One of the unique parts of the ARCA Menards Series is that is offers a pair of championships-within-the-championship, one for drivers that compete in the Sioux Chief Short Track Challenge and the other for car owners that field teams in the General Tire Superspeedway Challenge.
 With his second-place finish at Lucas Oil Raceway, Christian Eckes (No. 15 JBL Audio Toyota) earned the Sioux Chief Short Track Challenge title. Counting race points only and counting a driver’s ten best finishes in the eleven races contested on tracks one mile in length and under, Eckes defeated Michael Self by 45 points, or seven positions, to take the title.
 The season finale at Kansas Speedway will determine the overall series champion, either Eckes who leads his Venturini Motorsports teammate Michael Self (No. 25 Sinclair Lubricants Toyota) by just 15 points heading into the final race of the year. Additionally, the General Tire Superspeedway Challenge title will be decided, as Chad Bryant leads Billy Venturini by 115 points.
 Bryant’s No. 22 cars have been driven by three drivers on the big tracks this season, Connor Hall drove to an eleventh-place finish at Daytona, Corey Heim finished fourth at Gateway and the July race at Pocono, and finally Ty Majeski drove to a trio of wins at Charlotte, Pocono in June, and finally at Chicagoland. Additionally, Majeski finished second at Michigan and was leading before running out of fuel coming off turn four on the final lap, and fourth at Talladega.
 Not a bad season at all for the team that is just more than a year removed from not knowing whether it could continue to exist. Following the 2017 season, long-time team owners Briggs Cunningham and Kerry Scherer decided the time was right to step away from team ownership. Bryant, who had been one of the team’s crew chiefs, stepped in and acquired the assets and kept the team’s familiar No. 22 and No. 77 cars on track.
 The run to the General Tire Superspeedway Challenge title is one of the few times in 2019 that Venturini Motorsports has come out on the short end of the stick.
 VMS’s No. 20 team and team owner Billy Venturini are second in the standings, 115 points back. The 20 team also has utilized five drivers including Daytona winner Harrison Burton, Talladega pole winner Brandon Lynn, and short track ace Chandler Smith who raced at Gateway and Pocono, dirt track standout Logan Seavey, and former ARCA Menards Series winner Myatt Snider. Burton will once again return to the No. 20 this weekend at Kansas.
 The 115-point difference between the No. 22 over the No. 20 is, at five points per position, about 23 positions on the track. With ten added points for the winner over second, if the No. 20 were to win, and the No. 22 finishes 22nd, the two teams would end in a tie. Per ARCA procedural rules the tie breaker would be based on wins within the General Tire Superspeedway Challenge, the No. 22 team would win on a tie-breaker as it would have three GTSSC wins versus the No. 20 team’s two GTSSC wins. Therefore, based on a 22-car entry, as soon as the No. 22 team rolls off the grid on Friday night, team owner Chad Bryant will clinch the General Tire Superspeedway Challenge championship.
 The ARCA Kansas 150 at the 1.5-mile Kansas Speedway will close the 2019 ARCA Menards Series season on Friday, October 18. Practice opens the day at 1 pm ET/12 n CT followed by General Tire Pole Qualifying at 6 pm ET/5 pm CT. The 100-lap/150-mile feature event will go green at 8:30 pm ET/7:30 pm CT and will be shown live on FS2 with an immediate replay on FS1. ARCA for Me members can follow live timing & scoring, live chat, and live track updates throughout all on-track sessions free at ARCARacing.com. New users can register for free with a valid email address at ARCARacing.com/login.
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