The 2023 ARCA Menards Series season is now three races old, and each race has seen a different driver take the checkered flag.
The most recent race at Talladega Superspeedway was won by Jesse Love, who gave Venturini Motorsports its first victory of the 2023 season on Saturday (April 22). Of the full-time drivers in the field, Love was the only one to finish inside the top five, and one of two who finished inside the top ten, alongside Frankie Muniz. The race itself was much cleaner than the season opener at Daytona International Speedway, with only four cautions flying during the 76-lap event at the 2.66-mile superspeedway in Alabama.
After all three races had at least 30 drivers, the ARCA standings are still very jumbled up, with the full-time drivers mixed throughout. So, who stood out at Talladega to make this week’s edition of the 2023 Frontstretch ARCA power rankings?
1. Jesse Love
Though the 18-year-old Love had a slow start to the season, after his win at Talladega, he sits second in the points standings, only three points back of the leader Muniz.
The Talladega win was a dominating one for Love, starting second, but after polesitter Taylor Gray dropped to the rear of the field ahead of the green flag, he was given control of the start, and the VMS driver never looked back. Love led the first 27 laps of the event, then fell back on a pit cycle, but remained in the top five for nearly the entirety of the event. Love regained the lead on the final restart, with help from Gus Dean, led the final eight laps, and took the checkered flag. All told Love led roughly half of the 76-lap race, leading 35 laps total.
Love will head to Kansas Speedway looking to take over the points lead for the first time all season. It’ll be his first ARCA race at Kansas, or on any 1.5-mile race track for that matter, as he turned the minimum age of 18 over the offseason.
2. Frankie Muniz
Of all drivers in ARCA, Muniz has perhaps had the most impressive start to the season. The actor-turned-racecar driver hasn’t had many growing pains in his first three races in the series, finishing inside the top 10 twice, with a sixth-place finish at Phoenix Raceway and a ninth-place finish at Talladega. He was only one spot away at Daytona from starting his ARCA career with three straight top 10s, finishing 11th at the season opener.
While the superspeedway races often equalize the field, and Phoenix was a bit of a wild…
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