2026 ARCA Menards Series East

The 2026 ARCA Menards Series East will be the 40th season of the ARCA Menards Series East, a regional stock car racing series sanctioned by NASCAR in the United States. The season will begin on March 28 at Hickory Motor Speedway and will end on September 17 with the Bush's Beans 200 at Bristol Motor Speedway.

Isaac Kitzmiller entered as the defending champion.[1]

Teams and drivers

Complete schedule

Manufacturer Team No. Driver Crew chief Ref
Chevrolet ACR Motorsports[N 1] 79 Isaac Kitzmiller Doug Howe [2]
Maples Motorsports 99 Michael Maples Chris Vanscoy [2][3]
Pinnacle Racing Group 28 Derek Kneeland 1 Steven Dawson [4]
Carson Brown (R) 7 [5]
77 Tristan McKee (R) Kevin Reed Jr. [5]
Ford City Garage Motorsports 5 Logan Misuraca (R) TBA
85 Quinn Davis (R) TBA [6][7][8][9]
Maples Motorsports[N 2] 19 Austin Vaughn TBA [10]
Toyota Joe Gibbs Racing 18 Max Reaves (R) Matt Ross [2]
TBA Brad Smith Motorsports 48 Brad Smith TBA [11]
TBA Fast Track Racing TBA Craig Pellegrini Jr. (R) TBA [12]

All other teams that ran full-time in the ARCA Menards Series East in 2025 have yet to announce their 2026 plans.

Limited schedule

Manufacturer Team No. Driver Crew chief Races Ref
Chevrolet CR7 Motorsports 97 Landon S. Huffman Frank Kimmel 2 [13]
Jason Kitzmiller 4 [2]
Rise Racing with
Earnhardt-Shearer Racing
89 Bobby Dale Earnhardt TBA 4 [14][15]
Ford Clubb Racing Inc. 03 Alex Clubb TBA 4 [16]
86 Brian Clubb TBA 1
Direct Driver Development 50 Ryan Pawloski TBA 2
Kimmel Racing 69 Landon Brown TBA 1
MBM Motorsports 66 Dystany Spurlock TBA 1 [17][18][19]
Rette Jones Racing 0 George Siciliano TBA 1 [20][21]
SPS Racing 24 Tyler Reif TBA 1 [22][23]
Toyota Fast Track Racing 12 Takuma Koga TBA 4 [24]
Intergrity Autosports 13 Brian Weber TBA 2 [25]
MAN Motorsports TBA Jackson McLerran TBA TBA [26]
Nitro Motorsports 15 TBA TBA 4 [27]
20 Jake Bollman Doug George 4 [2][28]
25 Gavan Boschele Shane Wilson 4 [2][28]
55 Isabella Robusto Glenn Parker 4 [29][28]
70 Nick Tucker Shannon Rursch 1 [30]
Thomas Annunziata 4 [31][32][33]
TBA Gavan Boschele TBA 1 [28]
TBA Wesley Slimp TBA 1 [28]
Tim Richmond Racing 27 Tim Richmond Adam Murphy 2 [34]
TBA Maples Motorsports 1 Tony Cosentino TBA 4 [35]
TBA TBA TBA Brayton Laster TBA 1 [36]

Notes

  1. ^ Entries are fielded in a collaboration with CR7 Motorsports.
  2. ^ Entries are fielded in a collaboration with VWV Racing.

Schedule

The full schedule was announced on December 9, 2025.[37] Some race dates were announced before then as part of the announcement of the main ARCA Series schedule on October 4.[38]

Note: Races highlighted in gold are combination events with the ARCA Menards Series.

No Race title Track Location Date
1 Hickory 200 Hickory Motor Speedway Hickory, North Carolina March 28
2 Rockingham ARCA 125 Rockingham Speedway Rockingham, North Carolina April 4
3 Music City 150 Nashville Fairgrounds Speedway Nashville, Tennessee May 2
4 Owens Corning 200 Toledo Speedway Toledo, Ohio May 16
5 LiUNA! 150 Lucas Oil Indianapolis Raceway Park Brownsburg, Indiana July 24
6 Dutch Boy 150 Flat Rock Speedway Ash Township, Michigan August 1
7 Atlas 150 Iowa Speedway Newton, Iowa August 7
8 Bush's Beans 200 Bristol Motor Speedway Bristol, Tennessee September 17

