The 2024 ARCA Menards Series season is half over. At Lucas Oil Indianapolis Raceway Park, in a combination race with the ARCA Menards Series East, it was East points leader Connor Zilisch who led a race-high 89 laps and withstood an overtime restart to claim his third national triumph of the year.
For the first time all year, the national tour series regulars put up a good fight against the East regulars. The Rev Racing duo of Andres Perez and Lavar Scott finished second and fourth with leading 44 laps.
With their 1-2 finish, Zilisch and Perez extended their points leads in the East and national tour.
As a result, the Frontstretch power rankings shook up this week.
1. Connor Zilisch
By virtue of his starts in the national/East combo races, Zilisch has made 10 starts in the ARCA platform. Here are his stats: seven wins, 10 top fives, 10 top 10s and 650 laps led.
That’s not just good, that’s outstanding!
Oh yeah, he’s 3-for-3 in his main series starts this year.
For the cherry on top, he turned 18 on July 22. In addition to scoring a win at IRP on his birthday weekend, Zilisch is eligible to compete at all racetracks on the NASCAR and ARCA circuits. His next ARCA start will be his first at an ARCA big track, Michigan International Speedway. Don’t bet against him then either.
2. Andres Perez
Perez finished second for the third time in his career. Furthermore, he extended his points lead by continuing to be a model of consistency. Back-to-back top fives and nine straight top 10s have grown his lead to 46, almost a full race worth of points.
Perez’s consistency exists all race day too. In 2024, he has one start outside the top 10, 13th at Daytona International Speedway, and one pole at Charlotte Motor Speedway. The FOX Sports announcers predicted it’s only a matter of time before Perez earns his first career win.
How about at Salem Speedway? He started fifth and finished second there in 2023 behind championship winner Jesse Love. Venturini Motorsports has not been as fast in 2024, Corey Day is debuting for Pinnacle Racing Group and Perez does not need to worry about points there. He will be one to watch.
3. William Sawalich
William Sawalich fought valiantly for the win at IRP, but after leading 72 laps, he failed to overtake Zilisch in overtime and lost second to Perez, winding up third.
With two races left in the East season, Sawalich trails by 22 points. He won last year at the Milwaukee Mile and Bristol Motor Speedway. Still, he must hope Zilisch struggles or else pointing his way to back-to-back East titles will be daunting.
On the national series side, Joe Gibbs Racing unofficially owns a six-point lead over VMS’ No. 20. Venturini vs. JGR in ARCA; haven’t we seen this before? If Sawalich continues scoring poles, leading laps and contending for wins, we could see a repeat of 2022: a Rev driver winning the drivers championship and the No. 18 team winning the owners championship.
4. Lavar Scott
Amazingly Scott now leads series regulars with laps led with 44. His recent surge of four top 10s in the past five races, including back-to-back top fives, has him one point behind second-place Greg Van Alst.
Scott has found his forte at short tracks. In six ARCA short track races, he has four top fives and five top 10s. Of the series racetrack varieties, he has his best average finishing position on short tracks.
If Berlin and IRP were any indication of Scott becoming a regular contender at short tracks, he ought to be licking his chops for the next two races at Salem and Elko Speedway.
5. Greg Van Alst
Van Alst Motorsports was the biggest beneficiary of the lucky dog at IRP. Van Alst himself received it twice en route to a lead-lap eighth-place result. Isaac Johnson drove the No. 34 to a 10th-place finish after receiving the lucky dog twice as well. Van Alst is having his career-best year in terms of average finishing position, but his top-10 percentage is about the same as his 2022 season [50% compared to 55%].
Yet a better indicator of how the No. 35 is performing is looking at the owner’s standings. It’s fifth in the standings, one spot ahead of Scott’s No. 6. Keep in mind Van Alst Motorsports does not have a big-dollar sponsor, no manufacturer support and the team runs out of Van Alst’s shop in his home of Anderson, Ind. The team is beating Chevrolet-backed Rev, three Venturini entries and full-time NASCAR Xfinity Series team AM Racing’s No. 32.
The driver’s championship is Perez’s to lose. In terms of car count, if it is not high at Salem, Elko, the two dirt tracks, etc., then Van Alst and fellow competitors cannot gain enough points on Perez in one race to overtake him for the lead.
An independent team beating manufacturer-backed ones, with drivers who are bringing far more sponsorship and its driver contending for the championship. That’s something for Van Alst and his team to be proud of, and his successes thus far keep him in the rankings at No. 5.
Paint Scheme of the Race
Toni Breidinger drove a beautiful No. 25 Raising Cane’s Toyota but the same scheme won this award at Dover Motor Speedway.
Instead, this award goes to a driver who returned to ARCA competition for the first time since the second race of the season at Phoenix Raceway: Johnson.
Johnson’s No. 34 stood out during the race at the 0.686-mile short track and he earned some TV time too.
It was also his best-ever outcome coming home in 10th. After earning his career-best finish and his first top 10, Johnson will be back piloting the No. 34 at Salem and then Kansas Speedway later this season. In four career starts, he has finished three with his lone DNF at Daytona. He’s learning and has proven he belongs in ARCA. Hopefully, we see him compete more in the series, with good-looking racecars too.
ARCA now heads to Salem for a 200-lap race. It will take place on Saturday, July 27 at 8 p.m. ET with live coverage provided by FOX Sports 1 and FloRacing.
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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