2023 ARCA Menards Series East

The 2023 ARCA Menards Series East is the 37th season of the ARCA Menards Series East, a regional stock car racing series sanctioned by NASCAR in the United States. The season began on March 25 with the Pensacola 200 at Five Flags Speedway and will end on September 14 with the Bush's Beans 200 at Bristol Motor Speedway.

William Sawalich is the current points leader.

Sammy Smith, the defending series champion in 2021 and 2022, moved up to the NASCAR Xfinity Series to run full-time for Joe Gibbs Racing in 2023 and therefore did not return to run full-time in the ARCA Menards Series East and defend his title. William Sawalich replaced him in the No. 18 car in 2023, which went back to being owned by JGR after being owned by Kyle Busch Motorsports in 2022.[1]

Teams and drivers

Complete schedule
Manufacturer Team No. Driver Crew chief
Chevrolet Pinnacle Racing Group[2] 28 Luke Fenhaus (R)[3] Shane Huffman[2]
Rev Racing 6 Lavar Scott (R)[4] Jay Lupo
Rise Motorsports 31 Rita Goulet (R) 7[5] Sebastian LaForge
Derrick McGrew Jr. 1 Tim Goulet
Ford Fast Track Racing 10 Ed Pompa 2 Dick Doheny 2
Tim Monroe 1
Mike Sroufe 1
TBA 4
Tim Monroe 2
TBA 4
Toyota 11 Zachary Tinkle[6] Todd Parrott
Joe Gibbs Racing 18 William Sawalich (R)[1] Matt Ross
Shearer Speed Racing 98 Dale Shearer[7] Jimmy Edlin
Venturini Motorsports 15 Sean Hingorani (R)[8] Kevin Reed Jr.
Ford 1
Chevrolet 2		 Brad Smith Motorsports 48 Brad Smith[9] Terry Strange 1
Jeff Smith 2
Ford 2
Toyota 2
TBA 4		 Fast Track Racing 01 Dallas Frueh 2 Dallas Frueh 2
Tim Monroe 1
Josh Duke 1
TBA 4
Tim Monroe 1
Brayton Laster 1
TBA 4
Toyota 2
Chevrolet 1
Ford 1
TBA 4		 12 Tim Monroe 1 Tim Monroe 1
John Szulczewski 1
Daylan Hairston 1
Dick Doheny 1
TBA 4
C. J. McLaughlin 1
Stephanie Moyer 1
Ryan Roulette 1
TBA 4

Limited schedule
Manufacturer Team No. Driver Crew chief Rounds
Chevrolet Brad Smith Motorsports 26 TBA TBA TBA[10]
Tamayo Cosentino Racing 45 Tony Cosentino Caleb Allen 4[11]
Team Chick Motorsports 74 Mandy Chick[12] Steve Chick 4
Rev Racing 2 Andrés Pérez de Lara[4] Jamie Jones 4
Veer Motorsports 66 Jon Garrett[13] Mike Sroufe 4
Ford AM Racing[14] 32 Christian Rose[15] Ryan London 4
Brad Smith Motorsports 49 Jeff Smith Jeff Smith 1
Clubb Racing Inc. 03 Alex Clubb[16] TBA 4
Greg Van Alst Motorsports[17] 35 Greg Van Alst Jim Long[17] 4
Kimmel Racing 69 Will Kimmel Bill Kimmel 1
Lowden Jackson Motorsports 41 Tyler Reif (R)[18] Tony Jackson 1
46 R. J. Smotherman David Jackson 1
Rette Jones Racing 30 Frankie Muniz[19] Mark Rette 4
Wayne Peterson Racing 06 Nate Moeller Wayne Peterson 2
A. J. Moyer[20] 1[20]
Toyota MacZink Racing 65 Jeffery MacZink Jarod MacZink 1
McGowan Motorsports 17 Landen Lewis Richard Mason 1
MAN Motorsports 95 Tanner Arms Tony Ponkauskas 5[21]
Phoenix Racing 1 Jake Finch Johnny Allen 6
Rise Motorsports TBA Stephen Leicht[22] TBA 1[22]
TC Motorsports 91 Justin Carroll Terry Carroll 2[23]
Venturini Motorsports 20 Jake Finch Johnny Allen 2
Gio Ruggiero Shannon Rursch 1
Jesse Love 4[24]
25 Conner Jones[25] Kevin Reed Jr. 5[25]
Billy Venturini Shannon Rursch 1
55 Toni Breidinger[26] Shane Huffman 3[26]

