How the ARCA Menards Series Helps Short Track Racers Get to NASCAR

By Jim Foose – Speedway Action Magazine

The ARCA Menards Series has been around since 1953 and in that time has produced many NASCAR Champions.  Names like Benny Parsons, Justin Allgaier, Chris Buescher, Sheldon Creed and Ty Gibbs all rank among ARCA Champions who carried their winning ways to the top three series of NASCAR. 

The ARCA Menards Series is the most diverse stock car series racing in America.  From the superspeedways of Daytona and Talladega to the short tracks of Toledo and Berlin, the road course at Lime Rock Park and even two fairgrounds 1 mile dirt tracks, the ARCA Menards Series compete on various track surfaces and track configurations.  

What ARCA brings to many tracks is a national stock car series racing at the same tracks that locals compete on.  Salem Speedway, Elko Speedway, Berlin Raceway and Toledo Speedway all host weekly racing programs and the ARCA Menards Series.  In many years a local racer will hop in a car and compete with the up and coming stars and ARCA veterans gaining valuable experience in heavier stock cars.  For some of those drivers that experience can translate into getting opportunities at bigger tracks. 

For young drivers gaining experience on the varying tracks that make up the 20 race ARCA Menards Series Schedule can be a step to move into the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series or Xfinity Series before ultimately reaching the NASCAR Cup Series.  For 2008 ARCA Menards Series Champion Justin Allgaier being an ARCA Champion launched his career into the NASCAR Xfinity Series (then Nationwide Series) in 2009 for Team Penske.  From there Allgaier moved to Turner Scott Motorsports and in 2014 to the Cup Series with HScott Motorsports.  After two seasons in the Cup Series, Allgaier moved to the Xfinity Series with JR Motorsports in 2016 and has stayed with the team since, winning the 2024 NASCAR Xfinity Series Championship.  Allgaier isn’t the only drivers to jump from an ARCA Championship to the Xfinity Series and eventually to the Cup Series, Ty GIbbs won the 2021 ARCA Menards Championship and moved to the Xfinity Series in 2022, winning the championship in that series before moving to the NASCAR Cup Series full time in 2023.  Gibbs has yet to score that elusive first Cup Series win, but he qualified for the Cup Series Playoffs in 2024.  

A 20-race schedule keeps the costs down in the ARCA Menards Series, a series that spends a good portion of the season around the Midwest and Southeast.  But trips to Phoenix, Elko in Minnesota and Dover make the series a national tour.  In 2024, eleven of those races were companion events to the NASCAR Cup Series being held at the same track during the same weekend.  That provides exposure for up and coming drivers to the NASCAR team owners.  One such driver is Rajah Caruth, who now competes in the Craftsman Truck Series for Spire Motorsports.  Caruth caught the eye of Rick Hendrick, owner of Hendrick Motorsports and HendrickCars.com, which signed on to sponsor Caruth for the full season in the Craftsman Truck Series in 2024.  Caruth delivered a win, at Las Vegas, and raced into the Round of 8 in the Craftsman Truck Series Playoffs.  

On the topic of cost cutting, the ARCA Menards Series utilizes a flange fit body from Five Star Race Car Bodies and offers two engine programs designed to contain costs, the ARCA Illmor engine and the Roush Yates Spec Engine.  The Roush Yates Spec Engine is only available at tracks up to 1.5 miles in length and road courses.  Taking out to major costs and introducing spec parts for those two areas (bodies and engines) of the car, which often are engineered over and over again to gain minuscule amounts of speed at a high cost, has helped the ARCA Menards Series contain costs to compete overall.  Race Breaks introduced to the series over the past handful of years have taken away the advantage of flying a NASCAR pit crew to change tires and add fuel, instead the races have pre-determined breaks with a five minute break to change tires and add fuel, but not at that same time.  The teams retain their positions on track (except if a team elects to not stop, they move the front of the line) with no real competition between pit crews to change tires or add fuel the fastest.  Limited adjustments can be made during the Race Breaks as well.  It’s a format that allows ARCA to keep costs down and compete at smaller tracks without proper pit roads and pit stalls, the concept was first used by the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series at Eldora Speedway, which lacks a traditional pit road.  

