Zachary Tinkle’s ‘big step’ as an ARCA Menards Series owner-driver fittingly begins at Berlin Raceway

The long history of the ARCA Menards Series features plenty of drivers who enjoyed success working on and fielding their own cars. Notable examples include Jack Bowsher, Iggy Katona, Jim Romine and Mason Mitchell.

Zachary Tinkle hopes to follow their examples when he takes part in his first outing as a car owner-driver this weekend.

Tinkle Family Racing will debut in the Herr’s Snacks 200 at Berlin Raceway (Saturday, 6:30 p.m. ET on FS2) as part of a collaborative effort between Empire Racing and Racing Resources. The operation will utilize the No. 53, a throwback to the beginning of Tinkle’s career as he progressed through the ranks in the Midwest.

Branching out on his own brings some trepidation for Tinkle, especially with the off-track responsibilities that come with team ownership. Yet that autonomy is something Tinkle believes will pay off in the long term once his program finds it footing.

“For myself, this is a really big step,” Tinkle said. “I think this was just the way to go for me to get the best possible option out there. The main thing was I wanted to be the priority and the focus. We’re going to run part-time, but when we do show up, we want to run as competitive as we can.”

🏁🏁 PAINT SCHEME UNVEIL 🏁🏁

Here’s the #53 Racing For Rescues / Zachary Tinkle Foundation car that will race at Berlin Raceway on June 20th!

now available on Trading Paints for use on iRacing!

Custom number: https://t.co/Mw31UwOwrd—Zachary-Tinkle-Foundation

Sim stamp:…

— Zachary Tinkle (@ZacharyTinkle) June 16, 2026

Tinkle has been a mainstay on the ARCA Menards Series platform throughout the 2020s and has spent the past three seasons full-time in the East Series. The programs for which Tinkle has driven during that timeframe include Wayne Peterson Racing, Tim Richmond Racing and Fast Track Racing.

Being around Peterson and Fast Track Racing owner Andy Hillenburg provided Tinkle lessons he intends to apply as a team owner himself. Tinkle never carried unrealistic expectations with any operation, but he learned how to maximize the performance of the equipment at his disposal.

“We’re trying to do what we can do to get the best we can with what we got to work with,” Tinkle said. “It’s not a secret that Wayne [Peterson] is one of the lowest budget entries, but the mentality there was always, if we’re able to turn a 20^thplace into a 16^th place, let’s try and do that. That mentality doesn’t come easy.

“There’s going to be ups and downs, but it’s not about making the most out of the good days; it’s making the most out of your bad days.”

Patience proved to be a virtue for Tinkle on several occasions, especially during his tenure with Fast Track Racing. All three of Tinkle’s top fives on the ARCA platform came in a car prepared by Hillenburg, with a fourth at Nashville Fairgrounds Speedway in 2024 being one of the proudest moments of his career to date.

One year later, Tinkle found himself eligible to win the East Series championship heading into the season finale at Bristol Motor Speedway. The scenario that would have earned him the title did not materialize, but it reinforced to Tinkle the importance of remaining consistent and not overextending his car’s capabilities.

Tinkle will employ a similar ideology with his own team, which is why he considers himself fortunate to have so many people assisting him. Empire Racing is led by ARCA Menards Series veteran Sean Corr, who has eight top fives throughout his career and has raced alongside Tinkle plenty of times.

Adam Murphy of Racing Resources will be on top of Tinkle’s pit box after previously serving as Tim Richmond’s crew chief.

Having known Corr and Murphy for years, Tinkle is confident both are going to be invaluable toward building Tinkle Family Racing into a consistent program. Despite this, Tinkle understands responsibility falls upon him to ensure Tinkle Family Racing is progressing at a rate with which he feels comfortable.

Tinkle is used to calling shots at the local level, but being an owner-driver at the ARCA level brings more expectations and logistics to work through. By leaning on his support system, Tinkle knows he can manage his multi-layered role.

“Obviously there’s more paperwork involved,” Tinkle said. “It’s not bad, though. That’s just how it is. It’s a necessary evil. For myself, I have a lot more control over things, but that also means it’s more on me now. If I screw up or if something’s not wholly right, I have a lot more say in that.

“Having been an owner-driver before on my Late Model and won three championships, the main thing I learned from that and want to do with this is to surround myself with the right people.”

From Tinkle’s perspective, Berlin is the perfect track to shake off any potential reservations about debuting his own team. Not only is Berlin just a four-hour drive from Tinkle’s hometown of Speedway, Indiana, but the track is also where he made his ARCA platform debut in 2021.

A broken sway bar in that race relegated Tinkle to 13^th after he climbed to 11^th in Peterson’s equipment. Tinkle returned to Berlin two years later with Fast Track Racing. He started seventh and was battling for a top five before a pit stop in which his left-side tires were erroneously placed on the right side, causing him to lose two laps.

Tinkle has always enjoyed competing at Berlin and is determined to put together a result that reflects his comfort with the facility. All the notes accumulated from his prior trips to Berlin have provided Tinkle a baseline for how to approach the Herr’s Snacks 200 from a setup standpoint. He just wants fortunes to fall his way this time around.

“We’ve had two races [at Berlin] where we had good speed, especially for our class,” Tinkle said. “Stuff happened, and it took us out of getting the result I felt like we deserved. [This is all coming] full circle, so I’m really looking forward to Berlin. It’s also just a really fun race track.”

Nothing would thrill Tinkle more than a top 10 in Tinkle Family Racing’s first outing. He has reached that milestone four times across 45 national ARCA Menards Series starts, the most recent at Dover Motor Speedway last year.

Yet Tinkle understand he needs to approach this endeavor on a race-by-race basis. One mistake at Berlin on Saturday could be costly both figuratively and literally, so a weekend that ends with his No. 53 Racing For Rescues/Zachary Tinkle Foundation Toyota in one piece would be a success on multiple fronts.

“There’s not a whole lot of expectation,” Tinkle said. “We’re a brand new team, so it’s natural to expect that not everything is going to be perfect. It’s unrealistic to expect everything to go perfectly. This race for me is about trying to run all the laps and see where we stack up in the [running] order.

“I want to soak in as much as I can so we can improve the next time we’re out there.”

Reaching the heights of other ARCA Menards Series owner-drivers like Katona, Bowsher, Romine and Mitchell will take diligence on Tinkle’s behalf. Berlin is only the first chapter for Tinkle Family Racing, one that could feature plenty of highs and lows.

Everything going the way Tinkle envisions Saturday could be a crucial toward Tinkle Family Racing enjoying a long, successful story in the ARCA Menards Series.