One year after her ARCA debut, Lanie Buice is confident in her return to Kansas Speedway

Last year’s Tide 150 at Kansas Speedway was the site of Lanie Buice’s debut appearance in the national ARCA Menards Series.

The Jackson, Georgia native enjoyed a mostly quiet but successful outing behind the wheel of Rev Racing’s No. 2 Chevrolet. Despite some late contact with Isabella Robusto, Buice ended up recording an eighth-place finish, her best performance across four ARCA Menards Series starts that season.

Buice’s return to Kansas on Saturday (11:30 a.m. CT/12:30 p.m. ET on FS1) features plenty of firsts just like 2025; the race serves as both her season debut and her first start in Pinnacle Racing Group’s No. 77 Sunoco Chevrolet. There are plenty of unknowns surrounding Buice’s maiden event with PRG, but she intends to rely on the knowledge obtained from Kansas last year to put together a strong weekend.

“[Experience] is going to be very beneficial,” Buice said. “I’m going into the weekend already having a sense of where I need to be. I only have five ARCA starts under me, so it’s a bit of a change working with a new team and a new car, but I’ve been trying to focus on what I can do best behind the wheel and being the best prepared that I can for the situation.

“It’s going to be interesting, but I know everyone has my back and I have theirs.”

Buice considers her time with Rev Racing to be invaluable towards where she currently is with her racing career.

When she first joined Drive for Diversity in 2024, Buice received plenty of education on how to excel in the industry on multiple fronts and build connections with influential figures. A part of this process for Buice involved starts with Rev Racing’s Late Model Stock program, which eventually led to her part-time ARCA Menards Series schedule in 2025.

It was also through Rev Racing that Buice got connected with Wise Optimization, a company founded by former NASCAR driver Josh Wise that specializes in bolstering a driver’s physical and mental stamina. The training with Wise and his team can be grueling, but Buice feels that strenuous effort has made her a more refined and astute driver.

Although Rev Racing no longer exists, Buice knows their impact across NASCAR will stay prevalent through her and so many other alums. Without them, Buice said the journey towards reaching the ARCA Menards Series and becoming embedded with a manufacturer like Chevrolet would have been much more arduous.

“The opportunity to run with Rev [Racing] really opened doors with Chevrolet and the teams that I have for this year,” Buice said. “In general, Rev Racing was a huge steppingstone, and they did so much for me in giving me the opportunity to run those ARCA races along with the Late Model races I ran [over the past couple of years].

“They gave me the opportunity to set myself up for this year.”

Along with her ARCA Menards Series commitments to PRG, Buice is embarking on a full-time season in the Trans Am Championship TA2 Series as part of her development deal with Chevrolet. The program Buice is driving for is TeamSLR, which has previously fielded cars for other Chevrolet drivers like Tristan McKee, Carson Brown and Corey Day, among others.

Competing at tracks like Sebring International Raceway and Road Atlanta has helped widen Buice’s perspective on motorsports in general. The discipline is encouraging Buice to be more methodical when it comes to managing her car and setting up passes, something she intends to carry over into the ARCA Menards Series.

“I didn’t realize how different of a world road course racing was,” Buice said. “[We’re] turning left and right and going to all of these different race tracks. We have a very broad schedule across the country [with Trans Am TA2] and it’s just been super helpful with making you learn different things. You have so many corners that are so different.”

With how much time she has spent ascertaining road courses, Buice admitted she is looking forward to being back on a fast, high-speed oval like Kansas, especially since it is her first race with PRG.

Buice understands the expectations being placed upon her as part of PRG’s stable. The organization is fresh off a dominant championship run with Brenden’ Butterbean’ Queen in the national ARCA Menards Series and is carrying over that momentum into 2026 with three victories in four platform starts between McKee and Brown.

Such a reputation would be intimidating to any prospect, but Buice feels no pressure going into Saturday’s Tide 150; if anything, she finds herself at ease. Buice attributes this mindset to the plethora of experience at PRG that includes her crew chief Kevin Reed Jr. and team manager Shane Huffman, a former driver himself.

The uplifting team culture of PRG is also fueling Buice’s motivation.

“It’s always been a dream of mine to run with PRG and be part of that group,” Buice said. “They’re known for bringing fast cars to the race track, but they are also great people. The attitudes are amazing inside the race shop. Everyone is so kind and you can tell everyone wants to see everyone else succeed.

“That’s really positive, but from a team standpoint, it’s really important to be building each other up all the time. That makes it more exciting to run Kansas with them.”

PRG swept both ARCA Menards Series races at Kansas last year with Queen, so Buice knows her No. 77 will be one of the fastest cars in Saturday’s field. Being up front in the closing stages is a different story, so Buice plans to get as much information as she can from the pre-race practice up until race day.

Kansas is one of a handful of starts Buice has lined up with PRG for 2026, her other starts including Michigan International Raceway, Chicagoland Speedway, Pocono Raceway and a second trip to Kansas in the fall. With only a finite number of chances to showcase her talent, Buice is determined to make the most of every start.

Even though both PRG cars have visited Victory Lane this year, Buice knows success is not going to be instantaneous with the program. Despite this, the support system and resources Buice relied on during the early stages of her career primed her for the day she got her moment to prove herself with a top-tier program like PRG.

Reaching the goals Buice has established for herself at Kansas is the first step towards potentially becoming an ARCA Menards Series winner.

“We talked about expectations the other day, and the expectation for myself is to see myself in the top three,” Buice said. “Qualifying and racing in the top three would be a really great weekend for me. I do have a really good teammate in Jack Wood and I’d love to see us [finish first and second] either way around.

“I’d love to win the race, but expectations are realistic and a top three where we can build [going into] Michigan in a few weeks would be really huge for us.”

A lot has changed for Buice since she made her ARCA Menards Series debut at Kansas last year, from her knowledge on motorsports all the way to the team she is driving for. What has not changed is Buice’s optimism, a quality that has guided her since day one.

By staying optimistic even when faced with uncertainty, Buice feels she can accomplish anything in the ARCA Menards Series and beyond.