Chandler Smith, driver of the #20 JBL Audio Toyota, during practice for the Calypso Lemonade 200 for the ARCA Menards Series at Lucas Oil Raceway in Brownsburg, Indiana on Friday, July 3, 2020. (AJ Mast/ARCA Racing)
Chandler Smith has won the first two Sioux Chief Showdown races in 2020 and is the defending ARCA Menards Series winner at Iowa Speedway. (AJ Mast/ARCA Racing)

Iowa Bringing Together Championship Contenders

www.arcaracing.com July 17, 2020

Since Iowa Speedway opened in 2006, “The Fastest Short Track on the Planet” has been a career-defining stage.

For years, though, that has been a separate stage for the ARCA Menards Series and the East/West series.

That changes Saturday.

The Shore Lunch 150 will be the seventh race of the 2020 ARCA Menards Series championship and will also serve as the third round of the Sioux Chief Showdown. The latter brings together the top drivers in all three series in the first year that all three are being run under the ARCA banner.

It’s fitting that the race (4:30 p.m. CT/5:30 p.m. ET, MAVTV and TrackPass on NBC Gold) will include four championship points leaders and two “defending” race winners.

Chandler Smith has won the first two Sioux Chief Showdown events and, with no qualifying scheduled, his No. 20 JBL Toyota will start on the pole by virtue of the standings. Smith also won the ARCA race at Iowa last year, leading 140 of 150 laps.

“No matter what, we’re going to go out and try to lead the last lap, that’s for sure,” Smith said earlier this week on a video conference call with the media. “I am going to go with my short-track mentality. With the lower horsepower this year than last year it’s going to be all momentum based.”

Smith leads the Sioux Chief Showdown standings by eight over Venturini Motorsports teammate Michael Self and Hailie Deegan.

Self, though, leads the ARCA Menards Series championship by 22 over Drew Dollar and Bret Holmes. The Park City, Utah, driver won the East-West combination race at Iowa in 2013 and finished third there last year in the ARCA race.

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And then there’s Sam Mayer and Jesse Love.

Mayer, who has two ARCA East and West wins this year, is still in search of his first career ARCA Menards Series win. The 17-year-old has two runner-up finishes, including to Smith at Indianapolis’ Lucas Oil Raceway earlier this season, and five thirds in 14 career starts. He leads the East standings and won the East-West race at Iowa last year by leading 142 of 150 laps.

Michael Self Wins The Nascar K&n Pro Series Casey's General Stores 150 At Iowa Speedway, June 7, 2013.
Michael Self climbs the fence after winning the NASCAR K&N Pro Series Casey’s General Stores 150 at Iowa Speedway, on June 7, 2013.

Love, 15, will make his first Iowa start. But he’s already won twice and has two runner-up finishes in four races to take command of the ARCA Menards Series West title picture.

“Going into the year, I knew we were going to be able to run for a championship,” Love said. “That’s part of it, not going into anything thinking you’re going to lose. That’s not how I like to normally roll. Just making sure when we go to the race track you’re the favorite to win. That’s a big part of it. Because you’re either the favorite or you’re not. That’s a big pendulum. It either swings one way or the other. The cool thing is you’re in control of that.

“Going into the year, I wasn’t expecting to win the championship. But I knew I could outwork everybody and put myself in position to win.”

Outside of the championship leaders, two Monster Energy drivers are primed to steal the spotlight.

Ty Gibbs is coming off his second ARCA Menards win of the second at Kentucky Speedway in the No. 18 Monster Energy/Terrible Herbst/ORCA Toyota and heads to a track that Joe Gibbs Racing has had plenty of success at in multiple series. The 17-year-old was second to Mayer in the East-West race last year and fifth in the ARCA race.

Deegan, who is also fourth in the ARCA points after a wreck ended her Kentucky race prematurely, is looking to become the first female to win an ARCA Menards Series race. Deegan has five top 10s in six starts this year in the No. 4 Monster Energy Ford for DGR Crosley, and finished 12th in the East-West race at Iowa in 2019.

Prior to Deegan’s win in 2018 to become the first female to win a race in either the East or West series, the mark for highest finishing female was second by several drivers – including Kenzie Ruston’s runner-up to Brandon Jones at Iowa in 2014.

The .875-banked oval in the Heartland has had its share of memorable moments for the ARCA Menards Series, as well as the East and West series.

  • Steven Wallace, the son of track architect and NASCAR Hall of Famer Rusty Wallace, won the inaugural ARCA race in 2006.
  • Joey Logano broke into the national spotlight as a 16-year-old in 2007 when he edged Kevin Harvick in the first East-West race at the track, the day after Harvick won the Cup All-Star Race in Charlotte.
  • Chase Elliott collected his first career NASCAR win as a 16-year-old in 2012. A year later, then 15-year-old Cole Custer won his first career NASCAR pole at Iowa and then led every lap en route to his first win.
  • Elliott’s Cup teammate Alex Bowman took home the ARCA checkers in 2012, while current NASCAR Xfinity Series points leader Chase Briscoe scored the second of his six wins in his 2016 championship run.
  • Nine drivers have won at Iowa and later clinched the championship in the same season: For ARCA Menards, Frank Kimmel (2007), Ty Dillon (2011), Briscoe (2016) and Sheldon Creed (2018); East, Joey Logano (2007), Ben Rhodes (2014), Tyler Ankrum (2018) and Mayer (2019); West, Todd Gilliland (2016 and ’17).

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