The Nottestad family has won multiple championships and victories at Jefferson Speedway located between Cambridge and Jefferson, Wisconsin.
On Saturday night, another generation of the Nottestad family made it a historic one as Jacob Nottestad held off tough battles from Gabe Sommers and John DeAngelis to win the Salute the Troops 100. His first victory in the ARCA Midwest Tour.
“What a team effort! We wrenched on this thing all day, we were busy in the pits,” Nottestad said after the race. “The changes we made and to see it show is just incredible.”
Nottestad led the field to the green flag as he and Sommers were on the front row. The two battled for the top spot over the first 46 laps, until the first caution flew for Luke Fenhaus’s spin in turn four and he would retire from the event with mechanical issues.
On the restart, Nottestad would get out ahead of Sommers until the second caution flew on lap 55 for Justin Mondiek’s spin coming out of turn two.
Sommers would get his nose out ahead of Nottestad on the restart, but was not able to take the outright lead as Nottestad jumped back to the front.
DeAngelis would get by Sommers for second on lap 61 and would try to find a way to get around a tough Nottestad, but his numerous attempts came up short until the final caution Lew on lap 74.
The final caution involved Jonathan Eilen and Levon Van Der Geest as the two got together going into turn one. Van Der Geest got the worse of it as he had heavy damage on the left side of his car.
On the final restart, Nottestad would continue to lead as Sommers got the second spot back from DeAngelis.
Fast qualifier and new track record holder Casey Johnson made a daring three-wide move out of turn four to get the third spot but would not be able to catch up to the top two and challenge for the win.
At the line, it was Nottestad getting the checkered flag followed by Sommers in second and Johnson in third. DeAngelis finished fourth with Austin Nason rounding out the top five.
The victory also helps Nottestad in his chase to win the 2022 Kulwicki Driver Development program title.
“We are racing for Alan this year, and to win this is just a huge bonus in the point standings for that program.” Nottestad said. “Especially at our home track as well. We have a huge edge on these guys as far as laps go, but it was an awesome team effort.”
Johnson did set a new track record in qualifying with a time of 13.230 erasing Ty Majeski’s track record set a year ago that was 13.394 seconds.
In fact, the top 11 broke the track record in qualifying.
Nottestad also won the odd heat while Sommers won the even heat. Shaun Scheel held off a last lap charge from Tristan Swanson to win the qualifier heat.
The ARCA Midwest Tour will be in action on Sunday, June 19th for the Father’s Day 100 at the famed Milwaukee Mile in West Allis, Wisconsin.
You can watch a replay of the Salute the Troops 100 by visiting midwesttour.tv.
