PIT BOX: Sam Mayer Leads East Back To Dover

The  last time Sam Mayer was at Dover International Speedway, he had a race double Victory Lane celebration.

In addition to the Monster trophy, the Wisconsin driver walked away with the East series championship trophy.

Mayer leads the series, now the ARCA Menards Series East, back to the 1-mile high-banked concrete oval Friday for the General Tire 125 (Friday, Aug. 12, 2 p.m. ET). It will be the first race since the series kicked off the return to racing in June, and the first time ARCA has raced at Dover.

Fans can watch the race live on Trackpass on NBC Gold.

GENERAL TIRE 125

WHAT TO WATCH FOR:

Mayer may have been the most recent East series winner at Dover, but he has plenty of competition for the checkered flag this time around.

The 17-year-old nursed an injured right hand and paired with substitute driver to record a third-place finish at the Daytona road course this past weekend. He’ll have his hands full with the “Monster Mile.”

Veteran NASCAR Cup Series driver David Gilliland will step into the No. 54 Frontline Enterprises Ford. He has 23 career starts at Dover across NASCAR’s three national series, with his best finish in his last time out in the 2018 NASCAR Gander RV & Outdoors Truck Series event when he finished fourth. He’ll pair with 15-year-old Taylor Gray, who has had an impressive four top fives in five ARCA Menards Series starts. DGR-Crosley was second in last year’s Dover race with Taylor’s older brother, Tanner.

“I haven’t raced one of our cars all year, so I figured this would be a good chance to work on some stuff and see where we can make improvements in our program,” said Gilliland. “This will also be Taylor Gray’s first start at Dover, so if I can help him in any way then that will be great.”

The team with the most success over the last 10 years at Dover may be Rev Racing. The Driver for Diversity driver development program has gone to Victory Lane three times since 2011 with three different drivers. Chase Cabre’s older brother Collin won in 2015, while Chase has back-to-back top 10s including a fifth-place run last year. Chase Cabre and Nick Sanchez will represent Rev Racing on Friday. Sanchez is third in points, 13 behind Mayer, and four ahead of Cabre.

And that’s not to forget Ty Gibbs. Gibbs already has four overall wins this season, including the last East race at Toledo back in June. He trails Mayer by just two points through two races in the East championship.

RACING REFERENCE: Previous East races at Dover | East Series drivers stats at Dover | 2020 ARCA Menards Series East Standings

RACE FACTS

RACE CENTER | ENTRY LIST | RACE EVENT GUIDE

CREW CHIEF HANDOUT: The starting field for the General Tire 125 is limited to 30, including provisional positions. The first 26 drivers will secure starting positions based on qualifying for the General Tire 125. The remaining four spots will be awarded through the provisional process. This event will be run under the 2020 ARCA Menards Series East rules, procedures, regulations and specifications.

QUALIFYING: Starting position will be set by each car’s fastest recorded lap in the qualifying session.

RACE PIT STOP: No adding or moving tires to or from pit box once race has started. A maximum four (4) crew members may service car. No tires and fuel may be added outside of the break.

The General Tire 125 will be 125 laps (125 miles) and is to be run in three (3) segments. The race will have two (2) breaks, the first at or near the conclusion of Lap 35 and the second at or near the conclusion of Lap 70. At the conclusion of the break, lead lap vehicles that elected to pit will line up – in the order they were running at the beginning of the break — behind the lead lap vehicles that elected not to pit in order of running.

The maximum tire allotment available for this event is as follows:Per ARCA Rulebook, maximum number of tires allowed in pit box for use in race is eight (8).