Not only is there a terrific championship battle for the ARCA Menards Series drivers championship, there is an even closer battle for the series’ owners title headed into the Shore Lunch 200 presented by CGS Imaging this Saturday at Toledo Speedway.
Nick Sanchez has a two-point cushion over Daniel Dye headed into the season finale on Saturday, meaning Dye needs to either win or finish three positions ahead of Sanchez to steal away the title.
It’s even closer on the owner’s side of things. The Kyle Busch Motorsports No. 18 team leads the standings by just one point over the Venturini Motorsports No. 20 team headed into the Shore Lunch 200 presented by CGS Imaging.
Team owner Kyle Busch, himself a five-time winner in ARCA Menards Series competition, has scored five wins as an owner in 2022 with Sammy Smith at the wheel, including the last two races at Bristol Motor Speedway and Salem Speedway to take over the top spot. Smith is the reigning two-time ARCA Menards Series East champion.
Billy Venturini, the 2019 ARCA Menards Series champion owner, looks to score his second owner’s title with the No. 20 team. Corey Heim has scored a pair of wins at Daytona International Speedway and the September race at Kansas Speedway. Jesse Love, two-time ARCA Menards Series West champion, has also scored a win at the Illinois State Fairgrounds.
If either driver wins, their team owner will win the owner’s title. Love will need to finish two positions ahead of Smith to give the No. 20 the championship. If Smith earns a bonus point for winning the pole, leading a lap, or leading the most laps, that will give him an extra position as a buffer.
If Love earns bonus points, it eliminates those positions and could potentially mean he could finish behind Smith by a position and still win the title.
If they both earn the same number of bonus points, it effectively cancels each other out and it remains a two-position buffer for Smith. Love needs to finish two positions ahead to win because the No. 18 team holds the tie breaker, which per the ARCA Menards Series rule book would fall to whichever team had the most wins. The No. 18 has the advantage, five to three.
The Shore Lunch 200 presented by CGS Imaging is set for 4 pm ET on Saturday. Advance discount tickets are available at all Northwest Ohio/Southeast Michigan Menards locations through the end of business on Friday for just $20, a savings of $10 per adult general admission ticket.
The complete event schedule can be found here.
Please follow @ARCA_racing on Twitter for up to the minute information and updates. Please visit ARCARacing.com for complete event information including live timing & scoring. The race will be televised live on MAVTV.
ARCA PR
