Max Reaves Wins Rain-Ended Phoenix ARCA West Race in JGR Sendoff

Max Reaves won the ARCA Menards Series West race at Phoenix Raceway on Saturday, October 17, 2026, giving Joe Gibbs Racing a victory in its final ARCA-platform appearance. Rain ended the event under caution after late restarts, with Taylor Reimer classified second.

ARCA’s results published October 18 record 114 laps for Reaves’s No. 18 Toyota. Mason Massey finished third, Gavan Boschele fourth and Kasey Kleyn fifth. Hailie Deegan was sixth, ahead of Trevor Huddleston, Mia Lovell, Jade Avedisian and Robbie Kennealy.

Reimer kept the lead contested

According to ARCA’s race report, Reimer took the lead before the halfway break and challenged again through slower traffic late in the race. Reaves reclaimed the position with an inside crossover.

Contact involving Reaves and the slower Andrew Chapman helped set up overtime. A subsequent caution followed Helio Meza’s crash while disputing second place, and rain then brought the race to an end. Reimer’s runner-up result was her best in ARCA competition, the series said.

A team farewell, not the West season finale

The victory was Reaves’s first in ARCA West. ARCA identifies Phoenix as Joe Gibbs Racing’s last event on the ARCA platform following the team’s previously announced plan to close that program at the end of the 2026 season. That concerns JGR’s ARCA program, not the entire racing organisation.

The West championship schedule still has another race: ARCA lists the season finale for October 31 at Kevin Harvick’s Kern Raceway. Phoenix therefore should not be described as the series finale, and this result alone is not an announcement of the West championship winner.

For the wider race weekend and other series, see our Motorsports coverage.

Image credit: Archive video still: Max Reaves’s No. 18 Cook Out Toyota at Rockingham, April 16, 2026—not the Phoenix race. Video: Monday Morning Racer / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 4.0. Resized for display.