The Venturini Motorsports cars of Drew Dollar (No. 15), Gracie Trotter (No. 25) and Corey Heim #20 line up for the ARCA Menards Series test at Daytona International Speedway in Daytona Beach, Florida, on Jan. 15, 2021. (Kate Gardiner/ARCA Racing)
The Venturini Motorsports cars of Drew Dollar (No. 15), Gracie Trotter (No. 25) and Corey Heim #20 line up for the ARCA Menards Series test at Daytona International Speedway in Daytona Beach, Florida, on Jan. 15, 2021. (Kate Gardiner/ARCA Racing)

NOTEBOOK: Venturini Motorsports, Toyota Seek Fifth Straight ARCA Win At Daytona

www.arcaracing.com February 11, 2021

Superspeedway racing tends to be an equalizer, especially in the annual ARCA Menards Series season-opener at Daytona International Speedway.

Don’t tell that to the race team that has won the last three runnings of the Lucas Oil 200 Driven by General Tire at the 2.5-mile tri-oval in Daytona Beach, Florida.

PIT BOX: Familiar Contenders at Daytona

Including last summer’s ARCA Menards Series race on the Daytona Road Course, VMS and manufacturer Toyota have reached Victory Lane at the World Center of Racing on four consecutive occasions.

VMS has four entries in the field for Saturday’s 2021 season-opener (1:30 p.m. ET on FS1) who will look to make it five in a row at Daytona and four in a row on the famed oval.

VMS last month tapped 18-year-old Corey Heim as its full-time ARCA Menards Series driver to chase the championship. Heim, who earned his first victory on the platform in last season’s finale at Kansas Speedway, will pilot the No. 20 JBL Toyota at Daytona and for the season.

Heim, a Marietta, Georgia, native, made his series debut in 2019 and immediately impressed with eight top-five finishes in 13 starts. He’ll have Shannon Rursch atop the pit box in 2021.

VMS also recently announced the signing of 19-year-old Gracie Trotter for a part-time 2021 ARCA Menards Series schedule that includes the opener at Daytona. Trotter, who last fall became the first female race winner on the ARCA Menards platform when she won the West Series race at the Las Vegas Motor Speedway Bullring, will run 10 races for VMS this season splitting time in the No. 25 and the No. 15.

At Daytona, Trotter will run the No. 25 Mobil 1 Toyota with Kevin Reed as her crew chief.

The other driver who will run 13 races in the No. 15 for VMS this season — and the driver who will do so at Daytona — is Drew Dollar. The 20-year-old won the ARCA Menards race at Talladega last season in the same ride and finished fourth in the series championship standings.

Dollar will pilot the No. 15 Sunbelt Rentals Toyota for VMS at Daytona with the team’s general manager Billy Venturini serving as crew chief.

Derek Griffith is VMS’ fourth entry for the season-opener at Daytona, the first of two races in which he will drive the No. 55 SpotOn Toyota for the team with Dave Leiner as his crew chief.

Should a Toyota end up in Victory Lane on Saturday, a Venturini car or otherwise, it would mark the first time a manufacturer has won four straight ARCA Menards Series oval races at Daytona since Chevrolet won four straight from 2004-2007 (Kyle Busch in ’04; Bobby Gerhart in ’05, ’06, ’07).

First-time Daytona winner

Of the four aforementioned Daytona wins VMS has earned over the last three seasons, three came with Michael Self at the wheel. The other was Harrison Burton’s 2019 Lucas Oil 200 Driven by General Tire victory.

Which means we are guaranteed to get a first-time Daytona winner Saturday, as neither Self nor Burton — or any other previous Daytona winner — is in the field.

Dollar is the only driver in Saturday’s field with a superspeedway win on his resume, his triumph at Talladega last season.

Several young drivers, including Heim, Trotter, Griffith, Ty Gibbs, Jack Wood, Nick Sanchez, Brittney Zamora, Howie DiSavino III and Toni Breidinger, will make their superspeedway debuts at Daytona.

