The ARCA Menards Series is set to roll into the Phoenix Raceway this Friday evening for round two of the 2024 schedule.
The race will run in conjunction with the ARCA Menards Series West schedule, which uses the race as its 2024 season opener.
The event’s preliminary entry list has 43 cars entered for the race, which is up considerably from the 2023 total of 32. The expanded entry list means that three cars will miss the race. It’ll be the fifth time the main series goes to Phoenix, the first back in 2020, with former winners including Chandler Smith, Ty Gibbs and Taylor Gray.
In last year’s edition of the race, Tyler Reif used a late restart to pass Landen Lewis for the win, the first and only win to date for the now 16-year-old. The 160-lap race saw 13 different cautions for 78 laps.
Not among those 43 cars entered is Daytona International Speedway winner Gus Dean, though the Venturini Motorsports No. 55 is. Isabella Robusto will be making her ARCA debut in the entry, which will carry sponsorship from Mobil 1. The 19-year-old Robusto was slated to make her series debut last year, but her plans were derailed after a concussion sustained in a late model crash.
Three other drivers will join Robusto in making their series debut, including Danica Dart, Garrett Zacharias and Joe Farre, with Farre and Dart being West series competitors.
Venturini Motorsports will see another change to their driver lineup as well, as Gio Ruggiero will replace Jake Finch in the No. 20 for the week. Ruggiero has one previous ARCA start under his belt, a fourth-place finish at Nashville last year in the East series, also driving for VMS. Robusto and Ruggiero will join the team’s full-time drivers Toni Breidinger, Amber Balcaen and Kris Wright.
As for Breidinger, she’ll carry sponsorship from popular fast food chain Raising Cane’s, the first time since Kansas Speedway last September that the company acted as the primary sponsor, rather than just an associate. The company recently rolled out a promotion featuring Breidinger’s likeness inside their restaurants across the country.
Entered for his first race of 2024 will be reigning East series champion William Sawalich. Sawalich has yet to reach the minimum age of 18 to run larger tracks, making Phoenix the first he was eligible to run. The 17-year-old ran Phoenix last season, finishing 13th, marking his worst career series finish to date despite winning the pole…
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