ARCA Preview: Ride the ‘Dente 200 at Daytona

The ARCA Menards Series kicks off its 2025 season this weekend at the high banks of Daytona International Speedway.

The 2024 race saw plenty of carnage, with only 10 cars finishing on the lead lap of the 40 that started. The race saw nine cautions for 49 of the 80 laps run.

Among the 40 participants are some who will debut at Daytona and others who have limited experience at most. They include full-timers Isabella Robusto and Brenden Queen, promising up-and-comers William Sawalich and Corey Day, and internet personality Garrett Mitchell, who’s best known as Cleetus McFarland.

For Robusto, she enters the first race of her rookie season with no shortage of hype. After numerous promising runs on a partial schedule in 2024, including a runner-up finish at the Illinois State Fairgrounds and a dominant run at Irwindale Speedway before mechanical issues, Robusto is expected to become the first female driver to win at the national ARCA level. She brings a familiar No. 55 sponsored by Mobil 1. The largest track Robusto has run on to date is Kansas Speedway, where she recorded the pole last September before crashing early in the event.

Joining her at Venturini Motorsports this week will be fellow full-time driver Lawless Alan, as well as Jake Finch, who led the most laps in the ’24 Daytona race.

Alan will make his first start as a full-time ARCA driver after multiple seasons in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series. He had a handful of top-10 runs in a limited ARCA slate in 2024, but now has a chance to find victory lane in superior equipment throughout 2025.

Finch, entered in the No. 25 Toyota, won in dominating fashion the last time ARCA went to a drafting-style track, leading the entire race at Talladega Superspeedway last April.

Notably absent from the entry list this season is reigning winner Gus Dean. In fact, outside of Finch and Sawalich, much of the field is looking for their first career wins, much less their first Daytona win. The 2023 winner, Greg Van Alst, is also notably missing from this week’s entry list, as he focuses on NASCAR Xfinity Series racing in 2025.

As for Queen, it’s the first time he’s competed at a drafting-style track since 2019. After running years of late models and making a name for himself on the short track circuit, the standout now turns to the heavier stock cars of ARCA. Queen has limited experience on any track over a mile in length, finishing inside the top 20 at Nashville Superspeedway and Kansas in the Truck Series for TRICON Garage last year. Queen has the one previous Daytona start, finishing 29th for Vizion Motorsports six years ago.

Pinnacle Racing Group will bring two cars to the track this weekend, as Queen will be joined by four-time Indianapolis 500 winner Helio Castroneves. The Brazilian is entered in Sunday’s Daytona 500, but to be approved to run, will run Saturday’s ARCA race, and will do so in the No. 82. The car will be sponsored by Wendy’s, much like his NASCAR Cup Series car.

We’ve got the No. 82 looking FRESH for Helio Castroneves this weekend. Ready to load up for Daytona! pic.twitter.com/XT6M59Vpqq

— Pinnacle Racing Group (@RacePRG) February 12, 2025

Day has a bit of a different path from those previously mentioned. He’s as new to asphalt racing as can be, signing a development deal with Hendrick Motorsports. He will begin his busy 2025 season which will see him compete in numerous races across ARCA, Trucks, and the Xfinity Series at Daytona, driving the No. 77 for Spire Motorsports. Day finished fourth at Kansas in ARCA competition, the best finish he’s recorded in his career on tracks larger than a mile in length at any level.

Sawalich is certainly no stranger to ARCA competition. In just two seasons, he’s recorded upward of 15 wins and taken home two ARCA Menards Series East championships. With that being said, it’s hard to believe that he just turned 18, making him freshly eligible to run larger tracks in the series. While he does have a full-time gig lined up in the Xfinity Series this year, he will run a handful of ARCA races for more practice on the larger tracks. His first race weekend at Daytona will feature a tripleheader schedule, as he’s also entered for Friday evening’s Truck Series race.

Mitchell will be making his ARCA debut, driving for Rette Jones Racing in a very highly anticipated appearance. The team will also roll out a second car, No. 29, for Kyle Steckly, who just signed a multi-season development deal with the team a few weeks ago.

Another full-time competitor, Thad Moffitt, is another returnee to the series after a number of seasons away. He last raced the majority of the schedule in 2020 and 2021 for David Gilliland’s team, but aside from a single race in 2022, hasn’t been in the series since. In 2025, he returns with a new team, Nitro Motorsports, which has factory support from Toyota. Moffitt will run the No. 46 full time, with a number of drivers in the team’s No. 70, starting with Amber Balcaen for the season opener. Moffitt has a best finish of fifth at Daytona, recorded in 2020, and Balcaen earned herself a top 10 at this race last season driving for Venturini.