Today, the ARCA Menards Series field is mostly young drivers either under development contract from the manufacturer or a NASCAR team or young drivers who bring family funding to compete.  Venturini Motorsports has competed in the ARCA Menards Series for over 40 years, recently their driver lineup has consisted of Toyota development drivers Brent Crews, Gio Ruggerio, Toni Breidinger and others who have entered the series with a check signed by Toyota.  It’s estimated to race a Venturini Toyota costs around $100,000 per race.  Toyota takes care of supplying the driver and in most cases the sponsorship through business to business partnerships with JBL Audio, SiriusXM, Mobil 1, Safelite Auto Glass, Yahoo and other companies that have existing relationships with the manufacturer.  In 2024, Kris Wright drove the Venturini #15 car with First National Bank and America’s Auto Auction on the hood and quarter panels, sponsors he brought to the team for the season, in essence Wright rented the car and team, put his own sponsors on it and ran the full season.  Wright wasn’t alone in funding his own 2024 campaign as Christian Rose brought the West Virginia Department of Tourism to the #32 team fielded by AM Racing.  Wright moves up to the NASCAR Xfinity Series with Our Motorsports and Rose will join the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series with Niece Motorsports.  No doubt the experience gained racing in ARCA helped them move up the ladder, despite not winning a race during their time in ARCA.  2024 ARCA Menards Series Champion Andres Perez also did not win a race during the 2024 season.  

William Sawalich, driving the Joe Gibbs Racing #18 Toyota won nine of the 20 races despite only competing in 14 races, Taylor Gray won twice in six starts for the same team, bringing the win total to 11 out of 20 races for the JGR team.  Connor Zilisch won five times in eight races and Connor Mosak won at Kansas for Pinnacle Racing Group in the #28 Chevrolet.  Venturini Motorsports won with Jake Finch in the #20 car, while Gus Dean and Brent Crews each scored a win in the Venturini #55 car.  Sawalich & Gray move to the NASCAR Xfinity Series with Joe Gibbs Racing, while Zilisch joins JR Motorsports in the Xfinity Series for 2025.  Mosack will compete in the Craftsman Truck Series for McAnally-Hilgemann Racing.  Finch and Crews both will compete part time in the ARCA Menards Series for 2025.  

On the other end of pit road are the small budget teams, Andy Hillenburg’s Fast Track Racing has been a steady competitor in the ARCA Menards Series for years, the team often brings multiple cars to the track, piecing together drivers willing to rent the ride for the race to gain experience or to live out a life long dream of racing in one of America’s professional racing series.  Hillenburg isn’t the only one at this end of pit road, Wayne Peterson Racing often races two cars, numbered 06 and 0, the #6 covered by a large piece of vinyl material.  It isn’t pretty but drivers are willing to climb in and take the green flag at each race for this little team.  Often the team has both cars in the garage before the first “race break”, collecting the prize money for finishing wherever they did and moving onto the next race without tearing up equipment or spending money on multiple sets of tires.  

The ARCA Menards Series East and ARCA Menards Series West provide another step on the ladder, racing mostly on tracks under 1 mile, drivers as young as 15 can race the full East and West schedules, jump starting their development.  Sawallich scored the ARCA Menards Series East Championship in 2024 while Sean Hingorani took the West honors.  Both drivers turned 18 years old during the 2024 season.  

From weekend warriors to up and coming drivers, the ARCA Menards Series is providing a platform for drivers to make the jump from the local short tracks to the superspeedways of NASCAR.  ARCA also is a series where fresh talent can be developed on the other side of the pit wall.  Crew members, Car Chiefs and Crew Chiefs along with engineers can gain knowledge and skills in the ARCA Menards Series that will help them move up the ladder to NASCAR.