Gracie Trotter Hopes To Extend Impressive Start To Iowa

With just six starts at the ARCA Menards Series level, Gracie Trotter will head to Iowa Speedway this weekend looking to gain as much knowledge and experience as possible.

The 18-year-old out of Concord, North Carolina, has already shown an accelerated learning curve in her short time with Bill McAnally Racing.

Trotter finished 16th at Florida’s New Smyrna Speedway in the ARCA Menards Series East opener and then engine issues relegated her to a 22nd in her ARCA Menards Series debut Phoenix Raceway. In four races in the West, though, she’s rolled to four top 10s and has scored a pair of sevenths and a third since the return to racing last month.

That’s put Trotter third in the series in points – 27 back of BMR teammate Jesse Love – as they get ready for the Shore Lunch 150 Saturday at “The Fastest Short Track on the Planet.”

“I feel like there is so much for me to learn about these cars that I don’t know yet,” said Trotter on a video conference call with media this week. “Listening to others talk about these cars helps me a lot.

“I am nervous and excited. I have heard a lot of things from from some different people. I will start out the weekend a little confused, and then by the end of the day know why I was frustrated all day, because I will be learning so much all through the day.”

RELATED: Gracie Trotter Career Statistics

Trotter races a late model in the NASCAR Advance Auto Parts Weekly Series with Rev Racing and the NASCAR Drive for Diversity driver development program while she’s on the east coast. And has gained valuable experience in the ARCA series with BMR in the No. 99 ENEOS Toyota on the west coast.

She said the transition to bigger stock cars hasn’t been without it’s teaching moments, but those have helped her become a better racer. Especially on the short tracks like California’s Irwindale Speedway, where she finished third, that dominate the West schedule.

“When I moved up from Legends cars I went right into a super late model, and I tore off a lot of noses that first year,” Trotter said. “It took me a while to learn how to race aggressively without wrecking myself or someone else. But now I am using that to my advantage.”

PIT BOX: Iowa Familiar Turf For Top Contenders

After a slow start at Iowa, BMR has had its successes in the annual East-West combination events under the NASCAR banner. Nick Drake finished second to Ben Rhodes in May of 2014 and Cole Custer drove a BMR car to third in the August race in 2014; Brandon McReynolds broke through by sweeping both races in 2016 in the No. 16 NAPA Auto Parts Toyota; and Todd Gilliland followed suit winning in that ride in 2016 and ’17. Last year, eventual West champion Derek Kraus finished fourth.

Gio Scelzi will be in the No. 16 at Iowa this year, joining teammates Trotter and Love.

. @BMR_NASCAR Rookies Among Big Field Expected At @iowaspeedway https://t.co/QrAx2j6K5b@ARCA_Racing Showdown Event On Saturday pic.twitter.com/TFZEVHlvsE

— Bill McAnally Racing (@BMR_NASCAR) July 14, 2020

Going For Three In A Row

The Shore Lunch 150 is the seventh race of the ARCA Menards Series season, but it’s also Round Three of the Sioux Chief Showdown.

Chandler Smith has won the first two races – at Phoenix and Indianapolis’ Lucas Oil Raceway — and will start on the pole with the field being set by Sioux Chief Showdown points. That doesn’t bode well for the field looking to keep him from three-in-a-row.

“We have a really strong team,” said Smith of his No. 20 JBL Toyota with Venturini Motorsports. “When we lose we take for granted all the times we’ve been really strong together. We have really good chemistry together. We are having fun with our jobs going out and winning races. We just want to have fun while we’re doing it.”

Smith is also the defending race winner, leading the final 35 laps last July after passing Ty Gibbs. Gibbs is coming off wins at Pocono and Kentucky.

“The 18 team has a jump on everybody right now,” Smith said. “You have to be close to perfect to win races. Last year at Iowa we had a bad pit stop. My team got me cooled down, and I got their motivation back up and we went out and won the race. We had the best car, but it takes everything. It’s all about confidence.”

Smith’s Venturini teammate Michael Self was third at Iowa last year and enters as the ARCA Menards Series championship points leader.

Notable Debut

Kody Swanson has made his name dominating the USAC Silver Crown Series, where he’s won 29 races and five championships. But the 32-year-old from Kingsburg, California, has been looking to branch out in his racing career. He’ll make his ARCA debut Saturday driving for Chad Bryant Racing in the No. 22 Fatheadz Eyewear Ford.

“In life and racing you never know what the next day will hold,” said Swanson in a video conference call with the media this week. “I have been working on this for a while. I though in the past I might have caught a break but then it wouldn’t work out.

“I am excited and thankful I have a chance to do it, but I am nervous about the things I don’t know yet. I have raced at Iowa before but this is a new car and a new team and some new procedures. I am a little terrified to find out what I don’t know yet.”

Swanson will drive for a team that won three times with Ty Majeski in 2019 and once with Joe Graf Jr. in 2018, and will be paired with Cup championship crew chief Paul Andrews. Bryant was involved in five Iowa wins with Cunningham Motorsports, including as crew chief in 2016 for Chase Briscoe and 2017 with Dalton Sargeant.

RELATED: Chad Bryant Racing | Twitter

Notes

• Two drivers have earned their first career ARCA Menards Series win at Iowa Speedway: Matt Hawkins in 2008 and Tom Hessert III in 2010.
• Four drivers have won at Iowa and gone on to win the AMS championship: Frank Kimmel in 2007, Ty Dillon in 2011, Briscoe in 2016, and Sheldon Creed in 2018.
• In 13 previous races at Iowa Speedway, there have been no repeat winners. Winners include Steven Wallace, Kimmel, Matt Hawkins, Parker Kligerman, Hessert, Dillon, Alex Bowman, Grant Enfinger, Mason Mitchell, Briscoe, Sargeant, Creed, and Smith.
• ARCA Menards Series East championship leader Sam Mayer is looking for his first career ARCA Menards Series win but he has gone to Victory Lane at Iowa before; he won the 2019 East-West Series combination race, beating Ty Gibbs to the line by 0.864 second. It was one of four wins Mayer scored on his way to the East Series championship.