The Henry Ford Health System 200 will be the eleventh race of 20 on the 2023 schedule for the ARCA Menards Series. It’s the 42nd time the ARCA Menards Series will race at Michigan International Speedway.
· Jesse Love enters the Henry Ford Health System 200 with a 69-point lead in the ARCA Menards Series championship standings over runner-up Andres Perez. Hollywood superstar-turned-racer Frankie Muniz is third in the standings, five points behind Perez.
· Love has been dominant over the course of the first half of the ARCA Menards Series season with five wins at Talladega Superspeedway, Kansas Speedway, Charlotte Motor Speedway, Elko Speedway, and Pocono Raceway.
· Perez enters the Henry Ford Health System 200 fresh off a career-best third-place finish in the most recent series race at Pocono Raceway. He comes to Michigan where his team, Rev Racing, won last year with reigning series champion Nick Sanchez driving.
· Joe Ruttman won the first ARCA Menards Series race at Michigan International Speedway in 1980, one of three career series wins. He also won at Daytona International Speedway in 1982 and at the series’ home track, nearby Flat Rock Speedway, in 1995.
· Other winners at Michigan International Speedway include Billie Harvey (1980), Tracy Leslie (1990), Dave Mader III (1991), Stanley Smith (1991), Bob Keselowski (1992), Jeff Purvis (1993, 1994, 1995), Ron Barfield, Jr. (1996), Tim Steele (1996, 1997, 2000), Mark Thompson (1997), Frank Kimmel (1998, 2005), David Keith (1999), Kerry Earnhardt (2001), Blaise Alexander (2001), Chad Blount (2002), Casey Mears (2003), Reed Sorenson (2004), Steven Wallace (2005), David Stremme (2006), Brent Sherman (2006), Erik Darnell (2007), Justin Lofton (2008), Parker Kligerman (2009), Mikey Kile (2010), Ty Dillon (2011), Chris Buescher (2012), Brennan Poole (2013), Austin Theriault (2014), Ross Kenseth (2015), Brandon Jones (2016, 2017), Sheldon Creed (2018), Michael Self (2019), Riley Herbst (2020), Ty Gibbs (2021), and Nick Sanchez (2022).
· First-time ARCA Menards Series winners at Michigan International Speedway include Joe Ruttman, Dave Mader III, Stanley Smith, Ron Barfield, Jr., David Keith, Chad Blount, Casey Mears, Steven Wallace, David Stremme, Brent Sherman, Justin Lofton, Mikey Kyle, Austin Theriault, Ross Kenseth, and Sheldon Creed.
· Michael Self holds both the track qualifying and race records, both set in 2019; the qualifying track record is 37.296 seconds/193.050 miles per hour, while the race record is 1 hour, 12 minutes, 34 seconds/165.365 miles per hour. That is the third-fastest race average speed in ARCA Menards Series modern era history, behind only Grand Adcox’s 1986 win at Talladega (173.947) miles per hour and Drew Dollar’s 2020 win at Talladega (169.962 miles per hour).
· The record for the most lead changes in an ARCA Menards Series race at Michigan International Speedway is 13, set in 2005 in a race won by Frank Kimmel. Last year’s race, won by Nick Sanchez, featured 11 lead changes.
· The record for the most cautions in a single ARCA Menards Series race at Michigan International Speedway is nine, for a record 49 laps, set in 2009 in a race won by Parker Kligerman. The record for the fewest cautions is one, for a record low seven laps, was set in 2019 in a race won by Michael Self. Last year’s race was slowed by caution three times for 24 laps.
· Should the race need to be extended into overtime, there will be unlimited attempts at a two-lap “green-white-checkered” finish. Should the caution flag be displayed after the white flag is displayed, there will be unlimited attempts at a one-lap “green and white together” finish.
ARCA PR
