The penultimate event of the ARCA Menards Series’ season takes place at the 0.555-mile short track Salem Speedway. Nick Sanchez leads Daniel Dye by only five points entering the Herr’s Snacks 200. Who will lead the points heading into the season finale and who will claim the victory?
The 20 drivers will drive a treacherous 200 laps at the short track known for its high banked corners. The 33-degree banked corners will make the ARCA annual visit there a battle between competitors and learning how to drive the racetrack.
Of the 20 drivers entered, Jesse Love is the only previous winner at Salem. The two-time ARCA Menards Series West champion won this event last year.
Love is seeking to become the first back-to-back ARCA winner at Salem since Christopher Bell swept the two ARCA events there in 2016.
Love is piloting the No. 20 Venturini Motorsports Toyota with 16-year-old Conner Jones and full-time Toni Breidinger as his teammates in the Nos. 15 and 25, respectively. Jones and Breidinger are making their first starts at Salem.
The organization has a whopping 10 victories at the track, 9.5% of the ARCA events there (10 out of 105).
Our tenth reason to be excited for this weekend! Salem🏆X 10 #FlyTheV | #VMS40 | #TeamToyota pic.twitter.com/jjbJTw6lY9
— VenturiniMotorsports (@VenturiniMotor) September 26, 2022
Of the top three in the championship standings – Nick Sanchez, Daniel Dye and Rajah Caruth – Dye is the only driver who has not competed at Salem before.
Caruth finished third in the 2021 ARCA Salem event, scoring his first top-five performance. Sanchez qualified third in that event, but his involvement in a lap 43 caution flag incident resulted in a 17th-place DNF.
Sanchez enters Salem with some momentum, though. Last Saturday (Sept. 24), Sanchez wheeled the No. 48 Chevrolet to his best-ever NASCAR Xfinity Series finish, 11th.
“Short tracks, you know, we generally struggle on them, but we’re trying to get better, trying to make improvements,” Sanchez told Frontstretch after that Texas race about the two remaining ARCA races this season. “I know I became a better driver today from the race, so hopefully this will help that and it’ll make those cars easier to drive.”
Dye is visiting Salem for the first time, but his GMS Racing team with crew chief Chad Bryant saw its driver Kody Swanson finish ninth in the…
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