MAN Motorsports Wants Lead-Lap Finishes in Limited 2025 ARCA Schedule

NASHVILLE, Tenn. – The ARCA Menards Series West wraps up its season on Friday (Nov. 8) at Phoenix Raceway. The 100-lap race will conclude the racing for the ARCA platform in 2024.

While only two drivers have announced full-time intentions – Brayton Laster and Brad Smith – MAN Motorsports aims to be more competitive. The team plans to run at least four races with the possibility of more.

“Four races for sure that we’re going to,” team owner Mark Noble told Frontstretch during the All American 400 race weekend at Nashville Fairgrounds Speedway. “That’s Nashville, Lucas Oil Indianapolis Raceway Park, Bristol Motor Speedway and Salem Speedway. We’re waiting for the ARCA Menards Series East schedule to see what that fifth race might be. We will do that and try to run the pro late model a couple of times.”

The four other racetracks where MAN may field an entry are Toledo Speedway, Flat Rock Speedway, Rockingham Speedway and Five Flags Speedway.

The team intended to compete at Toledo in 2024, but Andrew Patterson wrecked with six laps to go, leaving the No. 95 heavily damaged. The team opted not to hasten repairs to make Toledo.

“Toledo is one of those races where if the car is together at the end of the year, we will probably go,” Noble added.

The other three racetracks are all venues on the East schedule.

“We’ve talked about going to Flat Rock,” Noble continued. “I feel it’s a track where someone like Hunter Wright can wheel a car at and get us a good finish.”

Flat Rock’s race does not have pit stops, making it more advantageous for MAN.

“It takes a little less people out of the equation, costs a little bit less money,” Noble said. “This year it fell the week after Nashville. I got married that weekend. So, it wasn’t even an option for us. This year we will see where it falls.

“Not going for the championship, not looking to race for points. We’re going to try to focus on short tracks. This year we went to a road course. We’re not going to do that next year. We’re going to focus on short tracks that are similar to each other so we can build on the momentum.”

Rockingham rejoins an ARCA schedule for the first time since 2012. The 1-mile circuit has hosted ARCA and ARCA East 11 times. Among those winners are Dale Earnhardt, Dale Jarrett and two 2024 NASCAR Cup Series Championship 4 drivers, Joey Logano and Tyler Reddick.

The team has five racecars and Noble has two drivers set to drive them. Jackson McLerran will pilot an entry in four races and Wright in three. Noble has not yet determined any further details about his driver lineup.

McLerran made his series debut, his only start in 2024, at IRP. Unfortunately, he wrecked out to a 25th-place result. McLerran and Wright both competed in the pro late model All American 100 during the Nashville race weekend. Wright finished second and McLerran finished 16th.

Wright made a pair of East starts for MAN in 2024. He finished fifth at Five Flags and ninth at Nashville.

Overall, MAN fielded its No. 95 in six national division races and No. 96 in one. In the East, the team’s two cars logged two top fives and three top 10s in a combined seven starts.

Patterson served as the primary driver for the organization in 2024. In nine total starts between the main and East, he registered one top five and one top 10, a fifth-place showing at Nashville. However, Patterson is no longer with the team, Noble confirmed.

The lone East race the team will guaranteed not compete at in 2025 is at Dover Motor Speedway. Noble remains adamant that points and championships are not the goal for the team. Instead, it’s improvement in progressive increments. For starters: lead-lap finishes.

“Of course, we all want to win,” he said. “We want to see good results on the lead lap. We’ve got to get there. Good results, lead lap, kind of close that gap up that we have. We went down to Pensacola; we finished fifth with Hunter. There were some big-name guys right in front of us. So, we want to compete with those, close that gap up from four-tenths to two-tenths.”