A Learning Curve But Dominant Debut for Carson Brown at Phoenix

By Luis Torres, Staff Writer/Photographer

AVONDALE, Ariz. – Nothing sweeter than batting 1.000 in your National ARCA Menards Series debut for Carson Brown.

The 17-year-old driver out of the Pinnacle Racing Group became the 39th different driver since 1979 to win in their first ARCA start after capturing the checkered flag in Thursday’s General Tire 150 at Phoenix Raceway.

Cautions breed cautions, including a late-race incident involving Dustin Hillenburg could’ve spelt trouble for Brown as he was moments of taking the white flag.

Thus, resulting the 150-lap race to be extended by seven additional laps and one last shot of fending off Tristan McKee, the only driver to have amounted a threat in the Arizona sun.

Like each restart before, Brown held McKee off to win in dominant fashion, even if the margin of victory was 0.299 seconds by virtue of the overtime restart. Thomas Annunziata, Trevor Huddleston and Mason Massey round out the top-five.

What a dominant day for Carson Brown! 🤩

📺 @FS1 | @phoenixraceway | @RacePRG pic.twitter.com/uwmklcmkYn

— ARCA Menards Series (@ARCA_Racing) March 6, 2026

Despite being elated of winning right out of the gate, Brown admitted in the post-race press conference that he struggled with the balance of the No. 28 Chevrolet throughout the evening. That’s in spite of controlling the race with relative ease.

“We had a lot of speed, but I just couldn’t make it be comfortable,” said Brown. “We knew we would be fine in the long runs, but I struggled overall. If I wasn’t running the top, I’d be struggling. We were running the top and doing what I could to protect it.”

Brown elaborated in further detail when describing the struggles he had in the race with tire management and deciding which lane he preferred to drive in order to alleviate the struggles.

By choosing the top lane, Brown felt more comfortable and contributed to his victory. That said, it was still an overall team effort from PRG to not only equip him with a competitive car but keeping the car from struggling any further.

“We were burning the tires off to go that fast and stay out front,” said Brown. “I felt like if we weren’t opening up the corner and just staying in the higher groove, we just struggled really bad.

“We were down there in the rubber and just kind of floating it out there doing what I could to keep the car from being pinched down to the bottom and I felt like it worked,” Brown continued.

“We chose the top every restart and felt comfortable up there. I did everything I could on the restarts and yeah, it got a little hairy at the end, but I couldn’t have done it without all the PRG guys.”

Now with a national ARCA victory under his belt, sky’s the limit for Brown as far as his 2026 plans and it’ll be under the Chevrolet banner. Brown, who won’t turn 18 until July, is a part of the Richard Childress Racing developmental program.

Brown will run 15 ARCA races for PRG along with full-time efforts in the CARS Tour championship effort for Lee Pulliam, and ASA National Tour with Anthony Campi Racing. Two disciplines that’ll be out of the table are Trans-Am and dirt racing as Brown explained he’s focused on his stock car efforts.

“We’re still working on some higher up NASCAR stuff,” Brown on his 2026 gameplan.

The next race for the national ARCA Menards Series will take place at Kansas Speedway April 18 at 12:30 p.m. ET on FS1.