The ARCA Menards Series moves from one short track to another this weekend in Elko Speedway for the Menards 250.
Will the Minnesota race course bring fireworks once again?
Last season saw Corey Heim grab the lead away from Ty Gibbs in the final few laps at the 0.375-mile track, vastly different from what transpired at Berlin Raceway last week. In that event, Daniel Dye dominated only to suffer a mechanical issue with less than 10 laps left. As a result, Sammy Smith took the lead and earned his first ARCA Series victory.
Dye and Smith are two of the 20 drivers vying for the trophy in the eighth race of the season, with the former looking to rebound after his disappointing finish at Berlin.
The 18-year-old Florida native finished seventh in his ARCA debut at Elko last year, but hopes to take what he’s learned and bring home a checkered flag.
“Elko was a different experience for me last year and I kind of felt like we were a little behind all day,” Dye said in a team release. “Now that I’ve seen the place and had some laps, I’m sure we’ll be able to get the car handling more how we need it for the race and will put our GMS Chevrolet in contention again.”
Smith, meanwhile, will attempt to go back-to-back in the No. 18 of Kyle Busch Motorsports, the same number in which Gibbs led 236 laps a year ago. The 2021 ARCA Menards Series East champion has finished in the top five in all three events he’s run this year. In fact, he’s earned top-three results in each of his last four ARCA races, going back to Bristol Motor Speedway last year.
Venturini Motorsports is fielding four entries this week: Landon Pembleton, who is making his ARCA debut, Toni Breidinger, 2021 Salem Speedway winner Jesse Love and last week’s runner up Tom Hessert. Team owner Bill Venturini shared his thoughts about Elko.
“Come off the corners,” Venturini Motorsports team owner Bill Venturini Sr. told Frontstretch about how to best drive at Elko. “The competition is really tough this year. There are a good eight or nine cars that can win at any given time. ARCA has done a good job equalizing the field.”
It’s similar to the North Carolinian racetrack Hickory Motor Speedway, according to Venturini and the No. 20 crew chief Shannon Rursch.
New Jersey-native Hessert described how the track might change during the 250-lap race.
“Billy [Venturini, the team co-owner] had those three races open on the schedule and it’s at three tracks we used to run well at so…
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