ARCA At Charlotte
Austin Green celebrates with a burnout Friday at Charlotte Motor Speedway. (Scotte Sprinkle/Race Face Digital photo)
CONCORD, N.C. – Perhaps it was fitting that after a spring season of trials and tribulations, Austin Green’s first major stock car win came at his home track Friday evening.
A second-generation driver who grew up racing Legend cars on the frontstretch of Charlotte Motor Speedway, Green led 52 of 100 laps in the General Tire 150 to earn his first ARCA Menards Series victory in just his third career start on the ARCA platform.
He wasn’t the best car early, qualifying fourth as Joe Gibbs Racing’s William Sawalich dominated much of the first half of the race, but after Sawalich suffered damage in a lap-39 restart crash Green became the power player out front.
Green drove underneath NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series star and multi-time ARCA winner Grant Enfinger on lap 48 to take the lead, and from there, he led all but one lap the rest of the way.
The son of 1994 NASCAR Busch (now Xfinity) Series champion David Green might have been nipped for a moment by Sawalich – who clawed his way back into contention despite a heavily wrinkled front bumper – on a lap-70 restart but never faltered after driving deep into turn one to reclaim the point.
Green ultimately pulled out to a 2.569-second victory over Enfinger, as Sawalich faded back with an ill-handling Toyota in the closing stages.
“This is the greatest,” said Green, a North Carolina native, after a smoky celebratory burnout at the start-finish line. “Getting to race at home and have a successful run, let alone win, is something special. I haven’t won [in anything] in a while, so the last couple of laps I was tearing up a bit.
“Hats off to everyone at PRG [Pinnacle Racing Group] and thanks to Overplay Games; this was a wicked fast car. I think on the short run, we could have been a little bit better, but with traffic and learning how to do the aero[dynamic] blocking deal … we got here in the end,” he added. “It was a good day.
“We made a lot of good changes, and it’s my sister’s [Kaylie] 28th [birthday] today … so there’s no better present I could have given her, too.”
Green’s year has been rough on the NASCAR Xfinity Series side, with two DNQs in a four-week span in a Jordan Anderson Racing Chevrolet, but Friday’s victory soothed a lot of that pain.
“Obviously it’s not fun when you’re not doing [well],” Green noted. “You hear all the people that say, ‘Hey, he can’t do this; he can’t even qualify in [to races],’ but I think this moment silences a lot of those people and brings back a lot more of my confidence too.
“I knew I could do this, but it does help to see it play out and actually do it and have this feeling.”
Enfinger made a pass of Sawalich for second with five laps left, soaring around the outside lane, to post a solid finish as a substitute for Jason Kitzmiller – who was attending his daughter’s high school graduation.
Lavar Scott earned his fourth top-five finish of the year in third, with Sawalich falling to fourth in the final results. Modified ace-turned ARCA regular Andy Jankowiak closed the top five.
Driver-owner Andrew Patterson, another North Carolina local, finished sixth in a career night as the final car on the lead lap.
Thad Moffitt, Patrick Staropoli, YouTube influencer Cleetus McFarland – known regularly as Garrett Mitchell – and Lanie Buice were the balance of the top 10.
Friday’s race was completed in just under an hour and a half at an average speed of 112.701 mph.
The next national ARCA Menards Series race is June 6 at Michigan Int’l Speedway. Broadcast coverage airs at 5 p.m. ET, live on FS2, the FOX Sports App, and select Motor Racing Network affiliates.
