Everything to know about the 2023 ARCA Menards Series pre-race practice at Daytona

Every January, ARCA Menards Series teams, drivers and crews head south to Daytona International Speedway for the annual pre-race practice.

That event, scheduled this year for Friday and Saturday, Jan. 13-14, serves as the first opportunity for race teams to get on track and prepare for the season opener on Feb. 18. The event doubles as an opportunity for many drivers to get on track at Daytona for the first time.

Live timing and scoring during the ARCA Menards Series pre-race practice at the 2.5-mile superspeedway will be available on ARCARacing.com.

Below is everything you need to know about this year’s ARCA Menards Series pre-race practice at Daytona.

2023 schedule: ARCA Menards Series pre-race practice at Daytona

• Thursday, Jan. 12

• Friday, Jan. 13

• Saturday, Jan. 14

Sunday, Jan. 15 is reserved as a weather day in the event practice on Friday or Saturday must be rescheduled.

Should a test session get bumped to Sunday, the schedule would mirror that of Saturday.

Format and rules

The ARCA Menards Series pre-race practice at Daytona is an open session, meaning teams can send cars to the track whenever they want during the duration of the session each day. Limited pack drafting is allowed.

As a general guideline, teams must limit the number of laps to 10 each time a car is on the track before returning to the garage.

Below are a few more rules for the pre-race practice.

• All cars to be ARCA legal (all heights, springs, restrictor plate, etc.) for on-track activity.
• If the use of non-compliant parts is found at any time, the offending crew chief will be held responsible, and the car owner will be fined at minimum $1,000 and have equipment confiscated and time disallowed.
• Teams must have a functioning race safe system and a spotter in the spotter stand with two way radio communication whenever its race car is on track.

Entry list

The current entry list, which features more than 50 drivers, includes six who are participating via the Road to Daytona program. This group consists of Jake Drew, Leland Honeyman, Billy Van Meter, Harley Jankowski, Jon McKennedy and Layne Riggs, who each respectively excelled in the ARCA Menards Series West, ARCA East, ARCA CRA Super Series, ARCA Midwest Tour, NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour and the NASCAR Advance Auto Parts Weekly Series.

Below is the complete list of drivers entered for the pre-race practice at Daytona this weekend.