In 1987, NASCAR launched what was then called the NASCAR Busch North Series. With races scheduled primarily in the Northeastern United States, the series served as a place for drivers from that region to make a name for themselves under the NASCAR banner.
More than 30 years later, the series lives on under the ARCA banner as the ARCA Menards Series East. On Friday at Lucas Oil Indianapolis Raceway Park, the series will hold its 600th race as part of a combination event with the national ARCA Menards Series.
The 600th East Series race doubling as a combination event is appropriate, because the first event under the NASCAR Busch North Series banner also was a combo race. Won by Dale Earnhardt, the race on March 28, 1987 at Darlington Raceway doubled as a NASCAR Xfinity Series event.
The first non-combination race in NASCAR Busch North Series history was held on April 26, 1987 at Maine’s Oxford Plains Speedway; it was won by Billy Clark, who bested a field of Northeastern legends like Stub Fadden, Mike Rowe, Don Kreitz Jr., Dave Dion, Bobby Dragon, Chuck Bown and Dick McCabe.
Countless familiar names have competed in the East Series over its 37 seasons competition. They include East Series champions like Jamie Aube, McCabe, Ricky Craven, Andy Santerre, Kyle Larson, Joey Logano, William Byron, Ryan Truex, Ben Rhodes, Sam Mayer, Tyler Ankrum, Justin Haley, Sammy Smith and Harrison Burton, all of whom went on to win races in one of NASCAR’s three national divisions.
Beyond the drivers who won championships, countless others can also call themselves East Series winners. They include drivers like Mike Stefanik, Kelly Moore, Brad Leighton, Dale Shaw, Matt Kobyluck, Ken Schrader, Ted Christopher, Brett Moffitt, Todd Gilliland, Mike McLaughlin, Bubba Wallace, Corey LaJoie, Ty Gibbs, Martin Truex Jr., Austin Hill, Steve Park, Matt DiBenedetto, Cole Custer, Daniel Suarez, Ben Kennedy, Austin Cindric, Noah Gragson, Brandon Jones, Austin Dillon, Aric Almirola, Trevor Bayne, Kyle Busch, Chase Elliott, Tyler Reddick, Jesse Love and the series’ most recent champion, William Sawalich.
“During my tenure as the series director of the ARCA Menards Series East, I’ve taken pride in watching previous East champions and event winners go on to have success on the national stage,” said ARCA Menards Series East director Chris Wright. “From our most recent champion William Sawalich to William Byron, Ben Rhodes and a host of other drivers. It’s been a pleasure to watch each of them enjoy their continued success at the highest levels.”
The history of the East Series will continue Friday at IRP, where 31 competitors will vie to win the series’ 600th race and potentially become NASCAR’s next big star.
Five drivers set for double-duty day at IRP
A quartet of drivers will have their work cut out for them Friday night at Lucas Oil Indianapolis Raceway Park.
William Sawalich, Marco Andretti, Dean Thompson and Lawless Alan will race in both Friday evening’s Circle City 200 and Friday night’s TSport 200 for the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series.
The TSport 200 will mark Sawalich’s third Truck Series start of 2024 for David Gilliland’s TRICON Garage and his second start at IRP. One season ago, Sawalich pulled double-duty, finishing fourth in ARCA competition before finishing sixth in the Truck Series event on the same night. That sixth-place finish remains his best Truck Series result to date in eight starts.
The Andretti family has a long history of success in the racing industry, and that success extends to IRP, where Mario Andretti won the Hoosier Grand Prix in three consecutive seasons from 1965-67. His grandson, Marco, will try to add his name to IRP’s extensive history with wins in ARCA or Truck Series competition Friday night.
Thompson and Alan will be looking to make names for themselves with Friday’s double-duty attempt. Both are so far winless in ARCA and Truck competition, but each has turned in strong performances in ARCA competition over the last 12 months. Thompson earned a runner-up finish at Charlotte Motor Speedway one season ago, and Alan finished eighth at Charlotte earlier this season.
Last, but certainly not least, is a driver who will make not just his ARCA debut, but also his Truck Series debut. That honor goes to Tyler Tomassi, a young driver from West Greenwich, Connecticut. He’ll drive the No. 93 Ford for CW Motorsports in the Circle City 200 and the No. 22 Ford for Reaume Brothers Racing in the TSport 200.
All five drivers will be among those to keep an eye on once the green flag waves on Friday live on FS1 at 5:30 p.m. ET at IRP.
Battle for East Series championship continues between Zilisch and Sawalich
With only three races remaining in the 2024 ARCA Menards Series East season, the championship battle between Connor Zilisch and William Sawalich is nearing its crescendo.
Entering Friday’s Circle City 200 at Lucas Oil IRP, Zilisch holds a 17-point advantage on Sawalich. Zilisch’s three wins to Sawalich’s one, plus a 17th-place finish at Dover Motor Speedway for Sawalich, have been the key factors so far in the battle for the championship.
The good news for Sawalich is that, besides that 17th-place finish at Dover, which came after contact while battling Zilisch for the race lead, he has finished first or second in every other race. The bad news is that, in two of those races, Zilisch was the driver who beat him.
Zilisch, meanwhile, has been stunningly consistent in his first full East Series season. He hasn’t finished outside the top five in the first five races of the season, with his worst finish of fourth coming in the opener at Five Flags Speedway in Pensacola, Florida. That race took place on the same day as the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series event at Circuit of the Americas, where Zilisch started on the pole and had to miss practice and qualifying at Five Flags.
From an experience point of view, Sawalich has the theoretical edge on Zilisch in the final three races of the season after competing at IRP, the Milwaukee Mile and Bristol Motor Speedway last year. In fact, Sawalich won the races at Milwaukee and Bristol to cement his 2023 East Series championship.
However, with a 17-point gap between himself and Zilisch, Sawalich will likely need a little bit of help to track down his East Series title rival.
With 31 cars on the entry list for Friday’s race at IRP, a bad finish by either driver could all but hand the season-long championship to the other.
NOTES
- With IRP representing the halfway mark in the ARCA Menards Series season, Rev Racing’s Andres Perez currently holds a comfortable 40-point advantage on Greg Van Alst in the race to the season-long championship.
- City Garage Motorsports, a new ARCA Menards Series team based in Lakeland, Florida, will make its series debut Friday at IRP. Becca Monopoli, who attempted to qualify for the opening race of the year at Daytona International Speedway, will pilot the No. 85 Ford for the team.
- Isaac Johnson is returning to ARCA competition for the first time since Phoenix in March. He’ll once again pilot the No. 34 as a teammate to driver-owner Greg Van Alst. It’s the first of three races Johnson is scheduled to compete in through the remainder of the season.
- Jackson McLerran, a familiar face to those at Nashville Fairgrounds Speedway, will join MAN Motorsports this weekend to pilot the No. 96 Toyota in his ARCA platform debut.
- With 31 cars entered for Friday’s Circle City 200, it is the largest ARCA Menards Series field at the historic 0.686-mile oval since the 2016 season, when 33 competitors took the green flag. That event was won by NASCAR Cup Series star Chase Briscoe.
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