PIT BOX: Past meets present for ARCA Menards Series at Milwaukee Mile

Sunday’s Sprecher 150 at the famed Milwaukee Mile in West Allis, Wisconsin, feels like an ode to the past.

Yet in the present day, this is an event many circled on their calendars the day the 2021 ARCA Menards Series schedule was released.

The ARCA Menards Series competing at the Milwaukee Mile is a bit of a throwback in itself. The series last raced on the one-mile paved oval in 2007, when all-time ARCA wins leader Frank Kimmel won his second race at the track.

Additionally, the Milwaukee Mile is the oldest operating motor speedway in the world. With the exception of the years the U.S. was involved in World War II, the Mile has hosted at least one auto race every year since 1903.

Sunday’s ARCA Menards Series race at the Milwaukee Mile is a combination event with the ARCA Menards Series East. It’s also Round 8 of the 2021 Sioux Chief Showdown. So three seasonlong series championship races will be impacted by the results of the 150-lap race.

Tickets to Sunday’s Sprecher 150 are available. The race will broadcast live on MAVTV Motorsports Network (2 p.m. CT / 3 p.m. ET) with a live stream available on NBC Sports Gold’s TrackPass.

Sprecher 150 at the Milwaukee Mile

WHAT TO WATCH FOR:

The entry list for Sunday’s Sprecher 150 is loaded with some of the best drivers and teams currently competing on the ARCA Menards platform. All five drivers who have won in either the ARCA Menards Series or the East Series this year are entered at the Milwaukee Mile.

Most eyes, of course, will be on Ty Gibbs and Corey Heim, especially after the events of last weekend.

The 18-year-old Gibbs and the 19-year-old Heim are tied atop the ARCA Menards Series standings after 15 of 20 races. The last two events — a Friday-Sunday doubleheader at Michigan International Speedway and the Springfield Mile at the Illinois State Fairgrounds — epitomized what has been a wildly competitive title race all season. Gibbs dominated at Michigan only to watch Heim do the same at Springfield.

Obviously, neither Gibbs nor Heim has experience in the ARCA Menards Series on the Milwaukee Mile. They were 4 and 5 years old, respectively, the last time the series competed at the track.

Sunday’s race also features Sammy Smith, Gibbs’ teammate at Joe Gibbs Racing and the championship points leader in the East Series. The 17-year-old has a relatively comfortable, 19-point lead in the standings, but after a crash and an 18th-place finish in the most recent East race at Iowa Speedway, he can’t afford many more slips.

The Sprecher 150 entry list also includes Daniel Dye and Max Gutiérrez, the only drivers not named Gibbs, Heim or Smith who have reached Victory Lane in either series this season.

Further, two of the three defending champions on the ARCA Menards platform are entered at the Milwaukee Mile. Two-time reigning East Series champ Sam Mayer will race for Bret Holmes’ family-owned team. (Holmes, of course, is the defending ARCA Menards Series champion.) And fresh off his victory at Irwindale Speedway last weekend, defending ARCA Menards Series West champion Jesse Love is in the Sprecher 150 field competing for Venturini Motorsports.

The complete entry list for Sunday’s Sprecher 150 at the Milwaukee Mile can be found here.

RACING REFERENCE:

• ARCA Menards Series points
• ARCA Menards Series East points
• Previous races at Milwaukee

RACE FACTS

CREW CHIEF HANDOUT: The starting field for the Sprecher 150 is limited to 24 plus provisional positions. This event will be run under the 2021 ARCA Menards Series rules, procedures, regulations and specifications.

QUALIFYING: By timed session. All cars must make a qualifying attempt, and all drivers must practice before they can qualify.

RACE PIT STOP: Break pit stop procedure. Breaks at or near the conclusion of Laps 50 and 100. All cars will be required to make at least one pit stop prior to last 10 laps of race. No adding or moving tires to or from pit box once race has started.

The maximum tire allotment available for this event is as follows: The maximum tire use at track (total, “from home” plus purchased at track) for the event is 16. Per ARCA Rulebook, maximum number of tires allowed in pit box for use in race is eight (8).