Mason Mitchell ready for his ARCA comeback: ‘Deep down, I always wanted to be racing’

Mason Mitchell is a name familiar to fans of the ARCA Menards Series.

From 2012, when he was just 18, to 2018, Mitchell competed as both a driver and a team owner in ARCA. He competed in 55 events as a driver, winning races at Chicagoland Speedway, Iowa Speedway and Kansas Speedway.

He launched his own race team, Mason Mitchell Motorsports, in 2014. His goal was to win the ARCA Menards Series championship as an owner-driver, a goal he accomplished that same season.

Mason Mitchell Motorsports continued to compete in ARCA for several seasons thereafter, with drivers like Austin Wayne Self, Gus Dean and Justin Haley earning victories in Mitchell’s equipment.

However, on July 30, 2018, Mitchell’s race team ceased operations, and the door very nearly closed on his time in ARCA.

“I’ve always wanted to race again. Long story short, obviously in 2018 we shut the team down,” said Mitchell, who earned seven victories as a team owner in ARCA competition. “These last few years I’ve been focusing on myself and my own business stuff I had back here and a few other interests I had. But deep down, I always wanted to be racing.”

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Mitchell, now 29, has spent the last five years doing a variety of things ranging from real estate investment to mixed martial arts. But his dream had always been to make his way back to racing and, specifically, the ARCA Menards Series.

That dream got a little closer to reality in 2022, when he competed in two dirt races for friend and team owner Lou Sipolt.

That opportunity turned into a full season of dirt racing in 2023, which saw Mitchell win seven times while competing with the Karl Chevrolet Dirt Truck Series.

“I was fortunate to be able to race full-time this past year here locally for a team and a guy I’ve known since I was a little kid,” Mitchell said. “That went extremely well, and I had a lot of success and we just had a lot of fun.

“That really made everything come full circle as far as why I was doing what I was doing and this whole journey these last few years. Racing is what I want to be doing and I feel like what I was meant to be doing.”

Following his successful 2023 season racing on dirt, Mitchell made the decision to begin pursuing a return to the ARCA Menards Series.

Tyler Monn, spotter for Kyle Larson in the NASCAR Cup Series and a friend of Mitchell’s, helped make the connection to Sigma Performance Services’ owner Joe Farré.

From there, the pairing worked out a deal for Mitchell to compete in a pair of ARCA platform events in 2024 starting with Saturday’s ARCA Menards Series West MMI Oil Workers 150 presented by the West Coast Stock Car Motorsports Hall of Fame at Kevin Harvick’s Kern Raceway in Bakersfield, California, as well as the ARCA Menards Series event at Mitchell’s home track, Iowa Speedway, in June.

The partnership even includes the return of Kevin Reed Sr., Mitchell’s crew chief when he won the 2014 ARCA Menards Series championship.

“It all happened in the fall before they announced NASCAR was coming to Iowa,” Mitchell said. “That was my main goal, to compete in that race. Then it got announced and I was like, ‘Well, I definitely have to be part of that weekend.’

“There were some conversations with a few other times and things just never worked out. One of my good friends, Tyler, he knows some people on the SPS team. They were getting started and doing a lot of things during the offseason as far as building up their program and building new cars. It just seemed like an opportunity that just kind of made sense.”

Since striking the deal with Farré, Mitchell has spent a lot of time with the team preparing for his return to ARCA competition. He’s quickly formed a bond with members of the team which he thinks is a strong indication of what we’ll soon see on the race track.

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“I feel like it’s all meant to happen,” Mitchell said. “I’ve already got to spend a lot of time with Joe at Sigma out in Vegas, that’s where their shop is at. It’s gone really well. I haven’t experienced a team of guys who have hit it off and bonded with me so well this quick. Usually it takes some time.

“As soon as Kevin and I walked in the shop, we all clicked instantly. I think that starts at the top and Joe does a really good job with his organization. That has made me extremely happy.”

Mitchell hopes the two-race deal with Farré, which he is pairing with a full slate of Midwestern dirt racing, will lead to more opportunities in ARCA.

He’d like to chase another ARCA Menards Series championship, which he believes would be enough to earn him opportunities in one of NASCAR’s three national divisions.

First, he must get through Saturday’s race at Irwindale, a race he firmly believes he can win.

“(I expect) to win the race,” Mitchell said. “I’m at the point in my life where I feel very confident in myself, I’m feel confident with the people I’m surrounding myself with. That’s important to me, to always be in a situation where you are given the tools and the resources and the quality of cars to go out there and win races. I feel like I’m in that situation.

“I’d love to win another ring in the ARCA series. I just want a shot at the next level. I’d love to have a shot at the Xfinity Series. Either I make it happen or I don’t. I can be satisfied with that.”