Gio Ruggiero in action Friday at Michigan Int'l Speedway. (Zack Silver/ARCA Racing photo)

By Jacob Seelman, SWN News Editor

BROOKLYN, Mich. (June 5, 2026) – Gio Ruggiero only led a half-lap of Friday’s ARCA Menards Series race at Michigan Int’l Speedway under green-flag conditions, but as it turned out, that was all he needed in order to leave with the trophy.

Pushed to the point by Toyota teammate Gavan Boschele on a lap-49 restart, Ruggiero was in front when a multi-car crash erupted behind him that collected Cleetus McFarland, Andy Jankowiak, and Jason Kitzmiller exiting turn two onto the backstretch.

That forced a caution flag right at the scheduled midpoint of the Henry Ford Health 200, making it official just before a line of rain showers moved over the racetrack and fully dampened the two-mile, D-shaped oval.

The red flag was displayed shortly before 6:30 p.m. ET, and with sunset at 9:09 p.m. and limited time to even attempt track-drying efforts, ARCA officials declared the race complete after 57 of 100 laps within minutes of the stoppage.

Regardless of how it happened, Friday marked the third win in four national ARCA starts this year for Ruggiero, a regular in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series for TRICON Garage.

“This is awesome,” said Ruggiero after climbing from his race car. “Really, really proud of the [No.] 18 team, man. They work so hard, and [it’s] just such a great group of guys. Awesome to win here with my family, my mom and dad [in attendance] too.

“It was cool that Gavin got to push me there at the end of the race and helped me get the lead. But just executed on every restart, I felt like,” he continued. Our car drove good, but I felt like we were still a little bit behind on speed and still got it done. So, definitely a good day for us.

“Certainly, wanted to finish it off under green, but you take it how you can get it.”

Ruggiero will aim for a second win in as many days Saturday when he competes with TRICON in the Truck Series race Saturday afternoon at MIS.

He wasn’t expecting the rain to arrive as heavy as it did, but wasn’t complaining about the final outcome, either.

“[In this series], you just have to capitalize and execute, get track position when you can,” noted Ruggiero. “Obviously, I knew the rain was coming. I didn’t know it was going to be this bad. But it’s awesome to get the win.

“Hopefully, tomorrow I can go get the truck race win and actually park it down there in victory lane.”

Series point leader Jake Bollman, who Ruggiero pushed to the top spot on the second-to-last restart of the day at lap 43, led for the first time in his national ARCA career before ending the day with a runner-up finish.

It tied the career-best mark for the California native.

His Nitro Motorsports teammate Gavan Boschele finished third, followed by the Pinnacle Racing Group duo of Connor Mosack and Lanie Buice.

Mosack dominated the day after taking the lead on the race’s first restart at lap seven, controlling the proceedings for a race-high 36 circuits.

However, Mosack lost command on the lap-43 resumption after the first scheduled competition caution, when Bollman burst through on the bottom lane with drafting help from Ruggiero and Boschele behind him. He just didn’t have enough green-flag laps after that to try and rally back.

“I just didn’t have any help, really,” Mosack lamented. “[The Toyotas] did a good job of tandeming on the bottom there, cleared us, and that was it. Had it gone green. I feel like we were good enough to be OK and get back there … but the time we had ran out.”

Behind Buice, Thomas Annunziata, Isabella Robusto, Will Kimmel, Wesley Slimp, and George Siciliano – known to the YouTube world as Squirrel McNutt – rounded out the top-10 finishers.

Fellow YouTube sensation Cleetus McFarland started from the pole for the first time in his ARCA career, but got a piece of the wall to kick off the final accident and ended up 13th as a result.

McFarland led the first six laps before fading back to the tail end of the top 10 for most of the green-flag laps, battling a tight handling condition all race long in the No. 30 Rette Jones Racing Ford.

The ARCA Menards Series continues a stretch of six straight race weekends with the Sunset Hill Shooting Range 150 on Friday, June 12 at Pennsylvania’s Pocono Raceway.

Jesse Love won ARCA’s most recent visit to Pocono in 2023.

The finish:

Race (57 laps): 1. 18-Gio Ruggiero, 2. 20-Jake Bollman, 3. 25-Gavan Boschele, 4. 28-Connor Mosack, 5. 77-Lanie Buice, 6. 70-Thomas Annunziata, 7. 55-Isabella Robusto, 8. 69-Will Kimmel, 9. 15-Wesley Slimp, 10. 0-George Siciliano, 11. 2-Kyle Steckly, 12. 91-Ryan Vargas, 13. 66-Dystany Spurlock, 14. 30-Garrett Mitchell, 15. 71-Andy Jankowiak, 16. 99-Michael Maples, 17. 65-Jeff MacZink, 18. 12-Takuma Koga, 19. 24-Daniel Dye, 20. 06-Con Nicolopoulos, 21. 03-Alex Clubb, 22. 19-Morgen Baird, 23. 97-Jason Kitzmiller, 24. 86-Jeff Maconi, 25. 89-Bobby Dale Earnhardt, 26. 11-Matt Kemp, 27. 10-Dustin Hillenburg, 28. 22-Nick White, 29. 48-Brad Smith, 30. 32-Charles Weslowski.