Drivers who had success in the ARCA Menards Series before moving into NASCAR national series competition had stellar weekends in their respective season-openers at Daytona International Speedway.
Daytona 500 winner Ricky Stenhouse Jr. is a two-time ARCA Menards Series race winner who finished fourth in the series championship standings in 2008, his only full-time season. Stenhouse led a top-five sweep of ARCA Menards Series race winners with two-time ARCA winner Joey Logano in second, three-time ARCA winner Christopher Bell in third, 2012 series champion Chris Buescher in fourth and 2012 rookie of the year and six-time winner Alex Bowman – who started on the pole and set a record with his sixth-straight front row start for the Daytona 500 – in fifth.
Other notable ARCA graduates in the Daytona 500 field included three-time East Series winner Daniel Suarez in seventh, Ryan Blaney, a former West Series winner at Phoenix Raceway, in eighth, two-time ARCA Menards Series winner Riley Herbst in 10th, 1998 West champion Kevin Harvick in 12th, four-time ARCA Menards Series winner and 2018 championship runner-up Zane Smith in 13th, five-time East winner and former NASCAR Cup Series champion Martin Truex Jr. in 15th, three-time ARCA Menards Series winner and six-time East winner Corey Lajoie in 16th, 2012 East champion Kyle Larson in 18th, 2004 ARCA Menards Series winner at Daytona Kyle Busch 19th and six-time East winner Bubba Wallace in 20th.
Austin Hill led the charge in the NASCAR Xfinity Series Beef. It’s What’s For Dinner 300 on Saturday at Daytona, scoring his second consecutive victory in the season-opener. Hill is a five-time East Series winner; he scored a career-best second in the ARCA Menards Series at Watkins Glen International and Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course in 2021.
Justin Allgaier, the 2008 ARCA Menards Series champion and an eight-time series race winner, finished third. Parker Retzlaff, who made 14 East starts from 2019-21, finished a career-best fourth. Myatt Snider, who won in his ARCA Menards Series debut at Toledo Speedway in 2016, finished fifth.
Other notable ARCA Menards Series platform graduates in the NASCAR Xfinity Series season-opener included former Berlin Raceway winner Joe Graf Jr. in seventh, Cole Custer in ninth, former East Series champion Justin Haley in 10th, 10-time ARCA Menards Series winner Chandler Smith in 12th, eight-time ARCA Menards Series winner and two-time East winner Brandon Jones in 14th, two-time ARCA Menards Series winner Josh Williams in 15th and two-time defending East Series champion Sammy Smith in 19th.
Zane Smith also defended his victory in the season-opener for the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series. Smith was also a winner in ARCA Menards Series competition at Daytona’s sister track, Talladega Superspeedway, in 2018.
Tanner Gray, a winner in the ARCA Menards Series East, finished a career-best second, ahead of 2019 ARCA Menards Series champion Christian Eckes and 2015 ARCA Menards Series champion Grant Enfinger in fifth. Three-time ARCA Menards Series winner Ty Majeski was sixth, 2018 ARCA Menards Series champion Tyler Ankrum was seventh, eight-time ARCA winner including two at Daytona, Corey Heim was eighth, and 2013 ARCA Menards Series Pocono winner Chase Elliott was 10th.
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