Schedule changes

See also

References

  1. ^ "Isaac Kitzmiller's clean, methodical rookie season translates to an East Series championship". ARCA Racing.com. September 11, 2025. Retrieved September 11, 2025.
  2. ^ a b c d e f "What We Know About the 2026 ARCA Silly Season". Frontstretch. September 26, 2025. Retrieved October 5, 2025.
  3. ^ "Michael Maples Running Full-Time ARCA East". Frontstretch. March 11, 2025. Retrieved March 11, 2026.
  4. ^ "Derek Kneeland Running Hickory for Pinnacle". Frontstretch. March 3, 2026. Retrieved March 3, 2026.
  5. ^ a b "PRG Reveals Lineups for ARCA, East Schedules". Frontstretch. December 17, 2025. Retrieved December 17, 2025.
  6. ^ "City Garage Motorsports names Becca Monopoli, Quinn Davis as drivers for 2026 East Series season". ARCA Racing. September 19, 2025.
  7. ^ "Becca Monopoli, Quinn Davis Contesting Full ARCA East Season for CGM". Frontstretch. September 19, 2025. Retrieved September 19, 2025.
  8. ^ "Logan Misuraca joins City Garage Motorsports for ARCA opener at Daytona". ARCA Racing. December 8, 2025.
  9. ^ Release, Press (March 5, 2026). "Quinn Davis to Drive No. 85 Orlando Health Ford in 2026 ARCA Menards Series East Season". catchfence.com.
  10. ^ "Austin Vaughn joins Maples Motorsports for full ARCA Menards Series East schedule". ARCA Racing. February 19, 2026.
  11. ^ "ARCA 2026 Schedule". Brad Smith Motorsports. Retrieved January 27, 2026.
  12. ^ "Fast Track Racing adds Craig Pellegrini Jr. for full ARCA Menards Series East schedule". ARCA Racing. February 11, 2026.
  13. ^ "Landon S. Huffman Running 4 ARCA Races for CR7". Frontstretch. March 12, 2025. Retrieved March 12, 2026.
  14. ^ "Bobby Dale Earnhardt Running Full ARCA Season With Rise". Frontstretch. November 19, 2025. Retrieved November 19, 2025.
  15. ^ "Bobby Earnhardt and Rise Motorsports unite for 2026 ARCA Menards Series campaign". ARCA Racing. November 19, 2025.
  16. ^ "Jeff Maconi returns to Clubb Racing Inc. for 15 ARCA events". ARCA Racing. January 30, 2026.
  17. ^ Release, Press (February 3, 2026). "Motorcycle Drag Racer Dystany Spurlock Aims for Historic NASCAR-Owned ARCA Menards Series Bid". catchfence.com.
  18. ^ "Dystany Spurlock set for her historic East Series debut at Hickory". ARCA Racing. March 19, 2026.
  19. ^ "Dystany Spurlock Debuting in ARCA East at Hickory". Frontstretch. March 19, 2025. Retrieved March 19, 2026.
  20. ^ "Cleetus McFarland friend, Squirrel McNutt, to make NASCAR debut at Hickory". On3.com. March 9, 2026.
  21. ^ "Cleetus McFarland's YouTube Partner Squirrel McNutt Set for NASCAR Debut". The Daily Downforce. March 9, 2026.
  22. ^ Kristl, Mark (October 9, 2025). "Tyler Reif Leaving SPS After 2025". Frontstretch. Retrieved October 9, 2025.
  23. ^ Rutherford, Kevin (November 24, 2025). "Sigma Acquires AM, Will Field O'Reilly, ARCA Teams". Frontstretch. Retrieved November 24, 2025.
  24. ^ Kristl, Mark (December 10, 2025). "Takuma Koga Running ARCA Full Time with Fast Track". Frontstretch. Retrieved December 10, 2025.
  25. ^ "Crypto Black Gold to support Integrity Autosports and Brian Weber in opening races of East Series season". ARCA Racing. March 5, 2026.
  26. ^ "Jackson McLerran returns to MAN Motorsports for limited ARCA schedule". ARCA Racing. March 9, 2026.
  27. ^ "Leland Honeyman Lowers ARCA Slate to Part-Time Status". Frontstretch. January 26, 2026. Retrieved January 26, 2026.
  28. ^ a b c d e "Nick Tucker Expects Nitro to Win Races, Championships in 2026". Frontstretch. January 28, 2026. Retrieved January 28, 2026.
  29. ^ "Isabella Robusto joins Nitro Motorsports for sophomore ARCA Menards Series season". ARCA Racing. December 10, 2025.
  30. ^ "After knocking off some rust, Nitro Motorsports owner Nick Tucker is ready to run the East Series race at Hickory 'just for fun'". ARCA Racing. March 10, 2026.
  31. ^ "Thomas Annunziata Running ARCA Full Time for Nitro". Frontstretch. November 1, 2025. Retrieved November 1, 2025.
  32. ^ "Thomas Annunziata to chase ARCA Menards Series title with Nitro Motorsports". ARCA Racing. December 22, 2025.
  33. ^ "10 Drivers to Watch for in the ARCA Daytona Test". Frontstretch. January 7, 2026. Retrieved January 8, 2026.
  34. ^ "Tim Richmond Running Up to 4 ARCA Races". Frontstretch. February 13, 2026. Retrieved February 13, 2026.
  35. ^ "Tony Cosentino Running ARCA Full Time for Maples". Frontstretch. January 12, 2025. Retrieved January 12, 2026.
  36. ^ "Brayton Laster announces partial ARCA Menards Series schedule in 2026". ARCA Racing. March 4, 2026.
  37. ^ "2026 ARCA Menards Series East schedule announced". ARCARacing.com. December 9, 2025. Retrieved December 9, 2025.
  38. ^ "ARCA Menards Series schedule for 2026 announced". ARCARacing.com. October 4, 2025. Retrieved October 4, 2025.
  39. ^ "Hickory Motor Speedway to welcome ARCA Menards Series East for first time on March 28, 2026". ARCARacing.com. December 9, 2025. Retrieved December 9, 2025.