Notes

    Teams
    • On December 9, 2022, it was announced that the No. 18 car would go back to being owned by Joe Gibbs Racing in 2023. It was owned by Kyle Busch Motorsports in 2022.[1]
    • On January 8, 2023, it was announced that Tim Goulet Enterprises would rename to Rise Motorsports in 2023 and continue to field the No. 31 car in the main ARCA Series and the East Series for Rita Goulet (nee Thomason) and Stephen Leicht.[22] On February 13, it was announced that they would run the full East Series season with Rita in 2023.[5] Goulet and Leicht are both scheduled to run the main ARCA/East Series combination race at Bristol so the team will likely field two cars in that race.[22][5]
    • On January 13, 2023, Rev Racing announced that they would field a full-time car in the East Series again in 2023: the No. 6 driven by Lavar Scott. The team last fielded a full-time East Series car in 2021 and only fielded part-time cars in the East Series in 2022.[4]
    • On January 18, 2023, it was announced that longtime main ARCA Series team Venturini Motorsports would field a full-time car in the East Series for the first time since 2020 in 2023: the No. 15 driven by Sean Hingorani.[8]
    • On February 3, 2023, it was announced that Shane Huffman, who was previously the crew chief for Bret Holmes Racing in the Truck and ARCA Series, would form a new ARCA and late model racing team, Pinnacle Racing Group, with spotter Lorin Ranier and former driver Josh Wise and would run full-time in the East Series in 2023, fielding the No. 28 Chevrolet.[2]
    • On February 24, 2023, it was revealed that Lowden Jackson Motorsports would debut in the East Series in 2023 after purchasing Fords from David Gilliland Racing which switched to Toyota and renamed to TRICON Garage. The team will field the No. 41 Ford driven by Tyler Reif for the full season.[18]

    Drivers
    • On December 6, 2022, it was announced that Zachary Tinkle, who ran the full season in the main ARCA Series aside from the race at Mid-Ohio, would run full-time in the East Series in the No. 11 car for Fast Track Racing in 2023. Fast Track was one of the teams he drove part-time for in 2022.[6]
    • On December 9, 2022, it was announced that William Sawalich would drive the No. 18 car part-time in 2023 and the car would go back to being owned by Joe Gibbs Racing. It was owned by Kyle Busch Motorsports in 2022.[1]
    • On January 13, 2023, Rev Racing announced that Lavar Scott, who has been a driver for the team in late model racing, would drive full-time for the team in the East Series in 2023 in their No. 6 car. Andrés Pérez de Lara will also drive for Rev full-time in the main ARCA Series in the No. 2 car and will therefore be in the four main combination races the East Series has with the main ARCA Series.[4]
    • On January 18, 2023, it was announced that Sean Hingorani, who drove part-time in the West Series for Nascimento Motorsports and Bill McAnally Racing in 2022, would drive full-time in the East Series for Venturini Motorsports in 2023 in their No. 15 car.[8] Hingorani will also drive the same car full-time in the West Series in 2023, attempting to win both championships in the same year.[27]
    • On February 13, 2023, Rise Motorsports announced that Rita Goulet (nee Thomason) would run full-time in the East Series in their No. 31 car in 2023.[5]
    • On February 24, 2023, Tyler Reif revealed to Frontstretch that he would run the full season in the East Series in 2023 in the Lowden Jackson Motorsports No. 41 car in addition to running full-time in the West Series for the team. He will attempt to win both championships in the same year.[18]

    Schedule

    The full schedule was announced on November 22.[28] Some race dates were announced before then.[29][30] There are eight races on the 2023 schedule, up from seven in 2022.

    Note: Races highlighted in gold are combination events with the ARCA Menards Series.

    No Race title Track Date
    1 Pensacola 200 Five Flags Speedway, Pensacola, Florida March 25
    2 General Tire 125 Dover Motor Speedway, Dover, Delaware April 28
    3 Music City 200 Nashville Fairgrounds Speedway, Nashville, Tennessee May 13
    4 Dutch Boy 150 Flat Rock Speedway, Ash Township, Michigan May 20
    5 Calypso Lemonade 150 Iowa Speedway, Newton, Iowa July 15
    6 Reese's 200 Lucas Oil Indianapolis Raceway Park, Brownsburg, Indiana August 11
    7 Sprecher 150 Milwaukee Mile, West Allis, Wisconsin August 27
    8 Bush's Beans 200 Bristol Motor Speedway, Bristol, Tennessee September 14

