2019 ARCA Menards Series explained

The 2019 ARCA Menards Series was the 67th season of the ARCA Menards Series. Christian Eckes of Venturini Motorsports won the championship over teammate Michael Self. Eckes became the first champion since Tim Steele in 1997 to win the title after missing a race during the season.

On February 9, 2019, hours before the season-opening Lucas Oil 200, ARCA announced that the series would be renamed to the ARCA Menards Series for at least 2019 and 2020. Menards had previously been a presenting sponsor for ARCA.^[1]

Teams and drivers

Complete schedule

Manufacturer	Team		Driver
Ford	Chad Bryant Racing	22	Connor Hall
	Corey Heim (R)
	Ty Majeski
	RFMS Racing	27	Travis Braden
Toyota	Joe Gibbs Racing	18	Riley Herbst
	Ty Gibbs
	Todd Gilliland
	Venturini Motorsports	15	Christian Eckes (R)
	Harrison Burton
	20	Harrison Burton
		Chandler Smith
		Brandon Lynn
		Myatt Snider
		Logan Seavey
	25	Michael Self
Chevrolet Toyota	Bret Holmes Racing	23	Bret Holmes
Ford Chevrolet	Chad Bryant Racing	77	Joe Graf Jr.
Toyota Chevrolet Ford	Fast Track Racing	1	Chuck Hiers
	Dick Doheny
	Ed Pompa
	Jason Miles
	Darrell Basham
Ford Toyota	10	Tommy Vigh Jr. (R)
Chevrolet Ford Toyota	11	Jason White
		Matt Dooley
		Morgen Baird
		D. L. Wilson
		Mike Basham
		Rick Clifton
		Jason Miles
		Dick Doheny
		Dick Karth
		Tyler Speer
		Ed Pompa
Toyota Chevrolet	KBR Development	28	Brandon McReynolds
	Carson Hocevar (R)
	Raphaël Lessard
	Stefan Parsons
	Sheldon Creed
Ford Toyota	Kimmel Racing	69	Scott Melton (R)
	Mike Basham
	Barry Layne
	Dale Shearer
	Will Kimmel
Chevrolet Dodge Toyota Ford	Wayne Peterson Racing	06	Con Nicolopoulos
	Tim Richmond (R)

Limited schedule

Manufacturer	Team		Driver	Rounds
Chevrolet	Allgaier Motorsports	16	Kelly Kovski
	Bobby Gerhart Racing	5	Bobby Gerhart
	Brother-In-Law Racing	57	Bryan Dauzat
	Connor Okrzesik Racing	14	Connor Okrzesik
	CR7 Motorsports	7	Codie Rohrbaugh
	Darrell Basham Racing	34	Darrell Basham
	Mike Basham
	Empire Racing	43	Sean Corr
	Finney Racing Enterprises	80	Brian Finney
	GMS Racing	21	Sam Mayer
	Sheldon Creed
	KBR Development	19	Raphaël Lessard
	Max Force Racing	9	Thomas Praytor
	Spraker Racing Enterprises	63	Dave Mader III
	Win-Tron Racing	32	Gus Dean
	Cole Glasson
	Austin Wayne Self
	Howie DiSavino III
	Colby Howard
Ford	Chad Bryant Racing	7	Connor Hall
	Clubb Racing	03	Alex Clubb
	Dale Shearer Racing	68	Dale Shearer
	Kaden Honeycutt Racing	38	Kaden Honeycutt
	Mullins Racing	3	Willie Mullins
	Rette Jones Racing	30	Grant Quinlan
Toyota	DGR-Crosley	4	Todd Gilliland
	Drew Dollar
	54	Natalie Decker
		Tanner Gray
	Hendren Motorsports	24	Ryan Unzicker
	J. J. Pack Racing	61	J. J. Pack
	On Point Motorsports	29	Derrick Lancaster
	Rick Ware Racing	51	Carson Ware
	Venturini Motorsports	55	Leilani Munter
	Hailie Deegan
	Gavin Harlien
	Vizion Motorsports	35	Brenden Queen (R)
	Devin Dodson
	36	Paul Williamson
Chevrolet Ford	Brad Smith Motorsports	48	Brad Smith
Ford Dodge	CCM Racing	2	Eric Caudell
Toyota Dodge	7
Chevrolet Ford	Empire Racing	44	John Ferrier
	Lexi Gay
Chevrolet Ford	46	Thad Moffitt
Ford Toyota	Ken Schrader Racing	52	Tyler Dippel
	Ken Schrader
Chevrolet Ford	Our Motorsports	02	Andy Seuss
Chevrolet Ford	09	C. J. McLaughlin
Toyota Chevrolet Dodge Ford	Wayne Peterson Racing	0	Wayne Peterson
	Con Nicolopoulos
	Alex Clubb
	Don Thompson
	Benjamin Peterson

