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Scroll down to view past ARCA Menards Series news and rumors.

July 2021

  • Brandon Varney to make ARCA debut at Winchester with Fast Track Racing: Brandon Varney will take the next step up the ladder in his budding racing career this Saturday, July 31. The 19-year-old will make his ARCA Menards Series debut in the 12th race of the 2021 ARCA Menards Series season and the sixth round of the 2021 Sioux Chief Showdown at the legendary high-banks of Winchester Speedway, located west of the Indiana / Ohio state line in Winchester, Indiana, for the running of the Calypso Lemonade 200. “I’ve been waiting for this opportunity my whole life,” said Varney. “I’m so happy to be making my ARCA Menards Series debut, and it’s at my favorite race track. I can’t thank everyone enough at ARCA for this opportunity to race in the series. To Ron Drager, Andy Hillenburg and, most importantly, my mom and dad, Gretchen and Bob Varney, and everyone in my family and extended family for this chance of a lifetime. Hopefully we can prove we belong with those guys and in turn propel my career to new heights with a good finish.” So far in 2021, Varney has made two starts at All-American Speedway in Roseville, California, driving for the Bill McAnally Racing Drivers Academy, scoring a pair of third-place finishes. During the 2020 racing season, Varney competed in the CRA Late Model Sportsman Series, where he recorded three victories in three starts with two wins coming at the fast quarter-mile of Indiana’s Anderson Speedway. He also competed in three different divisions at the Winchester 400 weekend and crossed the finish line first in the CRA Late Model Sportsman Series portion of the weekend while gaining valuable experience in the Winchester 400 itself, making his fourth career start in the prestigious event. (In part from Varney Brother Motorsports PR) (07-28-21)
  • Triller partners with Toni Breidinger; Venturini for five ARCA races: Triller, the globally popular AI-powered social media experience, today announced its entry into NASCAR with a partnership with driver Toni Breidinger, the 22-year-old rookie driver who has made history as the first Arab-American female driver in the circuit’s history. The partnership will begin this Saturday with the ARCA Menards Series race at Winchester Speedway in Winchester, Indiana. Breidinger will be driving the #25 Triller Toyota Camry after recently switching to Venturini Motorsports, a Toyota Racing Development team, for the remainder of the 2021 season. Breidinger, who already has one of the largest social followings for any NASCAR driver, will fully document her racing experience on Triller and will have her car wrapped with Triller signage this weekend. She is the all-time winningest female in United States Auto Club (USAC) history with 19 wins, a record that helped her move into NASCAR’s ARCA Menards series this year. The partnership will begin with the ARCA Menards Race at Winchester Speedway in Winchester, Indiana, and will continue for all five of her races this season: August 22 at the Illinois State Fair in Springfield Illinois; September 5 at the DuQuoin State Fair in DuQuoin, Illinois; October 23rd at Kansas Speedway in Kansas City, KS; and November 6th at Phoenix Speedway in Phoenix, AZ. Toni currently races in the ARCA Menards Series, a feeder division into the Nascar Touring Series. In 2021, Toni placed 18th at Daytona, 12th at Talladega, and 12th at Kansas. (In part from Toni Breidinger PR) (07-28-21)
  • Ty Gibbs wins at Iowa Speedway: Ty Gibbs spent the first half of the 2021 ARCA Menards Season trying but failing to surpass Corey Heim for the lead in the championship standings. The 18-year-old began the second half of the season accomplishing just that. The driver of the No. 18 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota dominated Saturday night’s Shore Lunch 150 at Iowa Speedway, leading all but one of 150 laps en route to his sixth ARCA Menards Series win of the season. Heim held the points lead through the first 10 of 20 races on the schedule after winning the season-opener at Daytona International Speedway. This despite the fact that Gibbs had won more races and more pole awards; he even tied Heim for the points lead after qualifying on the pole at Pocono before the latter won the race. Gibbs entered the Iowa race trailing Heim by five points in the standings. Including the point he received for winning the General Tire Pole Award, the point he received for leading a lap and the point he received for leading the most laps, the Charlotte, North Carolina, native left Iowa with a four-point edge over his rival. And he had fun doing it. “You’re almost a painter here,” Gibbs said of racing at the unique, 0.875-mile oval. “You’re just working the brush on a canvas. There’s so much room to work with. It’s a Phoenix (Raceway); it’s an Atlanta (Motor Speedway). There are so many different places to go (on the track). The top, the bottom — you’ve got everywhere. All of the bumps; so many characteristics to this place.” Full Results (In part from ARCARacing.com) (07-25-21)
  • 23 cars entered for Iowa Speedway: Twenty-three cars are entered for tonight's ARCA national/East series combinational race at Iowa Speedway. Entries include #7 Eric Caudell, #15 Drew Dollar, #17 Taylor Gray, #21 Daniel Dye, #23 Bret Holmes, #25 Jesse Love, #42 Conner Jones, #50 Morgan Alexander, and #81 Sammy Smith. Full Entry List (07-24-21)