Series runner-up Lavar Scott returns to Daytona now for the third time in his career, recording one top 10 previously, back in 2023. The superspeedway races weren’t kind to the 21-year-old driver, finishing outside the top 10 in both events, including this race one year ago. However, Scott enters as the favorite to win the 2025 championship, and becomes the focus driver of Rev Racing, with the second car only being part time. Scott showed good speed in his debut race at the track in 2023, leading laps and running much of the event well inside of the top five.

The series also has five other drivers expected to be full time kicking off their 2025 seasons this weekend. Most notably, Kole Raz will be in the No. 76 for AM Racing. Raz is a fresh face to the national division, but not ARCA. He’s run part time in the ARCA Menards Series West each of the last two seasons, even winning at Kevin Harvick’s Kern Raceway in 2024. Raz, however, has never run a track over a mile in length.

An underdog joins this list as well, with returnee Alex Clubb hoping to keep funding up to be full-time again. Clubb finished eighth last season in the season opener and will start 14th on Saturday. 

In a similar boat will be Brayton Laster, who starts his first full-time season for Wayne Peterson Motorsports in the No. 0, rather than the No. 06. Laster didn’t qualify for this race a year ago, but finished 13th back in 2022.

Jason Kitzmiller and CR7 Motorsports will attempt their first-ever full-time season in 2025, after multiple seasons of part-time competition. Unlike many of his competitors this week, Kitzmiller is no stranger to larger tracks, running them almost exclusively in his career. He recorded his series-best finish at this race one year ago, a sixth-place result.

Michael Maples is the other driver expected to be full time, as he will start his journey as an owner/driver in his second full-time season. He and Ryan Roulette will compete Saturday under the Maples Motorsports banner, in a race that the pair finished 21st and 23rd a year ago respectively, both driving for Fast Track Racing.

Speaking of Fast Track, the long-tenured team owned by Andy Hillenburg will bring five cars to the racetrack this weekend. Cody Dennison will return to the No. 11 that he occupied for much of 2024, retaining the sponsor Timcast for this weekend. Takuma Koga will begin his multi-race slate with the team in the team’s No. 12. He failed to qualify for the ’24 race.

Speedway regulars Jason White and Ed Pompa also fill the team’s lineup, in the Nos. 9 and No. 10 respectively. White nearly won the season opener two years ago driving for Jeff McClure Motorsports. The team will also work with Peterson to field the No. 06 for Bryce Haugeberg, who will carry sponsorship from North Dakota State University.

The remainder of the entry list features no shortage of intrigue either. Sigma Performance Services will enter the race with Katherine Legge this weekend. Legge is a well-known name in the open wheel and road racing community but is fresher into the NASCAR and oval racing side. She has one previous NASCAR start on an oval, finishing 28th at Richmond Raceway in 2018 for JD Motorsports in the Xfinity Series. She’s also run a handful of oval races in the NTT IndyCar Series, including four Indianapolis 500s.

A pair of superspeedway regulars also return in 2025, as Willie Mullins and Dale Quarterley are both on the entry list. Mullins won the pole for this race one year ago, but crashed out halfway through, finishing 28th. His crew chief for this race? His wife Dinah Mullins.

As for Quarterley, he’s more keen to road racing, but always finds himself in the mix on the drafting tracks, and will look to do the same this time. He finished 10th in 2023 but crossed the line 33rd last season.

Finally, fan favorite and ever-competitive Andy Jankowiak is back for more in 2025, in his familiar No. 73 for KLAS Motorsports. Jankowiak is one year removed from his ever-famous quote in last year’s season opener, “I’m not lifting until I see God or a checkered flag.”

Jankowiak is fresh off a season in which he expanded his schedule for the first time, running competitively in nearly every race he entered, with a best finish of sixth at Kansas in May. It’s unclear what the team and driver have in store for 2025, but neither is expected to be full time.

Due to a rainstorm which forced the cancelation of practice, per the rule book, qualifying was also canceled. The 45-minute on-track activity on Friday will be a practice session, but five drivers failed to make the race as the field was set via ’24 owner points.

The green flag for the Ride The ‘Dente 200 will fly shortly after noon ET on Saturday (Feb. 15) afternoon and be televised on FOX. It’s the first time an ARCA event will air live on the network.