LUCAS OIL 200: Event schedule | Entry list

Sharing the stage

Daytona International Speedway has hosted the ARCA Menards Series season-opener every year since 1979.

This year, though, marks the first time the race will take place the day before the Daytona 500 as part of a Saturday doubleheader with the NASCAR Xfinity Series.

The Lucas Oil 200 Driven by General Tire is scheduled to start at 1:30 p.m. ET and broadcast live on FS1. The Xfinity race, titled the Beef. It’s What’s For Dinner. 300, is scheduled to start at 5 p.m. ET, also on FS1.

Qualifying sessions for the ARCA and Xfinity races Saturday at Daytona are scheduled for 8:30 a.m. ET and 10:30 a.m. ET, respectively.

Tickets for the Saturday doubleheader at Daytona are still available at DaytonaInternationalSpeedway.com.

PROFILE: Daytona International Speedway

Jamie Little’s debut

FOX Sports in November announced it had pinned Jamie Little as its new play-by-play announcer for the network’s ARCA Menards Series broadcasts in 2021, making her the first woman to call television play-by-play for a national racing series.

The Lucas Oil 200 Driven by General Tire marks her first race in the booth.

“I am beyond excited and humbled to be offered this role for the ARCA Menards Series,” said Little. “Although I’ve always preferred to be viewed as a motorsports broadcaster and not solely as a female broadcaster, it is an honor to be the first in this role.

“I definitely don’t take for granted being the first at anything. I know it can open other opportunities for women in the future, and I hope the younger girls aspiring to cover racing see the sky is the limit.”

In addition to calling FOX’s eight ARCA Menards Series broadcasts in 2021, all scheduled to be shown on FS1, Little will continue her pit reporting duties for the network on NASCAR Cup Series, Xfinity Series and Camping World Truck Series productions this season.

And more:

– Both Jack Wood and Willie Mullins will start the Lucas Oil 200 Driven by General Tire at Daytona having competed in Monday night’s ARCA Menards Series East opener at nearby New Smyrna Speedway. Wood finished 13th after a crash on Lap 127; Mullins finished running 10th. Wood will make his superspeedway debut at Daytona driving the No. 21 GMS Racing Chevrolet, and Mullins will make his sixth career start at Daytona driving his own No. 3 Crawford Sprinkler-Corvetteparts.net Chevrolet.

– Chuck Buchanan Jr. was planning to run both the New Smyrna race and the Daytona race in the same car, the No. 87 Spring Drug Chevrolet he owns. However, a crash in qualifying at New Smyrna ended his night early and forced him to withdraw from the Daytona race without enough time to repair the car.

– Brittney Zamora will drive the No. 30 Square1 Flex Ford for Rette Jones Racing, the car that rookie Max Gutiérrez drove to Victory Lane in shocking fashion at New Smyrna on Monday night. Zamora burst onto the racing scene in the Northwest Super Late Model Series in 2017 and 2018 and became the first female to win a championship in the series.

– Defending ARCA Menards Series champion Bret Holmes will race at Daytona in his family-owned No. 23 Chevrolet, this time with a new partner in Southern States Bank. Holmes and two-time defending ARCA Menards Series East champion Sam Mayer will split time in the No. 23 this season with Shane Huffman serving as crew chief.

– Nick Sanchez, a member of the 2021 NASCAR Driver for Diversity Driver Development Program class, will make his superspeedway debut in the No. 2 Max Siegel Inc.-Eibach Chevrolet. The 19-year-old will race full-time in the ARCA Menards Series after a successful rookie season in the East Series last year.

– Empire Racing Group and Grumpy’s Performance Inc. have launched a foundation to help raise funds and awareness for Prader-Willi Syndrome, which affects children and their ability to function on a daily basis. The team is recognizing the foundation with decals on Sean Corr’s No. 8 Nesco Chevrolet and Rich Bickle’s No. 45 Chevrolet at Daytona.