SPARTA, Ky. — Scott Speed gambled on fuel mileage, dodged a dozen bullets and, in the end, out-dueled Sean Caisse during two late-race restarts to win the ARCA RE/MAX Series 150 Friday night at Kentucky Speedway.
Speed, in Eddie Sharp’s Red Bull Toyota, maneuvered to the outside of Caisse on a restart inside of 10 laps remaining and held off Caisse on the final restart with just one lap to go to earn his second-career series triumph.
“It’s cool to win a race like that,” said Speed. “Me and the 01 (Caisse) had a great battle the last 30 laps or so. I’m glad I could pull this off for my guys. We went back and forth with each other a lot on the restarts. That just shows two good drivers racing really hard and really clean. Yeah, it was definitely real exciting for me.”
Speed, who last pitted on lap 18, also stretched one tank of gas over the final 86 laps to earn the victory.
“I don’t think we had the best car, but we definitely had a great car. It was really great. To win one like that, it means a lot, definitely,” Speed said.
Caisse, in Shigeaki Hattori’s Aisin AW Toyota, was pulling away from Speed late in the race when the ninth of a record 10 caution flags came out for a two-car wreck on the frontstretch.
On the restart, Speed maneuvered to the outside of Caisse to lead the 93rd lap of the scheduled 100-lap/150-mile race, and then kept Caisse at bay. But just as Speed took the white flag, the caution flag waved again after Ken Butler III bounced off the frontstretch wall, which ultimately lengthened the race to 104 laps to accommodate the ARCA-mandated green-flag finish.
When racing resumed with one lap remaining, Speed got the jump and pulled away by five lengths over Caisse, who had to settle for second after leading 17 laps.
“We had issues with 20 to go with the throttle sticking,” said Caisse. “It would get stuck at half throttle, so trying to shift and not being able to come out of the gas all the way; it was getting jammed up in the gearbox. That was making my restarts slow. He (Speed) went to the outside and the 16 (Justin Allgaier) followed. I was able to get the 16 back.”
Allgaier finished third in a back-up car after wrecking his primary car in practice.
Frank Kimmel, who led 17 laps, finished fourth, with pole-winner Brian Scott fifth.
Point-leader Ricky Stenhouse, Jr. finished 13th.
The finish:
Showing driver, car and laps completed: 1. Scott Speed, Toyota, 104; 2. Sean Caisse, Toyota, 104; 3. Justin Allgaier, Chevrolet, 104; 4. Frank Kimmel, Ford, 104; 5. Brian Scott, Chevrolet, 104; 6. Matt Hawkins, Dodge, 104; 7. Matt Carter, Ford, 104; 8. Robb Brent, Chevrolet, 104; 9. Michael Phelps, Dodge, 104; 10. Justin Lofton, Dodge, 104; 11. Jesse Smith, Dodge, 104; 12. Tom Hessert III, Ford, 104; 13. Ricky Stenhouse, Jr., Ford, 104; 14. Bryan Reffner, Chevrolet, 104; 15. Alli Owens, Chevrolet, 104; 16. J.R. Heffner, Chevrolet, 104; 17. Gabi DiCarlo, Toyota, 104; 18. Brett Hudson, Dodge, 104; 19. Tayler Malsam, Dodge, 104;  20. Frank Kapfhammer, Chevrolet, 104; 21. Bryan Silas, Ford, 104; 22. Luke Hall, Dodge, 104; 23. Dexter Bean, Chevrolet, 103; 24. Norm Benning, Chevrolet, 103; 25. Brad Smith, Ford, 103; 26. Ryan Fischer, Chevrolet, 102; 27. Darrell Basham, Chevrolet, 102; 28. Ken Butler III, Toyota, 100; 29. Angela Cope, Dodge, 100; 30. Tom Berte, Chevrolet, 97; 31. Patrick Sheltra, Dodge, 83; 32. Bobby Gerhart, Chevrolet, 72; 33. Donny Kelley, Chevrolet, 60; 34. John Wes Townley, Ford, 45; 35. Tim Mitchell, Ford, 43; 36. Billy Leslie, Ford, 42; 37. Chris Cockrum, Chevrolet, 26; 38. Amber Cope, Dodge, 21; 39. Jim Walker, Chevrolet, 17; 40. Matt Merrell, Dodge, 13; 41. Randy Baker, Chevrolet, 7.