ARCA Tag

By Brian Eberly, Contributing Writer SALEM, Ind. – When the first caution flew in Sunday afternoon’s ARCA Racing Series event at Salem Speedway, the leaders hit pit road for the first round of pit stops and some fresh General Tire rubber. Bret Holmes exited his pit box as Christian Eckes and Chase Purdy were going past and three-wide usually doesn’t work on the race track, much less on the already tight quarters of pit road at Salem. Holmes’ No. 23 Chevrolet slammed into a crew member pitting the Gus DeanRead More

By Don Radebaugh, ARCA Communications Manager SALEM, Ind. – It was one for the ages, especially for Middletown, N.Y.’s Christian Eckes who held off a hungry pack over the final 50 laps to earn his career-first ARCA Racing Series presented by Menards victory Sunday afternoon at Salem Speedway. Eckes, in the No. 15 JBL Audio Toyota for Venturini Motorsports, first fought off Zane Smith, then held back the non-stop hard charge from Chandler Smith to win the 103rd running of the Kentuckiana Ford Dealers 200. “I can’t believe this…I really can’t,” saidRead More

By Brian Eberly, Contributing Writer SALEM, Ind. – Chandler Smith was evaluated and released from a local hospital on Sunday after a hard crash on the last lap of the ARCA Racing Series event at Salem Speedway. Smith’s No. 20 Toyota was the dominant car of the race, leading 117 of the 200 laps. But his Venturini Motorsports teammate Christian Eckes was the first car off pit road during the money stop and Smith was left chasing Eckes down over the final laps. The duo were nose-to-tail and side-by-side throughoutRead More

By Brian Eberly, Contributing Writer The ARCA Racing Series heads to arguably the best track on the schedule and the one most-perfect for the series this weekend for the third race of the 2018 season. With a race day forecast of 63 degrees and a zero percent chance of rain, the stands should be packed at the high-banked half-mile in Indiana. The Track Salem Speedway is a 0.555-mile paved oval with 33 degrees of banking in the turns. The old, bumpy, worn-out surface typically produces fantastic racing and is aRead More

By Brian Eberly, Contributing Writer Last season, the ARCA Racing Series took the white flag in the General Tire 200 at Talladega Superspeedway with Brandon Lynn leading the way in the No. 88 Mason Mitchell Motorsports Chevrolet. Lynn appeared poised to earn his first series victory, or at the very least, a solid top-five finish in his eighth start in the series. As the leaders barreled into turn three for the final time, a wreck happened on the backstretch to bring out the yellow flag. Lynn’s fuel tank ran dryRead More

By Brian Eberly, Contributing Writer This weekend’s ARCA Racing Series event at the historic Salem Speedway will feature another young up-and-coming driver when Colby Howard climbs behind the wheel of the No. 78 Mason Mitchell Motorsports Chevrolet. Howard is a third-generation racer whose grandfather Buddy and father Rodney achieved great success running on the short tracks of South Carolina. The 16-year-old Howard began his career racing dirt bikes before switching to mini stocks and limited late models. In 2016, Howard earned seven wins and finished runner-up in the Southeast LimitedRead More

By Brian Eberly, Contributing Writer Toni Breidinger, an 18-year-old driver out of Hillsborough, California, has inked a deal with Venturini Motorsports to compete in three ARCA Racing Series events behind the wheel of one of the team’s Toyota Camrys. Breidinger will have a busy month of June as she will make her debut at the half-mile Madison International Speedway on June 15 before competing at Gateway Motorsports Park (June 22) and then Chicagoland Speedway (June 28). “I’m definitely expecting to learn a lot. It’s going to be a huge learningRead More

By Brian Eberly, Contributing Writer Coming into Friday at Atlanta Motor Speedway, Chase Briscoe hadn’t tested nor even fired the engine on the No. 60 Roush Fenway Racing Ford. Briscoe indicated his goal was to finish the race and learn the most he could by completing all the laps. Mission accomplished, as he finished 15th in his NASCAR XFINITY Series debut with a clean race car. It was a solid debut for the 23-year-old driver with less than 50 races of experience on pavement and the next step in a careerRead More

By Brian Eberly, Contributing Writer After Saturday night’s chaotic season-opening race at Daytona International Speedway, it will be two months before we see the ARCA Racing Series fire the engines for the second race of the 2018 season at Fairgrounds Speedway Nashville. It’s completely understandable why the series wants to open the schedule on the high-banks of storied Daytona. Not only does it provide valuable experience for a series that helps develop young drivers looking to break into the top three series of NASCAR, it provides valuable exposure for theRead More

By Luis Torres, Staff Writer Despite a host of late-race carnage, Michael Self started the ARCA Racing Series season off the same way he ended 2017 – in victory lane. Self survived two late pileups to win Saturday’s Lucas Oil 200 Driven by General Tire at Daytona International Speedway. The Park City, Utah native took the lead after the first attempt at a one-lap shootout on lap 87 went haywire in Turn 3. The top four of Sean Corr, Sheldon Creed, Chase Purdy and Travis Braden ran side-by-side, bumper-to-bumper inRead More