Brent Crews wins ARCA West finale – Trevor Huddleston wins ARCA West Championship on Saturday at Phoenix Raceway.
AVONDALE, Ariz. — The final race for the ARCA Menards Series platform in 2025 ended with Brent Crews completing a clean sweep of the two Phoenix Raceway events.
Brent Crews Wins Finale
Crews led every lap in Saturday’s Desert Diamond Casino West Valley 100 for the ARCA Menards Series West, the second time he has done so in a race this year after his dominant triumph at Bristol Motor Speedway in September. While the young prospect enjoyed a stress-free outing, veteran Trevor Huddleston formally celebrated his first West Series championship.
By going wire-to-wire at Phoenix, Crews secured his sixth victory on the ARCA Menards Series platform in 2025 and his second with the West Series. Crews credited his stellar day to Joe Gibbs Racing and everyone within their ARCA Menards Series program for assembling such a fast car.
“It helps when you have a super fast Mobil 1 Toyota Camry,” Crews said. “That was a blast to drive all day. [We were] loose all day, and it’s been super slimy, but these guys never stopped working on this thing. We were able to be fastest in practice, [get] the pole and lead all the laps. It’s an honor to be here.
“Having my dad here was cool, but Coach [Joe Gibbs] in Victory Lane for the first time is a new one for me.”
Comparing Crews’ Two Phoenix Wins
The outcomes of the two ARCA Menards Series events at Phoenix this year were nearly identical. Brent Crews won both in a Gibbs Toyota with the Pinnacle Racing Group No. 28, following closely behind.
Crews’ first Phoenix win in March was much more intense compared to Saturday’s finale. ARCA Menards Series champion Brenden ‘Butterbean’ Queen appeared poised to claim his second victory of the season in March until a caution on the final lap set up a one-lap shootout between him and Crews.
Heading into turn three on the final lap, Crews dove under Queen and proceeded to muscle him up out of the groove. Queen made slight contact with the outside wall while Crews pulled ahead, prevailing in his first ARCA Menards Series appearance behind the wheel of Gibbs’ No. 18.
This time, there was no need for last-lap heroics. Carson Brown, the new driver of Pinnacle Racing Group’s No. 28 Chevrolet, made some inroads on Crews during the closing stages but ultimately ran out of time to avenge his team’s previous Phoenix defeat.
Trevor Huddleston Wins ARCA West Championship
As Crews celebrated his victory, Trevor Huddleston put the finishing touches on a championship year in the West Series by scoring a tenth-place finish. Huddleston wrapped up his season with four wins and ten top fives, with the March Phoenix race being the only event in which he did not place inside the top ten.
All Huddleston needed was to turn a single practice lap on Friday to lock up the West Series title, but his focus was centered on turning in one more great race to close out 2025. When the checkered flag waved, Huddleston performed the most cathartic burnout of his career, relieved to be a West Series champion after nearly a decade.
“Now it’s real,” Huddleston said. “Before it was just a word; now that I did the burnout, it solidifies it. I kept true to my word; I said I was going to annihilate the tires. They’re gone, I don’t know where they are. Everybody who was part of this group, [makes this], so special. I can’t explain how much this means to us and our team.
“There’s going to be a lot of beer drank and a lot of partying.”
Huddleston’s team, High Point Racing, is much smaller compared to many other organizations that made the trip to Phoenix for Saturday’s West Series finale. The engine in Huddleston’s No. 50 Ford was the same one used across all 12 West Series events on the 2025 calendar.
Brent Crews 2025 Season
In contrast, Crews already had a race under his belt on the weekend before the Desert Diamond Casino West Valley 100. He competed in Friday’s NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series finale, in which he ran up front most of the evening but finished 28th after breaking an axle on a restart.
With a busy-but-successful season now complete for Crews, he will turn his attention toward what is expected to be a more hectic 2026. For Crews, running on both the ARCA Menards Series platform and Truck Series has been crucial toward refining his race craft, an experience he intends to keep utilizing moving forward.
“[I learned] that I can [race a bunch of different cars while] trusting the Lord and the path that he has for me,” Crews said. “It’s not always going to be easy, but [it’s about] never quitting. I want to say a huge thanks to this whole Joe Gibbs Racing crew for never giving up and keeping our stuff fast.”
Desert Diamond Casino West Valley 100 Results
Following Crews and Brown across the start-finish line in third was Thomas Annunziata, with Tristan McKee and Leland Honeyman rounding out the top five.
The rest of the top ten consisted of Robbie Kennealy, Connor Hall, Thad Moffitt, Jake Finch, and Huddleston.
The ARCA West Series Point Standings
A long offseason now awaits drivers and teams across all three divisions of the ARCA Menards Series. The 2026 season for the national ARCA Menards Series will commence at Daytona International Speedway on Feb. 14.
The 2026 ARCA Menards Series West and East schedules will be announced in the coming weeks.