    Schedule changes
    • On August 9, 2022, Mark Kristl from Frontstretch reported that Flat Rock Speedway could be added to the East Series schedule in 2023.[31] This was officially announced by ARCA on November 18.[32] The race at Flat Rock, which will be on May 20, replaces the race at New Smyrna Speedway, which had been the season-opener for the East Series from 2014 to 2022.
    • On November 11, 2022, it was announced that the main ARCA Series race at Lucas Oil Indianapolis Raceway Park would be a combination race with the East Series in 2023, giving the series a fourth combination race on top of the three returning ones from 2022 (Iowa, Milwaukee and Bristol).[30]

    Broadcasting

    After previously only broadcasting about half of the main ARCA Series races for several years, usually only the races that were on the same weekend at the same track as a NASCAR Cup, Xfinity and/or Truck race, Fox will broadcast all 20 main ARCA Series races in 2023 and this includes all four combination races with the East Series (Iowa, IRP, Milwaukee and Bristol). Previously, Bristol was the only East Series race televised on Fox as they were also broadcasting the Truck Series race there on that weekend.[33]

    Results and standings

    Race results
    No. Race Pole position Most laps led Winning driver Manufacturer No. Winning team
    1 Pensacola 200 William Sawalich William Sawalich William Sawalich Toyota 18 Joe Gibbs Racing
    2 General Tire 125 William Sawalich Jake Finch Jake Finch Toyota 20 Venturini Motorsports
    3 Music City 200 William Sawalich William Sawalich Luke Fenhaus Chevrolet 28 Pinnacle Racing Group
    4 Dutch Boy 150

    Drivers' championship
    Further information: List of NASCAR points scoring systems

    Notes:

    • The pole winner also receives 1 bonus point, similar to the previous ARCA points system used until 2019 and unlike NASCAR.[34]
    • Additionally, after groups of 5 races of the season, drivers that compete in all 5 races receive 50 additional points.[34] This points bonus will be given after the race at Iowa.

    (key) Bold – Pole position awarded by time. Italics – Pole position set by final practice results or rainout. * – Most laps led.

    Pos Driver FIF DOV NSV FRS IOW IRP MLW BRI Points
    1 William Sawalich (R) 1** 4 2* 135
    2 Luke Fenhaus (R) 2 3 1 130
    3 Jake Finch 3 1* 5 128
    4 Sean Hingorani (R) 4 10 3 116
    5 Lavar Scott (R) 5 5 6 116
    6 Zachary Tinkle 7 6 7 112
    7 Tim Monroe 11 15 9 97
    8 Dale Shearer 14 14 10 94
    9 Rita Goulet (R) 15 12 11 94
    10 Tanner Arms 8 8 72
    11 Ed Pompa 10 8 70
    12 Brad Smith Wth 11 12 65
    13 Nate Moeller 13 15 60
    14 Landen Lewis 2 43
    15 Gio Ruggiero 4 40
    16 Tyler Reif (R) 6 38
    17 Toni Breidinger 7 37
    18 R. J. Smotherman 9 35
    19 Conner Jones 9 35
    20 Dallas Frueh 12 32
    21 C. J. McLaughlin 13 31
    22 Stephanie Moyer 13 31
    23 Brayton Laster 14 30
    Billy Venturini
    Derrick McGrew Jr.
    Ryan Roulette
    Jeff Smith
    Jeffrey MacZink
    Will Kimmel

