0
0
By Brandon White www.arcaracing.com April 25, 2026
Photo: Dustin Chambers/ARCA Racing
TALLADEGA, Ala. — A bold move from Andy Jankowiak around the outside of Cleetus McFarland and Gus Dean at Talladega Superspeedway propelled him to his first career ARCA Menards Series victory on Saturday afternoon.
Amidst the chaos of the situation, Jankowiak stayed in the throttle, not knowing the overtime attempt was just one lap.
When reality did set in, the emotions quickly overwhelmed Jankowiak, who has worked tirelessly during the 2020s to find sustainability on the ARCA Menards Series platform. Jankowiak initially did this through his own program before becoming the primary driver for KLAS Motorsports after they purchased the operation.
RELATED: Complete results from Talladega
Every sacrifice Jankowiak put in to keep his dream alive paid off with the most cathartic moment of his career to date, one he initially did not believe was even real.
“I thought there was one more lap,” Jankowiak said. “The radio was super staticky. I’m still waiting to wake up here. Everything that got me to ARCA and everything that’s come after with [co-owners] Kevin Lapierre, Andy Seuss and Mike Dayton, there’s never been more of a team effort standing in Victory Lane at Talladega.
“What an adventure.”
Motorsports has always been a vital part of Jankowiak’s identity. His father Tony Jankowiak was a renowned Modified competitor in the northeast whose accomplishments included a World Series of Asphalt championship at Florida’s New Smyrna Speedway in 1990.
The younger Jankowiak began following in his father’s footsteps during the late 2000s by competing in Modified events all around the northeast. Jankowiak quickly developed a reputation as a hard-nosed, consistent competitor, all while he worked as a pizza delivery driver away from the track.
Seeking to expand his footprint in motorsports, Jankowiak made his ARCA Menards Series debut at Daytona International Speedway in 2021, when he scored a strong eighth-place finish. The next five years saw Jankowiak accumulate five top-five showings, including a career-best outing of fourth twice.
The second of those performances came at Talladega last year, which is when Jankowiak led his first laps on the ARCA Menards Series platform. Knowing what he and KLAS Motorsports were capable of at Talladega, Jankowiak entered Saturday confident about his chances to finally earn that breakthrough victory.
Patience was needed from Jankowiak to manifest that goal. Even though he started 10th, Jankowiak lost the lead pack during the first half of the Alabama Manufactured Housing 200, but he knew there would be another opportunity to get back in contention with a competition caution on lap 38.
Once the yellows started falling, Jankowiak worked the draft to his advantage and found himself in the top five inside of 10 laps remaining. Jankowiak kept his hopes for a win alive after narrowly missing the biggest crash of the day, but he still needed to pass several strong cars with reduced drafting help at his disposal.
Drafting with McFarland proved to be the race-winning move for Jankowiak. The two found their way to the outside lane before McFarland’s block on Dean created a clear pathway for Jankowiak to take home the checkered flag.
McFarland wanted to win Talladega in honor of his late friend and NASCAR Cup Series legend Greg Biffle, but he found plenty of gratitude with second and leading his first ARCA Menards Series laps. Reflecting on the finish, McFarland admitted holding the top line instead of being overly defensive might have gotten to Victory Lane.
“I think I needed to back up a smidge to get that help that was behind me,” McFarland said. “I left [Jankowiak] I’m pretty sure and tried to go down. We started beating each other up, and then Andy passed us and got the W, so congratulations to him.
“What an insane day of racing. That was the greatest race I’ve ever been a part of in my life right there.”
McFarland was also proud of the progress made in the ARCA Menards Series since his debut at Daytona last year, which ended with him behind the wall in 30th after a crash. By being one of the strongest cars Saturday afternoon, McFarland feels he is proving himself as a capable stock-car driver.
With McFarland still possessing plenty of NASCAR ambitions, he looks to take everything he learned from Saturday and apply it to future drafting races and other events.
“I got a lot of confidence today,” McFarland said. “When we’re rubbing like that at 180 [mph], you can actually move the car around a lot. I learned a lot about drafting today more than anything. When I was tight, it was because there was someone on my bumper. If someone’s on me, I’ve got to expect to be super tight, and that scared the crap out of me.
“We pushed through with the power of Mr. Sam on my hood [and] almost won it.”
The backgrounds of McFarland and Jankowiak are similar but also vastly different from one another. Both possess a strong passion for motorsports, but McFarland’s journey in the ARCA Menards Series only started a couple of years ago, while Jankowiak has been fighting to reach the top of the pedestal for nearly his entire life.
As Jankowiak took Saturday’s milestone in, he thought about everyone who has helped him throughout his motorsports odyssey, from everyone at KLAS Motorsports to Tony, who passed away in a Modified crash on April 22, 1990, just more than 36 years ago. If Tony were around today, Jankowiak knows he would be proud of everything he has accomplished.
The moment still felt surreal for Jankowiak long after the checkered flag, which is why he plans to cherish it for as long as he feasibly can.
“I’m the luckiest guy in the world,” Jankowiak said. “People don’t realize how many little things it took to get to this step. It’s such a team effort. I wanted to win this more for [KLAS Motorsports] than I did for myself.
“I’ve done this before. I just always wake up.”
Dean ended up third behind Jankowiak and McFarland, with his Nitro Motorsports teammate Isabella Robusto following him in fourth after leading at the start of the one-lap shootout. Rounding out the top five was Gio Ruggieo.
Taylor Reimer, Sean Corr, Ryan Vargas, Daniel Dye and Will Kimmel comprised the rest of the top 10.
Next up for the ARCA Menards Series is the first road-course venue on the 2026 schedule: Watkins Glen International. The green flag for the General Tire 100 at the Glen will wave at 1:30 p.m. ET on May 8, with FS2 and the FOX Sports App providing live coverage of the on-track action.
