Entering Friday’s ARCA Menard’s Series finale, a winless Jake Bollman held a 16-point advantage over Nitro Motorsports teammate Thomas Annunziata in the battle for the 2026 title. The 100-lap race that followed was filled with drama and shocking moments.
Early in the race, the title rivals found each other on Lap 16, battling for third place. As they split a lapped car while side-by-side, Bollman had a shallow entry into the corner and shot up the track. The two cars collided, sliding sideways with Annunziata fully spinning.
Just few laps later on Lap 24, Annunziata appeared to deliver some payback as he swiped across Bollman’s bumper on the frontstretch, sending him spinning.
Mind you, these two drivers are team-mates, and the team was not thrilled with how things were playing out. Annunziata was told that their latest incident was the end of it, and if he got into Bollman again, the team might even choose to park the No. 70.
However, the drama was far from over. Just after 40 laps into the race, Bollman was back running ahead of Annunziata and firmly in control of the championship.
As Will Kimmel spun ahead of him, Bollman slammed into the sideways No. 69 car. He crashed heavily, and was then hit a second time in a major impact to the door by Austin Vaughn. The No. 20 was completely destroyed, but his title hopes were not yet over.
Bollman returns to the race
Annunziata still had to finish seventh or higher to make up the 16-point deficit. Bollman now sat 23rd, but the team was thrashing to make repairs to his No. 20 car.
“I didn’t really mean to get into him,” said Bollman back in the garage. “I just got into the corner way too flat. That lap car gave me no room and I had nowhere to go. Tried to keep it out of him as best I can. But contact was made and it is what it is, right? You know, move on. If I was in his position, I don’t know if I would have retaliated the way he did, so I feel like that’s going to hurt his career a little bit, and it shows the type of person he is, right? He’s going to get it back one day. I’m not going to say I’m doing it tonight because, I don’t know, I ain’t like that. But if it comes down to it, I ain’t afraid either.”
On-track, Annunziata was running seventh and they remained tied for the points lead. But with 25 to go, the caution flew for a spinning car, bringing the entire field back together.
With about 20 to go, Bollman somehow managed to return to the track, taking 22nd from Kimmel immediately. He later passed another car that had fallen out of the race, bumping him up to 21st and meaning Annunziata had to finish fifth.
The final restart
With 13 to go, the caution flew for Landon S. Huffman, who was in front of Annunziata on track. However, Annunziata had to pit for further work on his own car.
Annunziata restarted ninth, but quickly charged up to fifth, passing Andy Jankowiak. He actually tied with Bollman for the crown, but he won the tiebreaker courtesy of a July win at Lime Rock Park.
“It was crazy,” said Annunziata after the race. “I mean, I came into here without any preconceived notions, and I knew it was going to be hard. I mean, Jake Bollman did a good job, too. I mean, he had a great year, just unfortunately he had bad luck there, but we had horrible luck in the beginning as well, so I kept my head in it.
“We made contact there in the beginning, and I misjudged it on the straightaway there, but I mean, it was an eye for an eye. I mean, we were racing hard, and he’s gotten into me a few times, so it was just hard racing there again, so I’m proud of my guys … we led one championship for one race. That was really cool.”
Carson Brown won the race, passing Gio Ruggiero with just a couple of laps to go, earning back-to-back victories to end the 2026 season.
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