    See also

    References
    1. Srigley, Joseph (December 9, 2022). "William Sawalich Signs Multi-Year Deal with Joe Gibbs Racing, Competing in 20 ARCA Events in 2023". TobyChristie.com. Retrieved December 15, 2022.
    2. "Pinnacle Racing Group launching motorsports development program, will compete on ARCA platform in 2023". ARCARacing.com. February 3, 2023. Retrieved February 26, 2023.
    3. Press Release (March 4, 2023). "Pinnacle Racing Group and Luke Fenhaus to contend for ARCA Menards Series East championship". ARCA Racing.com. ARCA Racing. Retrieved March 4, 2023.
    4. Rutherford, Kevin (January 13, 2023). "Andres Perez de Lara Running ARCA for Rev". Frontstretch. Retrieved January 14, 2023.
    5. Rutherford, Kevin (February 13, 2023). "Rita Goulet Running Full ARCA East Schedule". Frontstretch. Retrieved February 26, 2023.
    6. Starcevic, R. J. (December 6, 2022). "Zachary Tinkle Joins Fast Track Racing for Full-Time ARCA East Campaign". TobyChristie.com. Retrieved December 15, 2022.
    7. Kristl, Mark (March 9, 2023). "Dale Shearer Running Full-Time ARCA East". Frontstretch. Retrieved March 21, 2023.
    8. Rutherford, Kevin (January 18, 2023). "Sean Hingorani Running Partial ARCA Schedule for Venturini". Frontstretch.
    9. Kristl, Mark (September 8, 2022). "Brad Smith Returning for Full ARCA Schedule in 2023". Frontstretch. Retrieved December 30, 2022.
    10. "(Twitter post)". Twitter. Brad Smith. December 19, 2022. Retrieved December 30, 2022. The #26 will ride again in ARCA possibly as soon as Daytona. We have been working on a second car for a while and it is almost ready to roll. We are also working on a back-up car ourselves for 2023. We fully expect to be a two-car team for all of the upcoming season. From Brad
    11. "Tony Cosentino Running Full ARCA Schedule in 2023". Frontstretch. January 25, 2023. Retrieved February 26, 2023.
    12. SirRelkinstein (October 17, 2022). "Mandy Chick reveals plan to run full arca season in 2023 on podcast". Reddit. Retrieved December 15, 2022.
    13. "(Twitter post)". Twitter. Jon Garrett. December 12, 2022. Retrieved December 15, 2022.
    14. "Brett Moffitt running full 2023 Xfinity season with AM Racing". Jayski's Silly Season Site. NASCAR Digital Media, LLC. December 12, 2022. Retrieved December 15, 2022.
    15. Christie, Toby (January 10, 2023). "Christian Rose to Battle For 2023 ARCA Championship and Run Select Truck Series Races With AM Racing". TobyChristie.com. Retrieved January 14, 2023.
    16. Kristl, Mark (December 2, 2022). "Casey Carden Returning to ARCA With Clubb". Frontstretch. Retrieved December 15, 2022.
    17. Kristl, Mark (September 22, 2022). "Greg Van Alst Returning to ARCA Full Time in 2023". Frontstretch. Retrieved December 15, 2022.
    18. Kristl, Mark (February 24, 2023). "Tyler Reif Running Full ARCA East Schedule". Frontstretch. Retrieved February 26, 2023.
    19. Srigley, Joseph (January 11, 2023). "Frankie Muniz Joins Rette Jones Racing for 2023 ARCA Campaign". TobyChristie.com. Retrieved January 14, 2023.
    20. "(Twitter post)". Twitter. TTL Racing Network. October 31, 2022. Retrieved December 15, 2022.
    21. "MAN Motorsports Announces Partial ARCA Schedule with Driver Tanner Arms". RacingToday.com. February 2, 2023. Retrieved February 26, 2023.
    22. Kristl, Mark (January 8, 2023). "ARCA Team Rise Motorsports Forms with Rita Goulet, Stephen Leicht". Frontstretch. Retrieved February 26, 2023.
    23. Koelle, Christian (February 23, 2023). "Justin Carroll Set to Attempt Craftsman Truck Series Debut Again in 2023; Set for ARCA Menards Series Starts". Kickin' the Tires. Retrieved March 1, 2023.
    24. Christie, Toby (January 10, 2023). "Jesse Love Running For 2023 ARCA Menards Series Championship With Venturini". TobyChristie.com. Retrieved January 14, 2023.
    25. Christie, Toby (January 9, 2023). "Conner Jones Expands ARCA Schedule to 12 Races With Venturini in 2023". TobyChristie.com. Retrieved January 14, 2023.
    26. Branscum, Benjamine (January 11, 2023). "Toni Breidinger Returning to Venturini Motorsports for 11 ARCA Races in 2023". Retrieved January 14, 2023.
    27. "Sean Hingorani, Venturini Motorsports add West Series championship run to 2023 race schedule". ARCARacing.com. February 15, 2023. Retrieved February 26, 2023.
    28. "ARCA Menards Series East and West schedules for 2023 announced". ARCARacing.com. November 22, 2022. Retrieved December 15, 2022.
    29. Haislop, Tadd (September 14, 2022). "Pieces of 2023 ARCA Menards Series schedule come together with NASCAR national series release". ARCARacing.com. Retrieved December 15, 2022.
    30. "ARCA Menards Series releases 2023 schedule". ARCARacing.com. November 11, 2022. Retrieved December 15, 2022.
    31. "(Twitter post)". Twitter. Mark Kristl. August 9, 2022. Retrieved December 15, 2022.
    32. "ARCA Menards Series East to race at Flat Rock Speedway in 2023". ARCARacing.com. November 18, 2022. Retrieved December 15, 2022.
    33. "ARCA Menards Series extends broadcast rights agreement with FOX Sports, announces 2023 broadcast schedule". ARCARacing.com. December 9, 2022. Retrieved December 15, 2022.
    34. "ARCA Menards Series Changes Points System". Motor Racing Network. January 24, 2020. Retrieved June 16, 2022.
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