Berlin Raceway is a unique short track. Not only does it have a 7/16-mile (0.4375 miles) layout, it has no backstretch wall. For the 20 ARCA Menards Series drivers competing in Saturday’s (June 29) race, it is a very different venue.
Yet the frontrunners will likely remain the same. William Sawalich enters as the reigning victor at Berlin as well as the series’ most recent winner, earning the win at Mid-Ohio Sports Car Course.
Sawalich’s No. 18 team has won the last two ARCA races at Berlin and Toyota has won three of the last five trips there.
Venturini Motorsports last won at Berlin in 2016, but the team’s newest drivers to the fold will both contend for the win.
Reigning ARCA Menards Series West champion Sean Hingorani rejoins the organization after running the West circuit for various teams to start his 2024 season. Hingorani started and finished third in the ’23 Berlin race, and while he was not as quick as Sawalich or runner-up Jesse Love, with Shannon Rursch atop the pit box, Hingorani will make the No. 18 team work hard to win its third straight at Berlin.
“So far my season in the ARCA series hasn’t played out the way I expected – not running as many races as I hoped,” Hinograni said in a press release. “I’m ready to get back in the seat. I’m excited about this opportunity and being back with Venturini this weekend at Berlin. We ran really strong there last season; It’s a great track, really unique layout. I was in the hunt all-night and finished third. I’m confident my guys will unload us a winning car.”
Debutant Gavan Boschele pilots the No. 55 Toyota, which is third in the owner standings, 21 behind the No. 20.
Boschele competed in the prestigious Berlin super late model Money in the Bank 150 race en route to a fourth-place result. Will that extra experience aid him in his quest to go to victory lane? It certainly cannot hurt.
Incredibly, due to the 20-car field, which sadly is the most entered at Berlin since 2018, VMS has 25% of the starting field.
As such, half the field will earn a top 10. Could Ryan Roulette earn his first national tour top 10 in the Fast Track Racing No. 12? It would be a special moment for Roulette, who will make his 10th career start.
“We are excited, to say the least,” Roulette told TobyChristie.com. “Unique to Berlin is the support of VFW District 8 in Michigan. They support a local grassroots driver, Ryleigh Davis, who is a 16-year-old racing in SLM at Berlin Raceway. She, like my 7-year-old son, grew up racing quarter midgets and eventually transitioned to limited late models. She will be competing that night before we hit the track in ARCA in her SLM. I have been in contact with her father, and I look forward to supporting their race weekend.”
Although only 20 drivers are entered, if you want to win, you better qualify up front. Only once in the 23 ARCA races at Berlin has the winner started outside the top 10, and only four times has the winner started outside the top five.
ARCA teams will have a 45-minute practice session followed by single-car qualifying. The 200-lap race will have two race breaks, at laps 75 and 125, and there ought to be plenty of green-flag racing. The last three races there have averaged about three cautions, including the two race breaks, so if a driver does not have a fast car when the green flag flies, it could make for a long night.
FloRacing will air the race live on Saturday beginning at 8 p.m. ET.
About the author
Mark Kristl joined Frontstretch at the beginning of the 2019 NASCAR season. He is the site's ARCA Menards Series editor. Kristl is also an Eagle Scout and a proud University of Dayton alum.
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