Notes

Changes

Teams

• On Point Motorsports has announced plans to enter the series part-time in 2019.^[2]
• GMS Racing announced a re-entry into ARCA for 2019 with Sam Mayer as driver.^[3]
• KBR Development announced a full schedule for 2019 with technical support from GMS, up from a three-race venture in 2018 with a renumbered 28 car. To help the effort, KBR purchased some assets of MDM Motorsports.^[4]

Drivers

• On October 24, 2018, it was announced that Christian Eckes will run full-time for Venturini Motorsports in 2019. Eckes had run part-time with VMS in 2016, 2017 and 2018.^[5]
• On October 26, 2018, Corey Heim announced a schedule of thirteen events for the 2019 season in the No. 22 for Chad Bryant Racing.^[6]
• On November 2, 2018, it was announced that Chandler Smith would return to Venturini Motorsports for the 2019 season for 11 races. Smith will run mostly short track events due to age restrictions.^[7]
• On November 24, 2018, it was announced that Carson Hocevar and KBR Development will run the Sioux Chief Short Track Challenge in 2019.^[8]
• On November 30, 2018, it was announced that Natalie Decker will run a partial schedule with DGR-Crosley in 2019. She ran full-time for Venturini Motorsports in 2018.^[9]
• On December 6, 2018, Sam Mayer and GMS Racing announced a seven-race partnership.
• On January 10, 2019, it was announced that Harrison Burton will drive the Venturini Motorsports No. 20 Toyota for five races in 2019. Burton drove for MDM Motorsports in 2018.^[10]
• On January 11, 2019, Michael Self announced a full-season schedule with Venturini Motorsports in the organization's No. 25 entry. Self ran half the 2018 schedule with Venturini.^[11]
• Connor Okrzesik announced that he will make his ARCA debut in the race at Five Flags Speedway on March 9.^[12]
• On March 1, 2019, it was announced that Hailie Deegan signed a six-race deal to drive for Venturini Motorsports in the 2019 season.^[13]
• On March 22, 2019, Chad Bryant Racing announced that Ty Majeski would be in their No. 22 car for 5 races. Majeski ran a part-time season with Roush-Fenway Racing in the NASCAR Xfinity Series in 2018.^[14] Majeski would later add Talladega to his schedule.
• On March 26, 2019, Venturini Motorsports and Gavin Harlien confirmed a 3 race deal in the No. 55 entry.^[15]
• In April 2019, it was revealed that Tommy Vigh Jr. would run the full season with Fast Track Racing in the No. 10 car and run for Rookie of the Year after running a partial schedule with the team in 2018.^[16]

Crew chiefs

• On December 6, 2018, Joe Gibbs Racing announced that Mark McFarland had been hired as the crew chief of their ARCA team.^[17]
• On January 15, 2019, it was confirmed that former Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series crew chief Frank Kerr had signed with DGR-Crosley to become the crew chief for Natalie Decker in 2019.^[18]
• Matt Weber and Todd Myers both joined Chad Bryant Racing for 2019.
• On January 15, 2019, it was announced that Tony Furr, who served as crew chief of the StarCom Racing No. 00 team in the 2018 Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series, moved to Mullins Racing in the same capacity.^[19]

