Welcome Back: AM Racing returns to the ARCA Menards Series full-time in 2024 with sophomore Automobile Racing Club of America (ARCA) driver Christian Rose behind the wheel of the team’s No. 32 Ford Mustang, continuing with Friday night’s Reese’s 150 at Kansas Speedway.
The 2024 ARCA Menards Series season will mark the first time that AM Racing has competed back-to-back full-time in the NASCAR-owned development series since three-time ARCA Menards Series winner Gus Dean drove for the organization during the 2017 – 2018 seasons, respectively.
Meet Christian Rose: Rose, a former Division 1 baseball player for the University of Maryland Eastern Shore has traded the glove and bat in for a steering wheel and helmet and has set achievable goals for his second full season of stock car competition aboard the team’s flagship No. 32 Ford Mustang.
Rose returns to the Statesville, N.C.-based team on the heels of his inaugural rookie ARCA schedule in 2023, which was highlighted by two top-five, 13 top-10 finishes, and the most laps completed by any ARCA driver last season at 2,550 of 2,624 laps or 97.2% throughout the 20-race season.
His strength of two top-five and five top-10 finishes in the final five races of the season vaulted Rose to third overall in the championship standings behind series champion Jesse Love and Andrés Pérez de Lara.
The 29-year-old also made two starts in the NASCAR CRAFTSMAN Truck Series, respectively, with starts at Richmond (Va.) Raceway and the season-finale at Phoenix (Ariz.) Raceway.
He’s Back Too!: To help steer Christian Rose and the AM Racing team towards a championship in 2024, Ryan “Pickle” London will return to serve as crew chief of the No. 32 Ford Mustang this season.
London, a long-time NASCAR CRAFTSMAN Truck Series crew chief, returned to AM Racing in early 2023 after spending the 2020 season as the truck chief with the team’s Truck Series program.
London has plenty of experience as a leader in the ARCA Menards Series, including guiding drivers Tom Hessert and Frank Kimmel to poles and leading Grant Enfinger to victories at Berlin (Mich.) Raceway and DuQuoin (Ill.) State Fairgrounds in 2014.
In addition to the two wins as crew chief, the winning NASCAR CRAFTSMAN Truck Series crew chief has numerous ARCA top-fives and top-10 efforts to his credit.
Partner Support: The Department of West Virginia Tourism will serve as the primary marketing partner on Rose’s No. 32 Ford Mustang in the penultimate ARCA Menards Series race of the season at Kansas Speedway.
The Department of West Virginia Tourism promotes West Virginia as a leading four-season travel destination and a top state to live, work and retire.
Known as the Mountain State, West Virginia is one of the most scenic states in the United States and home to thousands of acres of parks and public lands, including America’s newest national park and 45 state parks and forests.
In addition to its majestic mountains and rolling hills, West Virginia is full of rich historic sites, enchanting art galleries, charming towns and an immense sense of belonging found only in its heaven-like landscapes.
For the final two ARCA Menards Series races of the season, the AM Racing team will throwback to the Department of West Virginia Tourism summer paint scheme from the 2023 ARCA season.
Squeaky Blue Clean: In March, AM Racing and Christian Rose proudly announced the addition of Blue Wolf as a partner to the team’s ARCA Menards Series platform for the remaining two races in 2024.
Originally created by a West Virginia coal miner and a chemist to clean and degrease mining equipment, Blue Wolf quickly became trusted as a proven product for getting the job done.
As miners began taking the product home, they soon discovered that Blue Wolf worked great on everything from removing grease and coal dust from carpets and work clothes to pressure washing houses.
Today, Blue Wolf offers a full line of cleaners and degreasers for household, automotive, and industrial use.
Blue Wolf will serve in an associate role for Friday’s race.
Christian Rose ARCA Kansas Speedway Stats: Friday’s Reese’s 150 at Kansas Speedway will mark Rose’s fifth ARCA start at the 1.5-mile speedway in Kansas City, Kansas.
In his previous four efforts, Rose has delivered a track-best of sixth during last fall’s Sioux Chief Fast Track 150 after starting ninth.
Overall, Rose has delivered three top-10s and four top-15 runs, carrying an average finish of ninth.
In 14 career ARCA speedway starts Rose carries an average start of 12.9 and a finish of 14.9.
Christian Rose Career ARCA National Series Stats: In 46 career ARCA National Series starts, Rose has earned five top-five and 23 top-10 finishes highlighted by a career-best third-place finish achieved at Salem (Ind.) Speedway in September 2023.
Additionally, Rose has showcased 34 top-20 finishes overall since 2022.
Since 2022, he has maintained an average finishing position of 12.6.
To The Point(s): Entering Kansas, Rose is fifth in the ARCA Menards Series championship standings, 44 markers behind ARCA Menards Series driver Kris Wright for third, with two races remaining.
Just two markers separate Rose from the fourth in the championship standings, being currently occupied by Toni Breidinger.
Rose stands 120 points in the arrears to championship leader Andrés Pérez de Lara.
AM Racing stands a respectable eighth in the ARCA Menards Series championship owner standings.
Thanks For Your Support: With 90 percent of the 2024 ARCA Menards Series season complete, AM Racing and Christian Rose would like to thank their associate marketing partners for their support: AirBox Air Purifier, Blue Wolf Cleaners, Flying Circle, Mobil 1 and Whitetail Smokeless.
Bristol (Tenn.) Motor Speedway | Bush’s Beans 200 Race Recap: In the 18th ARCA Menards Series race of the season, Rose returned to Bristol (Tenn.) Motor Speedway looking for a thunderous performance in “Thunder Valley.”
In a one-race partnership with WVU Medicine Children’s, Rose turned extremely fast laps in practice and in the early stages of on-track qualifying before landing 12th on the starting grid.
From the drop of the green flag, Rose contended for a top-10 finish in his No. 32 WVU Medicine Children’s Ford Mustang, but in the second half of the race, Rose suffered hardship after being involved in a late-race accident and suffering a mechanical gremlin in the closing laps.
Fortunately, despite the woes, Rose was able to deliver a 20th-place finish at the checkered flag.
Follow on Social Media: For more on AM Racing, please visit AMRacingteam.com, like their Facebook page (AM Racing), or follow them on Instagram and X | Twitter @AMRacingNASCAR.
For more on Christian Rose, please like him on Facebook (Christian Rose Racing), or follow him on Instagram (@christianroseracing) and X | Twitter (@CRoseRacing).
Christian Rose Quoteboard:
On Kansas Speedway: “Kansas Speedway is one of my favorite race tracks and I’m looking forward to this weekend and an opportunity to redeem ourselves from the spring and stop this recent trend of finishing outside the top-10.
“I’ve been fortunate enough since racing with AM Racing that I’ve had fast race cars and I believe I will have a fast race car again on Friday, I just need to go there and do my job and hope we’ll be able to contend for a top-five finish on Friday night with our No. 32 Department of West Virginia Tourism Ford Mustang.”
The Reese’s 150 (100 laps | 150 miles) is the 19th of 20 races on the 2024 ARCA Menards Series schedule. Practice begins Friday, September 27 from 12:10 p.m. to 12:55 p.m. General Tire pole qualifying follows beginning at 1:10 p.m. The race is set to take the green flag later that afternoon shortly after 4:30 p.m. CT (5:30 p.m. ET). The event will be televised live on FOX Sports 1 (FS1) with the Motor Racing Network (MRN) and SiriusXM Satellite Radio (XM channel 391 | online channel 981) handling the radio waves. ARCARacing.com will also stream live timing and scoring throughout the entire day’s festivities.
AM Racing PR
