The ARCA Menards platform is set for its busiest weekend of 2021, with three races across two series scheduled over the span of three days.
The ARCA Menards Series will complete a weekend doubleheader starting with Friday evening’s Henry Ford Health System 200 at Michigan International Speedway. The series and its competitors will then travel Saturday ahead of Sunday’s Allen Crowe 100 on the Springfield Mile at the Illinois State Fairgrounds, the first of two dirt-track races on the schedule.
Meanwhile, the ARCA Menards Series West on Saturday will contest its fifth race of the season, the NAPA Auto Parts 150 presented by Sunrise Ford at Irwindale Speedway outside of Los Angeles. The event marks the series’ second race this season at Irwindale, where defending champion Jesse Love won last month.
Both ARCA Menards Series races are scheduled to broadcast live on MAVTV Motorsports Network with live streams available on NBC Sports Gold’s TrackPass. Friday’s race at Michigan will start at 6 p.m. ET, and Sunday’s race at the Springfield Mile will start at 1:30 p.m. CT / 2:30 p.m. ET.
Saturday’s West Series race at Irwindale will be shown live on TrackPass starting at 7 p.m. PT / 10 p.m. ET. A replay of the race will broadcast on NBCSN on Sunday, Aug. 29, starting at 4:30 p.m. ET.
Below are more details on each of the three ARCA Menards races scheduled for this weekend.
Henry Ford Health System 200 at Michigan International Speedway
WHAT TO WATCH FOR:
The ARCA Menards Series visits a wide variety of track configurations, but its annual visit to Brooklyn, Michigan, delivers its only race on a two-mile paved oval.
Perhaps more so than any other race on the 2021 schedule, Friday’s Henry Ford Health System 200 will make pure speed the priority for teams in the field.
Riley Herbst won last year’s ARCA Menards Series race at Michigan driving for Joe Gibbs Racing, which is a good sign for current JGR driver and championship points leader Ty Gibbs.
Gibbs has not yet competed on a two-mile oval like Michigan, but as the 18-year-old has proven this year, inexperience is not much of a factor as it relates to his ability to win in the ARCA Menards Series.
Gibbs’ challenger in the title race, Corey Heim, also has no experience at Michigan. The two have combined to win 12 of the 13 ARCA Menards Series races contested thus far this season; Gibbs has seven victories to Heim’s five.
Friday’s Henry Ford Health System 200 is the first round in a weekend tripleheader for the track. The New Holland 250 for the NASCAR Xfinity Series is scheduled for Saturday, and the FireKeepers Casino 400 for the NASCAR Cup Series is scheduled for Sunday.
The entry list for Friday’s ARCA Menards Series race at Michigan will be released Tuesday.
NAPA Auto Parts 150 presented by Sunrise Ford at Irwindale Speedway
WHAT TO WATCH FOR:
About a month and a half after the ARCA Menards Series West competed at Irwindale Speedway, a half-mile oval nestled in the heart of the San Gabriel Valley, the series is back.
And Love will be attempting to do what Todd Gilliland pulled off in the West Series from 2016-2017: win three consecutive races at the track.
If the Bill McAnally Racing driver were to win his second race of the 2021 season Saturday, he would join Gilliland, Jason Bowles (2008-2009) and Brendan Gaughan (2001) as drivers who won three straight West Series events at Irwindale.
Love enters Saturday’s race at Irwindale as the West Series points leader through four of nine races; he holds just a two-point advantage over his BMR teammate, Cole Moore.
With Todd Souza, Dean Thompson and Jake Drew rounding out the top five in the standings and all within nine points of Love, the Irwindale race could be pivotal in the seasonlong title chase.
The entry list for Saturday’s NAPA Auto Parts 150 presented by Sunrise Ford at Irwindale will be released Tuesday.
Allen Crowe 100 on the Springfield Mile at the Illinois State Fairgrounds
WHAT TO WATCH FOR:
Regardless of what happens Friday at Michigan, the ARCA Menards Series title race is guaranteed to get dirty Sunday at the Springfield Mile.
The first of two dirt-track races this season is a staple on the ARCA schedule, and such a tough race has a reputation for its unpredictability. The Allen Crowe 100 has produced 12 different winners over the last 12 years. Frank Kimmel’s victory in 2012 marked the last time Springfield saw a repeat ARCA winner.
Last year, dirt track ringer Ryan Unzicker dominated at Springfield, and the 40-year-old from nearby El Paso, Illinois, plans to race in the 2021 event, as well.
Both Gibbs and Heim will be looking to improve upon their disappointing runs in last year’s dirt race at the Springfield Mile. Heim was knocked out of contention by an accident with three laps to go before finishing eighth, and Gibbs finished 10th after getting caught up in a wreck on the first lap.
Gibbs finished 15th in the 2019 race at Springfield, the only other time he has raced on dirt in the ARCA Menards Series.
Including the 2019 event at the DuQuoin State Fairgrounds, the other dirt track on the 2021 schedule, Heim has a top five and three top-10 finishes on dirt tracks in the ARCA Menards Series. He finished third at DuQuoin and seventh and eighth at Springfield in 2019 and 2020, respectively.
The entry list for Sunday’s Allen Crowe 100 at the Springfield Mile will be released Tuesday.
