For the first time in 2024, the premier ARCA Menards Series will visit a facility requiring competitors to make both left and right turns.
Nestled in Morrow County, Ohio is the Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course, a 2.258-mile track that has hosted world class events for NASCAR, the IndyCar Series, IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship and other tours since first opening to the public in 1962.
The start of the 2020s saw Mid-Ohio welcome the ARCA Menards Series to its busy docket of racing. NASCAR Cup Series competitor Ty Gibbs claimed the first ARCA checkered flag at Mid-Ohio in 2021, with NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series drivers Taylor Gray and Tyler Ankrum having since joined him in that regard.
This year’s venture to Mid-Ohio is expected to feature plenty of unique challenges. With Mid-Ohio fresh off a repave at the end of the 2023 season, ARCA competitors will have to utilize discipline and patience to navigate around a much faster layout to add their name into Mid-Ohio’s record books.
Tickets to Friday’s Zinsser SmartCoat 150 can be purchased here. Below is everything you need to know ahead of the on-track action at the Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course.
Of the drivers who finished inside the top five last year at the Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course, only William Sawalich is on the preliminary entry list for Friday evening.
Sawalich has picked up where he left off last year by accumulating three victories across the ARCA Menards Series platform, but not every event has been smooth for the defending East Series champion. The last two starts in the main division for Sawalich have seen him come out on the losing end of a hectic battle with Connor Zilisch and Pinnacle Racing Group.
Although Zilisch is not competing at Mid-Ohio this weekend, PRG is enlisting the help of another Connor to keep their stellar 2024 going. Connor Mosack is back in their No. 28 for Friday evening after prevailing at Kansas Speedway over Tanner Gray, who was driving the same No. 18 Joe Gibbs Toyota as Sawalich.
Mosack and Sawalich on Friday will face a young-but-tough ARCA field that is enriched with plenty of road-course experience.
This includes Brent Crews in the No. 55 Toyota for Venturini Motorsports; he won a Trans Am TA2 championship last year and finished third in his debut ARCA race that same year at Watkins Glen International.
Friday also presents an ideal opportunity for Crews’ teammate Kris Wright to claim his first ARCA victory. Possessing a background in road-course racing, Wright finds himself fifth in the point standings with two top-five finishes, including a career-best of second at Talladega Superspeedway.
Other notable names on the entry list include Marco Andretti, Tyler Reif, Thomas Annunziata, Todd Souza and Brad Perez, among others.
The complete entry list for the Zinsser SmartCoat 150 can be found here.