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ARCA Preview: Season Finale at Toledo

The ARCA Menards Series season finale is upon us. Twenty-one drivers are entered to compete in Saturday’s (Oct. 5) 200-lap race at Toledo Speedway. So what are the storylines ahead of the 84th race at the half-mile short track?

Two championships will be awarded: the driver and owner titles.

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Lavar Scott's Racing Origin Story & Quest for the ARCA Title

On the driver’s side, once Andres Perez takes the green flag, he’ll clinch the title. The sophomore Rev Racing pilot is on track to become the second champion to go winless in a season, joining 1980 titlist Bobby Dotter.

Perez will happily take home the championship trophy, but he wants to add a race-winning trophy to his collection too.

“Last week was disheartening but the No. 2 Max Siegel Youth Foundation Chevrolet team didn’t give up,” he said in a team release. “We learned and ensured our point lead. Our eyes are on Toledo and earning the championship. We have been consistent and strategic this season, we have one more chance at parking the No. 2 in victory lane. I plan on giving my all.”

In his lone start at Toledo in 2023, Perez started and finished fourth. He finished as the last driver on the lead lap too, so he’ll need to be quicker if he wants a shot at victory too.

Perez’s Rev Racing teammate Lavar Scott will take home runner-up honors in the driver’s standings. One and a half of the Frontstretch ARCA panelists, including yours truly, picked him to win the title. Instead, his first five races of the season are the races he’d like to redo, and now he’s both happy for Rev whilst disappointed not to have a shot at the title on Saturday.

“I’m happy, but it sucks because I want to win the championship,” he told ARCA Racing. “We all work hard to achieve that goal at some point in our careers, but I’m happy with how the year went. We had a lot of good races. Situational stuff made [a championship] not happen, but as long as Rev Racing wins it, I’ll be happy no matter what.”

“We have competed up front, contended for wins and I’ve learned a lot,” he added in the team release. “We have one more chance to bring home a win for Rev Racing this year and I plan on giving it my all.”

On the owner’s side, Joe Gibbs Racing’s No. 18 has a 93-point lead over Venturini Motorsports’ No. 20 for that crown. Like Perez, all William Sawalich must do to win the owner’s title for his team is start the race.

Sawalich is undoubtedly the favorite to win the race, though. He won it last year, leading a race-high 111 laps and besting ’23 champion Jesse Love by 1.162 seconds.

Furthermore, the No. 18 team has won three straight races at Toledo. Sawalich will be stout on Saturday.

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Gio Ruggiero will be behind the wheel of the No. 20. Ruggiero won the ARCA Menards Series East season opener at Five Flags Speedway, a fellow half-mile short track. Additionally, he placed second in the Glass City 200, one of the races on the 2024 super late model ASA STARS National tour schedule.

“Gio Ruggiero returns to the seat for his tenth and final start of the season,” VMS stated in a release. “Ruggiero finished fifth in his most recent race at Kansas and has earned a total of six top-5 and eight top-10 finishes on the season in ARCA’s premier series.”

Ruggiero’s teammate Brent Crews also is an ARCA winner this year at DuQuoin State Fairgrounds. Crews has been strong in his brief seven-race ARCA tenure, totaling two wins, five top fives, five top 10s and 191 laps led. Moreover, Crews has team owner Billy Venturini serving as his crew chief. The organization last won at Toledo in 2019, though all three entries finished inside the top 10 last year with two on the podium, albeit not in victory lane.

Ruggiero and Crews will be fast. Remember, Ruggiero beat Sawalich in that East race and Crews led every lap at DuQuoin, again with Sawalich in the field.

For a feel-good story, how about Willie Mullins? The fan favorite is joining forces with Andy Hillenburg at Toledo, driving the No. 10 for Fast Track Racing.

Mullins has never competed at Toledo before. In his seven ARCA short track races, he has three top 10s, all at Elko Speedway. Still, Mullins started the year strong with a pole run at Daytona International Speedway. He led nine laps there before his involvement in a crash left him with a 28th-place result, but he’s always competitive when he’s in the field.

The FTR No. 10 is 12th in the owner standings, only 13 points behind the FTR No. 12 and five ahead of Alex Clubb’s No. 03. Hot take: Mullins scores a top 10.

The field will take the green flag at Toledo on Saturday, Oct. 5 at 4 p.m. ET with live coverage on FOX Sports 2 and FloRacing.

About the author

Frontstretch.com

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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