  • Daniel Dye picks up first win at Berlin Raceway: The Ty Gibbs and Corey Heim party of 2021 in the ARCA Menards Series ended Saturday night at Berlin Raceway. Daniel Dye became the series’ third winner in the 10th race of the season. And he did so in dominating fashion. The 17-year-old rookie started on the General Tire Pole and led all but two laps of the Zinsser SmartCoat 200 for his first victory in just his second ARCA Menards Series start. Heim and Gibbs, who rank first and second in championship points, respectively, had won all nine races in the series this year prior to the GMS Racing driver’s triumph on the 7/16-mile paved oval. And Dye was as surprised as anybody to find his No. 21 GMS Racing Chevrolet parked in Victory Lane at Berlin. “I’m freaking out,” said an emotional Dye after the race. “We led every lap. Ty got into me there; I thought it was over. I don’t know. I don’t have words right now. This is crazy. Beating Ty Gibbs and Corey Heim. It’s just unreal. It’s so cool. It doesn’t feel real quite yet. This is a dream come true.” Dye, who recently signed with GMS Racing for a part-time schedule in the ARCA Menards Series through the end of 2021, managed to fend off multiple charges from Gibbs. Said Gibbs, whose second-place run at Berlin leaves him six points behind the leader Heim in the standings: “We just got beat there. Congratulations to Daniel and their team.” Heim, the third-place finisher, was one of the drivers who struggled all night with the oval that drives more like a circle. “Bottom line is I just have to get better,” he said. “It took me 99 percent of the time to figure the race track out, and I feel like I finally figured it out at the very end.” Added fourth-place finisher Taylor Gray: “This place is definitely unique. That’s an understatement. Me and Berlin did not get along very well.” And fifth-place finisher Jesse Love when asked whether he will remember Berlin as fun: “No. I mean, I liked this place before I came here (for the weekend), and now I’m back to where I don’t like Berlin. I do like the fans, and the race track is a good race track, but it’s hard for us to like a place we didn’t run the best at.” Nick Sanchez, Mason Mingus, Gracie Trotter, Owen Smith and Morgan Alexander finished sixth through 10th, respectively. Full Results (In part from ARCARacing.com) (07-18-21)
  • Winchester Speedway secures race sponsor: King Juice Company, the Automobile Racing Club of America (ARCA) and Indiana’s Winchester Speedway announced today that Calypso Lemonade will sponsor ARCA’s return to the half-mile paved oval on Saturday, July 31. The Calypso Lemonade 200 at Winchester Speedway will be fourth consecutive Saturday night short track clash for the series in July. The race will be televised live on MAVTV starting at 8 pm ET. “Our partnership with Menards has allowed us to return once again as a race sponsor, this year to one of the most historic tracks in the country,” said Bridget Lasda, chief customer officer for Calypso Lemonade. “It’s going to be a hot battle on a hot night, and we can’t think of a better way to celebrate a great night at the races than by enjoying an ice-cold bottle of Calypso Lemonade.” (In part from ARCARacing.com) (07-14-21)
  • Corey Heim scores Menards 250 victory at Elko: Corey Heim was not thinking about the ongoing ARCA Menards Series championship battle between himself and Ty Gibbs as he raced in the closing laps of Saturday night’s Menards 250 at Elko Speedway. He was thinking about revenge. In what the 19-year-old from Marietta, Georgia, described as a retaliation for his rival’s aggressive driving earlier in the event on the 3/8-mile paved oval, Heim, who restarted third with three laps to go in the wake of a late caution, nudged the race leader Gibbs out of the way on the evening’s final drop of the green flag. The pilot of the No. 20 Craftsman Toyota for Venturini Motorsports assumed the lead and proceeded to coast to his fourth win of the 2021 season. Jesse Love and Gracie Trotter finished second and third, respectively, to give Venturini Motorsports a one-two-three finish at Elko. Both logged new career-best finishes in the series. Taylor Gray finished fifth. The 16-year-old David Gilliland Racing driver showed winning speed at various points in his first race after being sidelined for 13 weeks with injuries sustained in an April street car accident. Nick Sanchez, Daniel Dye, Willie Mullins, Thad Moffitt and Adam Lemke rounded out the top 10. Full Results (In part from ARCARacing.com) (07-11-21)
  • Willie Mullins partnering with Fast Track Racing for Elko: [Willie] Mullins has teamed with up Fast Track Racing owner Andy Hillenburg to compete in the Menards 250 at Minnesota’s Elko Speedway on Saturday, July 10. As a result of the partnership, Mullins’ typical No. 3 will be replaced with the No. 10 that Hillenburg typically fields as part of his Fast Track Racing program. "It came together as the two of us were talking," Mullins said. "He was planning on only running two cars up to Elko. I had mentioned that with my wife Dinah’s family being tied to the area that we would like to go back, but the cost to haul just one car up there was too expensive. He had an open spot in his hauler and he offered to take the car out there and crew it." This will not be Mullins’ first visit to Elko Speedway. He’s competed at Elko twice previously with the ARCA Menards Series, finishing 14th in 2017 and 13th in 2018. The event is a home race for Mullins’ wife, Dinah, making the trip extra special for both of them. "It’s great to go see her family and even the extended family comes to watch us race,” Mullins said. “This is the closest that some of these Minnesota fans get to a NASCAR touring series, so this their time to get out of the house to go see the up-and-coming NASCAR superstars." (In part from Mullins Racing PR) (07-06-21)