ARCA Menards rewind: Takeaways from Daytona and New Smyrna

www.arcaracing.com February 23, 2022

Another ARCA Menards racing season began in Florida last week with a pair of races, one at Daytona International Speedway for the ARCA Menards Series and the other at nearby New Smyrna Speedway for the ARCA Menards Series East.

As always, the pair of openers provided great racing and showcased the platform’s versatile schedule with an event on the half-mile oval at New Smyrna followed by the race on the 2.5-mile superspeedway at Daytona.

And familiar names found themselves in Victory Lane after each event.

RACE RESULTS: New Smyrna | Daytona

Sammy Smith, who now races for Kyle Busch Motorsports in the No. 18 TMC Transportation, began his East Series title defense on the right foot Tuesday night at New Smyrna, winning the Race to Stop Suicide 200 presented by Place of Hope.

On Saturday, Venturini Motorsports’ Corey Heim took the checkered flag in the Lucas Oil 200 driven by General Tire at Daytona for the second consecutive year.

Below are the key takeaways from both races, beginning with Heim’s win for his powerhouse team.

Venturini Motorsports flexes at Daytona

the Lucas Oil 200 Driven by General Tire for the ARCA Menards Series at Daytona International Speedway in Daytona Beach, Florida on February 19, 2021. (Adam Glanzman/NASCAR)
Corey Heim celebrates winning the Lucas Oil 200 driven by General Tire for the ARCA Menards Series at Daytona International Speedway on Feb. 19, 2021. (Adam Glanzman/NASCAR)

Nobody should have been surprised to see Venturini Motorsports win its fifth consecutive Daytona race in the ARCA Menards Series with four strong cars and drivers entered in the Lucas Oil 200 presented by General Tire.

But the domination the organization displayed all weekend was a statement to open the 2022 season.

Heim’s win Saturday driving the No. 20 Crescent Tools Toyota was the team’s third triumph in a three-day span. Toni Breidinger set the fastest lap in Thursday’s practice session driving the No. 25 HAIRCLUB Toyota, and Heim won the General Tire Pole Award on Friday afternoon.

All three times on-track, the Venturini cars, including Parker Chase’s Vertical Bridge Toyota and Gus Dean’a Dean Custom Air Toyota, worked together to produce the fastest laps and best results.

“My team made it easy on me,” Heim said after winning Saturday’s race. “I had great teammates with me the whole way. Venturini Motorsports — the most organized team out here.”

Added Chase, who finished second in the Daytona race after pushing Heim to the victory: “The objective here today was to have a Venturini car win, and we succeeded at that. … Five in a row for Venturini, which is incredible. That’s what we came here to do.”

Heim became just the third driver to win back-to-back ARCA Menards Series races at Daytona. Bobby Gerhart won nine times at Daytona, including consecutively from 2005-07 and again from 2010-12. Grant Enfinger also won back-to-back Daytona races in 2014-15.

Heim, of course, finished second to Ty Gibbs in last season’s ARCA Menards Series championship standings. He won’t be in contention for this year’s title, because he and defending West Series champion Jesse Love are scheduled to split time in the No. 20 Toyota in the ARCA Menards Series this season.

As of now, Breidinger is the only Venturini driver scheduled to run the full, 20-race ARCA Menards Series schedule.

Regardless of who’s behind the wheel, VMS’ performance at Daytona proved the team remains the one to beat at each event in 2022.

Sammy Smith vs. Taylor Gray: Round 1 at New Smyrna

Sammy Smith and Taylor Gray
Sammy Smith and Taylor Gray in action during the Race to Stop Suicide 200 presented by Place of Hope at Florida’s New Smyrna Speedway on Feb. 15, 2022. (Adam Glanzman/NASCAR)

Tuesday night’s East Series opener featured seemingly endless side-by-side racing with sporadic contact between cars and multiple lead changes.

And we’re just referencing the race-long battle between two drivers — that’s how strong and competitive Smith and Gray were against each other at New Smyrna.

Smith, the defending East Series champion who won three races last season, led 167 of 200 laps Tuesday at New Smyrna. But he and Gray exchanged the lead six times, with Gray leading 33 circuits himself.

Smith’s winning pass arrived on Lap 154, and he was able to hold off Gray on a couple restarts down the stretch to earn the victory.

