The ARCA Menards Series race at Talladega Superspeedway on Saturday (April 26) was cleaner than the season opener at Daytona International Speedway. There was one less caution, seven fewer caution laps and double the amount of lead changes.
Yes, the ending was a letdown, sans if you’re Lawless Alan, Venturini Motorsports or their fans. But Alan went to victory lane for the first time in his career. Venturini went to victory lane for the first time in the national division since Brent Crews won at DuQuoin State Fairgrounds on Labor Day 2024. It’s also the first win for the organization since it announced it is selling its assets to Nitro Motorsports at the end of 2025.
The results also shook up the point standings. Lavar Scott leads Alan by three, Brenden Queen by eight, Andy Jankowiak by 11 and Kole Raz and Jason Kitzmiller are tied down by 20. As such, how did the points shakeup affect the Frontstretch ARCA power rankings?
1. Lawless Alan
Alan finally has a win. The 25-year-old led a race-high 30 of the 77 laps, a massive improvement from his 23rd-fastest showing in the brief practice session.
His 48 points vaulted him two spots up in the points to second.
Drivers rejoice after their first triumph, but Alan went a step further: he called his shot, saying his competition is in trouble now that he has confidence from the win.
“But, man, finally I got that monkey off my back,” Alan happily told FOX Sports after his victory. “I can change my wallpaper to something happy. I think this is the worst possible thing that could’ve happened to the competition because I got the confidence that I can do it now. There’s no what-ifs. I can do it. So, man, that feels good!”
While only three races have been contested in the 20-race 2025 season, Alan now rides back-to-back top fives, and he was a factor in the season opener at Daytona. He led 26 laps before his involvement in the lap 45 accident damaged his racecar and relegated him to an 18th-place result.
Alan has 10 career ARCA starts, which consist of one win, three top fives and seven top 10s. His record at the next two racetracks, Kansas Speedway and Charlotte Motor Speedway, is solid. In two Kansas appearances, he has an eighth and 11th-place showing. At Charlotte, he finished eighth. Indeed, he will be a factor in this championship fight.
2. Lavar Scott
Last year, Rev Racing driver Andres Perez captured the championship thanks to his consistency, especially because he did not win any races.
Three races into this year and only one driver has top 10s in all three. That’d be fellow Rev driver Scott.
Scott has fourth, fifth and sixth-place finishes in the three races, respectively. So, he’s not even racking up top 10s, he’s running top five. Dating back to last year, Scott has 10 straight top 10s with seven top fives.
The question is, can he and his team turn those top-five runs into contending for wins? Thus far this season, series regulars have contended for the wins. Those drivers are racking up bonus points, ones vital to their championship hopes. Scott must slightly improve to start regularly leading laps and contending for wins.
3. Brenden Queen
After winning the season opener at Daytona, then coming up oh-so-close to winning at Phoenix Raceway, Queen was caught up in the first caution at Talladega. It ultimately resulted in him bringing his No. 28 Pinnacle Racing Group Chevrolet home two laps down in 25th place.
“Yeah, just, you know, made a mistake there,” Queen told Frontstretch post-race. “Been doing a really good job of just trying to manage it. And, you know, I’m one that’s always talking about patience. I feel like I was doing a good job. I don’t really know what happened. We were going around that lapped car in the tri-oval there. I was trying to maintain off the No. 23 there, and I don’t know. I just, I guess, caught him in the wrong spot as he was clearing the lapped car. It’s just a really bad deal; hate it for them, hate for us. And, you know, honestly, we were going to overcome that.
“Got the lucky dog, and as we were taking the lucky dog, the battery broke or something. I don’t know; we lost all power. You know, just one of those days. Just wasn’t meant to be, but at the end of it, it’s on me.”
Butterbean dropped two spots to third in points.
4. Andy Jankowiak
Jankowiak led four laps, the first of his career, en route to a fourth-place finish. It tied his career-best finish set two years ago at Michigan International Speedway.
Jankowiak likely will contest a part-time ARCA schedule again this year, but he improved one spot in points to fourth.
With the lone ARCA/ARCA Menards Series West combination race and the two drafting-style racetracks completed, the series enters the meat-and-potatoes portion of the schedule. Intermediates and short tracks as well as two road courses and two dirt tracks. Jankowiak has three top fives in five Kansas starts, one top five and two top 10s in four Charlotte starts and one top five and one top 10 at MIS.
If he continues to run well, will he and KLAS Motorsports discuss running more races? Hopefully, it’s a conversation we’re having for at least a month more. For now, his fourth-place effort has him fourth in these rankings.
5. Jason Kitzmiller
Two top fives and a DNF, due to a mechanical woe, comprise the first three races of Kitzmiller’s season. Kitzmiller wound up fifth at Talladega and cut his points deficit by 13 from 33 to 20.
Kitzmiller began this season as an unknown. He has only run part time before, never even contesting half a season. Yet with the series’ greatest all-time Frank Kimmel as his crew chief and 2015 ARCA champion Grant Enfinger in-house at CR7 Motorsports, Kitzmiller is poised to challenge his competitors throughout the season.
Looking ahead to the next two races, he has one top 10 in three trips to Kansas and one top 10 in two Charlotte visits. If Kitzmiller and CR7 can find at least that much, if not more speed, in his No. 97 Chevrolet, then any mistakes by his competitors will thrust him higher in the standings and these power rankings.
Paint Scheme of the Race
The ARCA Menards Series East return to Rockingham Speedway featured a number of great paint schemes. ARCA at Talladega? Not so much.
Nevertheless, Alan’s No. 20 Toyota has AUTOParkIt onboard. The company has been a longtime sponsor of Alan’s since he made his ARCA series debut in 2019.
His racecar paint scheme is a clean look, and driving it into victory lane always improves the look with the celebratory confetti. As a result, Alan claims the Talladega Paint Scheme of the Race Award.
Alan, the top five and the rest of the ARCA field next head to Kansas for the Tide 150. The 100-lap race will take place on Friday, May 9, at 8 p.m. ET with TV coverage provided by FOX Sports 1.
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.