Schedule

The full schedule was released on November 21, 2018.^[20] The schedule remains largely unchanged from 2018. Although some tracks swapped dates throughout the season, the only track from 2018 to be excluded in 2019 was Berlin Raceway. In turn, the only track to be added to the schedule was Five Flags Speedway. For the first time in series history, every race was aired live.^[21] 12 races were broadcast on MAVTV, while 6 were covered by FS1 and the last 2 was covered by FS2.^{[22] [23] [24]}

No.	Race title	Track	Date	Time (EST)	Broadcaster
1	Lucas Oil 200	Daytona International Speedway, Daytona Beach	February 9	4:45 p.m.	FS1
2	Pensacola 200	Five Flags Speedway, Pensacola	March 9	7:00 p.m.	MAVTV
3	Kentuckiana Ford Dealers 200	Salem Speedway, Salem	April 14	2:15 p.m.
4	General Tire 200	Talladega Superspeedway, Talladega	April 26	6:00 p.m.	FS1
5	Music City 200	Fairgrounds Speedway, Nashville	May 5^†	2:00 p.m.	MAVTV
6	Sioux Chief PowerPEX 200	Toledo Speedway, Toledo	May 19
7	General Tire 150	Charlotte Motor Speedway, Concord	May 23	9:00 p.m.	FS1
8	General Tire #AnywhereIsPossible 200	Pocono Raceway, Long Pond	May 31	5:45 p.m.	FS2
9	VizCom 200	Michigan International Speedway, Brooklyn	June 7	6:00 p.m.	FS1
10	Shore Lunch 200	Madison International Speedway, Oregon	June 14	9:00 p.m.	MAVTV
11	Day to Day Coffee 150	World Wide Technology Raceway, Madison	June 22	6:00 p.m.
12	Bounty 150	Chicagoland Speedway, Joilet	June 27	8:00 p.m.	FS1
13	Menards 250	Elko Speedway, Elko	July 13	9:00 p.m.	MAVTV
14	Fans With Benefits 150	Iowa Speedway, Newton	July 19
15	FORTS USA 150	Pocono Raceway, Long Pond	July 26	4:00 p.m.	FS1
16	Allen Crowe 100	Illinois State Fairgrounds Racetrack, Springfield	August 18	2:30 p.m.	MAVTV
17	Southern Illinois 100	DuQuoin State Fairgrounds Racetrack, Du Quoin	August 31	9:00 p.m.
18	Kentuckiana Ford Dealers Fall Classic 200	Salem Speedway, Salem	September 14	7:15 p.m.
19	Herr's Potato Chips 200	Lucas Oil Raceway, Brownsburg	October 5	8:00 p.m.
20	Kansas ARCA 150	Kansas Speedway, Kansas City	October 18	8:30 p.m.
^†The Music City 200 Presented by Inspectra Thermal Solutions was postponed from May 4 to May 5 due to rain.

