WEST RICHLAND, Wash. (Aug. 10, 2025)— Emotions were flowing for Kyle Keller as he climbed out of Jan Qualkenbush’s No. 71 Ford in Tri-City Raceway’s Victory Lane on Saturday night.
Currently in his third full-time ARCA Menards Series West season, Keller had yet to bring home a checkered flag prior to the NAPA Auto Care 150. With all three of Keller’s runner-up finishes coming this year, a win seemed inevitable as the 20-year-old Las Vegas, Nevada native prepared to tackle Tri-City’s arduous layout.
A late caution set up a sprint to the finish that pitted Keller on the outside lane against race leader Jake Bollman. The two leaned heavily on each other during the restart, but Keller generated enough momentum to overtake Bollman and lead the final closing four laps with no challenge from behind.
Keller had no idea how he was able to best Bollman. He was simply ecstatic to finally win a West Series event in his 41st start.
“Jake [Bollman] raced me super hard there,” Keller said. “It wasn’t dirty at all. Jake and I have raced super clean all year. It was awesome to race against those guys, but Jake I felt was definitely the fastest guy there.
Former NASCAR ‘Cup driver and local favorite, Greg Biffle, finished third. Biffle spent many a night in his formative years traveling from his Vancouver, Wash. home to run on the Tri City Raceway Tri-oval. Rounding out the top five were Keller’s teammate Robbie Kennealy and Huddleston.
Fortunes changed for Keller when Bollman contacted the slower car of Jonathan Reaume, damaging his front end and bringing out the yellow flag. Keller had a perfect opportunity in front of him; all he needed was to capitalize.
With pressure from Biffle, Keller needed to be resolute. He remained unfazed against Bollman and Biffle, executing a perfect restart that finally brought him to Victory Lane in the West Series.
As Keller celebrated, Bollman could not help but be disappointed by the outcome. Bollman had built a sizable lead over Keller and the rest of the field until he got into Reaume, a sequence of events that left him puzzled and frustrated.
“It stinks,” Bollman said. “I had such a fast car that these guys bring every week. I want to apologize. I’m not going to say [the incident with Reaume] was my fault on half of it, but I don’t know why two lapped cars are battling.”
The ARCA Menards Series West will stay in the Pacific Northwest for their next event at Portland International Raceway on Aug. 29, their second and final road-course race of 2025. The Portland 112 will go green at 4 p.m. PT/7 p.m. ET with FloRacing providing live flag-to-flag coverage.