2018 General Tire 200

The 2018 General Tire 200 was a stock car race held at Talladega Superspeedway in Talladega, Alabama. It was the 4th race of the 2018 ARCA Racing Series and the 51st iteration of the event. This race is known for having the closest finish in ARCA history, as Zane Smith beat Joe Graf Jr. by 0.0029 seconds.^[3]

Talladega Superspeedway is a 2.66-mile (4.28 km) tri-oval racetrack located in Talladega, Alabama. Opened in 1969, it is the longest oval in the NASCAR Cup Series and is known for its steep banking, high speeds, and massive multi-car crashes known as "The Big One." Originally built by the International Speedway Corporation, the track was constructed on the site of a former Air Force base and has a seating capacity of over 80,000. It hosts two major NASCAR race weekends annually and is considered one of the most iconic and unpredictable tracks in motorsports.^[4]

On lap 76, a caution came out for Codie Rohrbaugh, Chase Purdy, Gus Dean, Bo LeMastus, and Dave Mader III wrecking in turn 3, setting the race into overtime, they restarted on lap 80 but then Riley Herbst, Sheldon Creed, and Sean Corr crashed on the backstretch, and after some cleanup they restarted the race on lap 87 with Zane Smith on the inside and Joe Graf Jr. on the outside. They remained side by side the entire time while banging doors with each other, as they entered the tri-oval, Sheldon Creed to pass below the yellow line but failed, Zane Smith got a small speed boost exiting the tri-oval due to the side draft while getting pushed to the bottom of the track by Joe Graf Jr., they reached the line and Zane Smith won by 0.0029, the closest finish in ARCA history.