Results and standings

Races

No.	Race	Pole Position	Most laps led	Winning driver		No.	Winning team
1	Lucas Oil 200	Christian Eckes	Harrison Burton	Harrison Burton	Toyota	20
2	Pensacola 200	Chandler Smith	Raphaël Lessard	Michael Self	Toyota	25	Venturini Motorsports
3	Kentuckiana Ford Dealers 200	Carson Hocevar	Michael Self	Michael Self	Toyota	25	Venturini Motorsports
4	General Tire 200	Brandon Lynn	Sean Corr	Todd Gilliland	Toyota	4	DGR-Crosley
5	Music City 200	Chandler Smith	Christian Eckes	Christian Eckes	Toyota	15	Venturini Motorsports
6	Sioux Chief PowerPEX 200	Michael Self	Chandler Smith	Chandler Smith	Toyota	20	Venturini Motorsports
7	General Tire 150	Michael Self	Michael Self	Ty Majeski	Ford	22	Chad Bryant Racing
8		Harrison Burton	Riley Herbst	Ty Majeski	Ford	22	Chad Bryant Racing
9	VizCom 200	Michael Self	Michael Self	Michael Self	Toyota	25	Venturini Motorsports
10	Shore Lunch 200	Chandler Smith	Chandler Smith	Chandler Smith	Toyota	20	Venturini Motorsports
11	Day to Day Coffee 150	Michael Self	Michael Self	Ty Gibbs	Toyota	18	Joe Gibbs Racing
12	Bounty 150	Michael Self	Ty Majeski	Ty Majeski	Ford	22	Chad Bryant Racing
13	Menards 250	Christian Eckes	Chandler Smith	Chandler Smith	Toyota	20	Venturini Motorsports
14	Fans With Benefits 150	Chandler Smith	Chandler Smith	Chandler Smith	Toyota	20	Venturini Motorsports
15	FORTS USA 150	Todd Gilliland	Todd Gilliland	Christian Eckes	Toyota	15	Venturini Motorsports
16	Allen Crowe 100	Logan Seavey	Michael Self	Michael Self	Toyota	25	Venturini Motorsports
17	Southern Illinois 100	Ken Schrader	Christian Eckes	Christian Eckes	Toyota	15	Venturini Motorsports
18	Kentuckiana Ford Dealers Fall Classic 200	Ty Gibbs	Ty Gibbs	Ty Gibbs	Toyota	18	Joe Gibbs Racing
19	Herr's Potato Chips 200	Ty Gibbs	Ty Gibbs	Chandler Smith	Toyota	20	Venturini Motorsports
20	ARCA Kansas 150	Tanner Gray	Michael Self	Christian Eckes	Toyota	15	Venturini Motorsports

Drivers' championship

(key)

Bold – Pole position awarded by time. Italics – Pole position set by final practice results or rainout. * – Most laps led.

