Finch Daytona(friday)
(Photo: James Gilbert/ARCA Racing)

Jake Finch leads day one of ARCA Menards Series pre-race practice at Daytona

www.arcaracing.com January 12, 2024

The ARCA Menards Series season unofficially kicked off the 2024 season with day one of the pre-race practice leading up to the season-opening Daytona ARCA 200 at Daytona International Speedway.

Panama City, Fla., native Jake Finch, son of two-time Daytona-winning car owner James Finch, led the session with a lap over 184 miles per hour.

RELATED: Complete results from Friday practice at Daytona

Persistent rain throughout the morning and early afternoon delayed on-track activity until after 5 p.m. ET. Once the track was dried, Indycar superstar Marco Andretti quickly jumped to the top of the leaderboard in the Bruce Cook-prepared No. 17 Chevrolet.

Andretti’s 49.350 sec./182.371 mph lap kept him atop the leaderboard until the final half hour when four Venturini Motorsports teammates hooked up in a tight draft and jumped to the front.

Finch, in the No. 20 VMS Toyota, led the way with a 48.878 sec./184.132 mph lap. His Venturini Motorsports teammates Toni Breidinger, Kris Wright, and Gus Dean followed, with Andretti’s early evening time being good enough for fifth.

Daytona(friday)
Gus Dean turns a lap around Daytona International Speedway during the ARCA Menards Series pre-race practice on Friday. (Photo: James Gilbert/ARCA Racing)

Lavar Scott, who finished fourth in his series debut in last year’s race at Daytona, was sixth in the No. 6 Rev Racing Chevrolet with a lap of 49.527 seconds/181.719 mph. He was followed by Christian Rose in the No. 32 AM Racing Ford, Andres Perez in the second Rev Racing Chevy, Leland Honeyman in the No 02 Young’s Motorsports Chevrolet, and Tanner Gray in the No. 18 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota.

Other notables in the field included defending ARCA Menards Series East champion William Sawalich in 11th, Supercars champion Shane Van Gisbergen in 13th, last year’s fifth-place finisher Mandy Chick in 15th, 2018 Daytona runner-up Willie Mullins in 16th, and defending race winner Greg Van Alst in 17th.

While four of the Venturini Motorsports cars led Friday’s session, it was a tough night for the driver of the fifth VMS entry Amber Balcaen, who was in the No. 22 Toyota. Balcaen had a track bar mount break entering turn one that caused her to collide with the outside wall, resulting in significant damage to the right side of her car.

The only other incident of the day involved last year’s third-place finisher Sean Corr, who lost an oil line on his No. 8 Empire Racing Chevrolet.

Track activity will resume tomorrow morning at 10 am and run through 5 p.m. ET. ARCARacing.com will have live timing and scoring throughout the day.