The 2021 ARCA Menards Series championship was a hard-fought battle between talented young drivers Ty Gibbs and Corey Heim. On the strength of his 10 wins, Gibbs won the title. This year, there is no clear-cut favorite.
The first three races of this season have featured three different winners. Heim dominated the Lucas Oil 200 at Daytona International Speedway, followed by Taylor Gray winning the General Tire 150 at Phoenix Raceway. Nick Sanchez then captured his second career ARCA win at Talladega Superspeedway after the race ended prematurely due to time restraints.
Sanchez’s victory marked the first win by a full-time ARCA competitor. Despite leaving the 2.66-mile superspeedway with the trophy, Sanchez is not the points leader. Yes, this ARCA championship will be akin to the wild west as it will go down to the season finale at Toledo Speedway with several drivers vying for the title.
Heim winning the opening race at Daytona and Gray winning in Phoenix put a wrinkle in the title race to begin the season. Heim is sharing the No. 20 Venturini Motorsports Toyota with Jesse Love and while the No. 20 itself is running a full-time schedule, neither driver is competing for the championship. Both drivers already have one main ARCA win in their respective careers, and both want more victories.
Gray too is only running part-time, but he is a threat to win when he straps into his No. 17 Ford. Like Gray, Sammy Smith is too young to compete full-time in ARCA, but he is running part-time this year, hoping to score some wins, keeping trophies away from the full-time competitors.
In the races he competes this season, Andy Jankowiak is confident he can win them.
All these talented part-time drivers could very well be outside factors making the points race close between several drivers by sneaking a few wins between them this season.
Rajah Caruth, Sanchez’s Rev Racing teammate, took over the points lead from Daniel Dye after Talladega. Dye nearly retained it, leading…
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