Pos	Driver	DAY	FFL	SLM	TAL	NSH	TOL	CLT	POC	MCH	MAD	GTW	CHI	ELK	IOW	POC	ISF	DSF	SLM	IRP	KAN	Points
1	Christian Eckes (R)	4	3	INQ^†	26	1	3	7	3	7	7	2	7	11	2	1	2	1	2	2	1	5045
2	Michael Self	31	1	1	5	15	4	5	11	1	2	13	4	4	3	3	1	4	14	6	2	5020
3	Bret Holmes	18	6	10	14	5	7	8	5	3	5	10	3	9	8	7	3	9	4	8	4	4880
4	Travis Braden	8	10	12	7	8	13	9	10	6	4	7	5	12	7	9	11	7	9	7	5	4780
5	Joe Graf Jr.	21	11	9	10	6	17	12	8	4	9	11	11	7	9	10	10	11	6	10	9	4610
6	Tommy Vigh Jr. (R)	23	13	11	24	12	9	15	17	17	11	19	17	15	19	17	19	13	17	12	17	3995
7	Brad Smith	19	16	19	16	20	Wth	23	15	13	15	15	16	19	17	16	16	16	18	19	20	3480
8	Tim Richmond (R)		14	14		13	11		14	15	14	18	12	16	16	15	13	12	15	17	17	3170
9	Dick Doheny		19	18		17	15	24	18	18	17	14		18	QL	18	12	19	20	18	21	2750
10	Corey Heim (R)		5	5		11	10				10	4		5	6	4	7	3	3	4		2615
11	Chandler Smith		4	4		3	1				1	16		1	1	8			8	1		2420
12	Carson Hocevar		17	3		4	6				6	5		6	4		8	15	7	9		2320
13	Ty Gibbs		2	6		2	2				8	1		2	5		15		1	15		2315
14	Sam Mayer		15	2			5				3	3		3					5	3		1650
15	Scott Melton	32			18			14	13	9			10		15				12	14	14	1645
16	Riley Herbst	10			2				2	12			6					6			16	1485
17	Mike Basham		20	17		16	16					20		17		19	18		13	13		1455
18	Eric Caudell	33				14					13	12	14	13	13		20			20	18	1450
19	Tanner Gray		12	7			8	6		5		17	15								6	1440
20	Ty Majeski				4			1	1	2			1								3	1375
21	Harrison Burton	1		8				4	6				2								12	1240
22	Bobby Gerhart	13			13				16							12	14	12		11		1155
23	Thad Moffitt	27			25	9		10				9	9			11						1110
24	Hailie Deegan						18		7		12			8						5	8	1090
25		26			6			3													10	705
26	Ed Pompa				21				12							13			11		15	635
27	Raphaël Lessard		8						4							5						615
28	Todd Gilliland	2			1											2						595
29	Kaden Honeycutt		9			7									14							560
30	Andy Seuss	9			8			11														550
31	Brandon McReynolds	25			19			20		14												530
32	Gavin Harlien											8			12				16			510
33	Con Nicolopoulos	22			22			22					18									500
34	Wayne Peterson											22					21	20			22	495
35	Morgen Baird			16						11			13									490
36	C. J. McLaughlin	24			11			Wth^†		10												490
37	Alex Clubb			15			12							20								455
38	Dale Shearer										18			14			17					445
39	Rick Clifton						14					21			14							445
40	Logan Seavey																4	2				440
41	Jason Miles							18					19		18							415
42	Kelly Kovski																6	5				410
43	Sheldon Creed							2													11	395
44	Drew Dollar											6									7	395
45	Austin Wayne Self												8			6						395
46	Connor Okrzesik		7			10																375
47	Sean Corr	5			15																	370
48	Ryan Unzicker																9	10				365
49															10				10			360
50	Willie Mullins	35						17								14						360
51	Will Kimmel																5	18				345
52	Codie Rohrbaugh	7						16														345
53	Bryan Dauzat				12			13														335
54	Howie DiSavino III													10						16		330
55	Connor Hall	11								16												325
56	Natalie Decker	6			23																	315
57	Grant Quinlan	3			9																	300
58	Darrell Basham			13																21		290
59	Benjamin Peterson																		21	DNS^‡		245
60	Brandon Lynn				3																	220
61	Ken Schrader																	8				200
62	Myatt Snider									8												190
63	Cole Glasson								9													185
64	Tyler Dippel	12																				170
65	Carson Ware																				13	165
66	Chuck Hiers	14																				160
67	Leilani Münter	15																				155
68	Dick Karth										16											150
69	Jason White	16																				150
70	Brian Finney																		17			145
71	Tyler Speer																	17				145
72	D. L. Wilson				17																	145
73	Derrick Lancaster	17																				145
74	Matt Dooley		18																			140
75	Barry Layne					18																140
76	Lexi Gay					19																135
77	Stefan Parsons												20									130
78	Thomas Praytor				20																	130
79	Dave Mader III	20																				130
80	Devin Dodson							21														125
81	J. J. Pack	28																				90
82	Brenden Queen (R)	29																				85
83	Paul Williamson	30																				80
84	John Ferrier	34																				60
85	Don Thompson															Wth^†						25
^† – Christian Eckes, C. J. McLaughlin, and Don Thompson all received 25 points for attempting practices. However, they didn't compete in the race; Eckes due to illness, and McLaughlin and Thompson due to crashing their primary cars and not having backups for the race. ^‡ – Benjamin Peterson received the points of a 22nd-place finish; however, he didn't start the race due to crashing his primary car in qualifying and not having a backup for the race.

See also

• 2019 Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series
• 2019 NASCAR Xfinity Series
• 2019 NASCAR Gander Outdoors Truck Series
• 2019 NASCAR K&N Pro Series East
• 2019 NASCAR K&N Pro Series West
• 2019 NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour
• 2019 NASCAR Pinty's Series
• 2019 NASCAR PEAK Mexico Series
• 2019 NASCAR Whelen Euro Series