The battle that raged on at New Smyrna likely is a sign of things to come in the East Series all season, with Smith and Gray being the drivers to beat as long as they’re entered. The series travels to four more short tracks this year, with the other two races on the schedule held at one-mile ovals (Dover Motor Speedway and the Milwaukee Mile).

Smith’s strength is clear as the defending series champion. Gray has not yet won in the East Series in his 11 starts dating back to 2020, but he has eight top-five finishes in those starts and has never finished outside the top 10. He also has a trio of victories in 10 West Series starts, also dating back to 2020.

This is to say Gray’s first East Series victory is almost certainly an inevitability in the coming events.

That is, unless Smith manages to keep the No. 17 David Gilliland Racing Ford in his rear-view mirror all season.

NOTES:

  • Corey Heim’s eighth career ARCA Menards Series win moves him to a tie for 45th on the series’ all-time win list. Others with eight career ARCA Menards Series wins include Jack Shanklin, Charlie Glotzbach, three-time series champion Dave Dayton, NASCAR Hall of Famer and Daytona 500 winner Davey Allison, Jimmy Horton, Jeff Purvis, Chad Blount and former series champions Justin Allgaier and Austin Theriault.
  • Sammy Smith’s fourth career East Series win moves him to a tie for 40th on the series’ all-time win list, joining Stub Fadden, Butch Leitzinger, Brian Ickler, Max Gresham, Tyler Ankrum, Kyle Benjamin and Scott Heckert.
  • Sammy Smith’s East Series win at New Smyrna marked the first series win for Kyle Busch as a team owner. As a driver in the ARCA Menards Series, Busch earned three wins, including two in 2003 at Nashville Superspeedway and Kentucky Speedway and one in 2004 at Daytona.
  • Nine drivers either matched or set career-best series finishes at Daytona: Winner Corey Heim, second-place finisher Parker Chase, fourth-place Sean Corr, sixth-place Andy Jankowiak, ninth-place Toni Breidinger and 12th-place Dale Quarterley all tied or bettered their previous career best, while 13th-place Brayton Laster, 16th-place Amber Balcaen and 31st-place Christian Rose all set their career best in their series debuts.
  • Leland Honeyman made his East Series debut driving for Young’s Motorsports and finished an impressive fourth. Logan Misuraca, a former winner and champion at New Smyrna Speedway, made her series debut driving for Josh Williams’ JW Motorsports team and finished a solid sixth.
  • Donald Theetge, a former NASCAR Pinty’s Series winner from Quebec City, gave Visconti Motorsports its second consecutive top-five finish at New Smyrna Speedway.
  • Willie Mullins and Stephanie Moyer both matched their East Series career best finishes with their eighth- and ninth-place finishes, respectively.
  • Mason Diaz finished sixth at New Smyrna and seventh at Daytona driving for long-time ARCA Menards Series driver-turned-crew chief — and now team owner — Jeff McClure.
  • The ARCA Menards Series starting field at Daytona was 36 cars, the most since 39 took the green flag in 2018. Thirty of the 36 cars that started the Lucas Oil 200 driven by General Tire were running at the finish, and only four were listed as out due to a crash.
  • Max Gutiérrez was joined on the grid at Daytona by Mexican businessman and noted motorsports enthusiast Carlos Slim, has sponsored several drivers and teams over the years. Slim was instrumental in Daniel Suarez’s NASCAR Xfinity Series championship in 2016.
  • Daytona 500 winner Austin Cindric, runner-up Bubba Wallace, third-place finisher Chase Briscoe and fourth-place finisher Ryan Blaney all have wins on the ARCA Menards Series platform. Cindric won at Kentucky Speedway in 2016 and scored two road-course wins in the ARCA Menards Series East that season at Virginia International Raceway and Watkins Glen International. Wallace has six career East Series wins; Briscoe is the 2016 ARCA Menards Series champion with four career series wins and one additional ARCA Menards Series West victory last year at Sonoma Raceway. Blaney won in the West Series at Phoenix Raceway in 2011.
  • Series entitlement sponsor John Menard made a visit to the ARCA garage for the first time since Iowa Speedway’s race last summer. Menard and his entourage spent time visiting with drivers, teams and fans in the garage area before heading to the grandstand side of the track to watch the race.