Theriault takes ARCA win at Road America after chaotic last-lap

Austin Cindric had the lead on the start of a one-lap restart to the finish of the Road America 100, but heading into Turn 1 Cole Custer made contact with him, sending Cindric for a spin and Custer into the gravel.

That left Dalton Sargeant in the lead – the only one among the leaders to pit for new tires before the final restart

But a couple of turns later, Matt Tifft made contact with Sargeant, knocking them both out of contention.

With no full-course caution, that moved Theriault, who restarted fifth, into the lead and he held off Riley Herbst for his fourth ARCA win of the season and continued to build on his series points lead.

“Everybody was trying to win the race in Turn 1. I had expected that but I didn’t think it was going to happen from behind and in front of us,” Theriault said. “We were running third on the long straightaway and I was thinking, ‘We’re going to come home third. That’s a decent points day.’

“Then I hit my braking point about same and (Sargeant and Tifft) were racing hard for the win. They each tried to brake a little bit deeper. I saw smoke and I saw them go off the track. I put it back in first gear and took off and never looked behind me.

“I trusted my spotters. I figured if someone came sailing in and took us out it was going to be for the win. On the last lap, I laid it all out there and here we are in Victory Lane.”

P.J. Jones finished third, Sargeant ended up fourth and Shane Lee finished fifth. Completing the top-10: Michael Womack, Austin Wayne Self, Natalie Decker, Gus Dean and Bret Holmes.

Cindric, who started on the pole based on combined practice speeds, led the most laps and ended up 12th.