External links

• Official website

Notes and References

1. Web site: Menards Becomes Title Sponsor of ARCA Series . Speed Sport . 9 February 2019.
2. Web site: Krall . Charles . On Point Motorsports Looks to Add ARCA to 2019 Racing Schedule . . 17 November 2018.
3. Web site: McFadin . Daniel . GMS Racing to field Sam Mayer in K&N, ARCA series . . 9 December 2018.
4. Web site: Weaver . Matt . KBR Development moves to ARCA with GMS Racing support . . 14 January 2019.
5. Web site: Wilson . Steven B. . Christian Eckes, Venturini Motorsports Together Again for Full ARCA Slate in 2019 . Speedway Digest . 25 October 2018.
6. Web site: Krall . Charles . Corey Heim Teams With Chad Bryant Racing for 2019 Sioux Chief Short Track Challenge Title . . 9 December 2018 . 9 December 2018 . https://web.archive.org/web/20181209124413/https://www.arcaracing.com/articles/2010638-corey-heim-teams-with-chad-bryant-racing-for-2019-sioux-chief-short-track-challenge-title . dead .
7. Web site: Krall . Charles . Chandler Smith Re-Signs for 11 Races with Venturini Motorsports in 2019 . . 2 November 2018.
8. Web site: Krall . Charles . Carson Hocevar and KBM Development Team Up for Sioux Chief Short Track Challenge Chase in 2019 . . 24 November 2018.
9. Web site: Krall . Chalres . Decker Teams With DGR-Crosley for Mixed Schedule in 2019 . . 30 November 2018.
10. Web site: Harrison Burton signs on for five-race ARCA deal with Venturini Motorsports . NASCAR . NASCAR Digital Media, LLC. . January 10, 2019 . January 10, 2019.
11. Web site: Weaver . Matt . Michael Self, Sinclair Oil to chase ARCA championship with Venturini Motorsports . . 14 January 2019.
12. Web site: Krall . Charles . Connor Okrzesik Wins ARCA/CRA SpeedFest in Cordele; ARCA Racing Series Debut Set for Five Flags . . 29 January 2019.
13. Web site: Hailie Deegan joins Venturini Motorsports for six ARCA Menards Series events . NASCAR . NASCAR Digital Media, LLC. . March 1, 2019 . March 2, 2019.
14. Web site: Krall . Charles . ARCA Midwest Tour Champion Ty Majeski to Make Five ARCA Menards Series Starts with Chad Bryant Racing . . March 22, 2019 . March 22, 2019 . https://web.archive.org/web/20190322181953/https://www.arcaracing.com/articles/2011691-arca-midwest-tour-champion-ty-majeski-to-make-five-arca-menards-series-starts-with-chad-bryant-racing . dead .
15. Web site: Off-Road Racing Star Gavin Harlien Set To Make Jump to ARCA Series with Venturini Motorsports . ThePitLane.org . March 26, 2019.
16. Web site: Soquet . William . ARCA: Oil pump issues sideline Brad Smith in historically short ARCA race . LASTCAR . 28 April 2019.
17. Web site: Joe Gibbs Racing sets crew chief lineup, Gabehart to lead No. 11 team . NASCAR.com . NASCAR Digital Media, LLC. . December 6, 2018 . December 7, 2018.
18. Web site: News and notes from the ARCA Racing Series presented by Menards test session at Daytona International Speedway . arcaracing.com . January 15, 2019.
19. Web site: Wayne Carroll to serve as Landon Cassill's crew chief, Tony Furr moves to ARCA team . Jerry . Bonkowski . . January 15, 2019 . January 16, 2019.
20. Web site: 2019 ARCA schedule released . RacingNews.co . 22 November 2018.
21. Weaver. Matt. Every ARCA race will air live on TV in 2019. Autoweek. January 29, 2019. January 29, 2019.
22. Web site: Radebaugh . Don . ARCA, MAVTV Announce Multi-Year Broadcast Agreement . . 26 October 2018.
23. Web site: Krall . Charles . ARCA Racing Series presented by Menards Schedule Released; 20 Races at 18 Tracks on Tap for 2019 . . 22 November 2018.
24. Web site: Krall . Charles . Fox Sports Announces 2019 ARCA Broadcast Dates . . 8 January 2019.