The ARCA Menards Series has wound down to its final three races, as teams will head to Salem Speedway on Saturday night (Sept. 20).
There will be 21 cars competing around the high-banked 0.555-mile Indiana short track, down from the 2024 race, which saw 25. However, this year’s race will be only the third at the track since 2019 that has over 20 entries.
The track has hosted the most ARCA events in series history, with the 2025 one as the 111th. Frank Kimmel and Tim Steele have each won a handful of times at the track, and modern NASCAR regulars Justin Allgaier, Brennan Poole, Christopher Bell, Alex Bowman and Jesse Love have also found victory lane at Salem.
Last year’s edition of the race saw plenty of full-time drivers exit early, due to mechanical issues or incidents, leaving a plethora of underdog drivers to finish inside the top 10. Up front, however, it was William Sawalich from start to finish, winning the race after leading all 200 laps.
After Lawless Alan departed Venturini Motorsports before the race at Bristol Motor Speedway, Leland Honeyman will make his second start in the No. 20 Toyota. Honeyman finished fourth at Bristol.
Isabella Robusto and Mason Mitchell make up the other two VMS entries at Salem, with Robusto continuing her full-time season and Mitchell making his sixth start of the 2025 season. For Robusto, short tracks have been her bread and butter this season. Outside of a mechanical issue last week at Bristol, where she finished 27th, Robusto has finished no worse than sixth in her short track races this season. However, with that being said, she has yet to contest a race at Salem.
As for Mitchell, the 2014 series champion has enjoyed a nice return to the series in 2025, finishing inside the top 10 in all but one of his starts. He finished as high as third at Kansas Speedway in May, and in his most recent race at Madison International Speedway, he finished sixth. Mitchell has three previous starts at Salem, all between 2013 and 2014. He’s finished inside the top 10 in each of those races, and the top five in two, with a runner-up finish in 2014.
Current points leader Brenden Queen has set himself further away from the pack with just three races to contest. Queen ran a very quiet race at Bristol, though he still finished third. Queen now sits 50 points ahead of Lavar Scott and will likely wrap up his championship if he continues his consistency. Heading into Salem, Queen has never run a race at Salem, but after finishing no worse than fourth on short tracks this season, it’s likely to consider Queen a favorite Saturday evening.
As for Scott, the 22-year-old is wrapping up another impressively consistent season, coming off of an 11th-place finish at Bristol. That mark tied his worst of the season, marking just the second time all year he’s finished outside the top 10. Scott’s finish at Bristol was very uncharacteristic; he’s run very well at short tracks all season. As a result, his championship hopes are dwindling. Scott recorded a podium finish in his only Salem start, third in 2024.
Nitro Motorsports’ No. 70 car has a new driver at Salem, as Andrew Patterson will get an opportunity to drive the Toyota. Patterson has done a lot with a little in his career, recording two top 10s this season alone with his self-owned team. Patterson recorded a sixth-place finish with his team back at Charlotte Motor Speedway earlier this season. He has one previous start at Salem in his career, last season, where he finished 24th with MAN Motorsports.
Jason Kitzmiller heads to Salem for the first time this weekend, fresh off a huge accomplishment for both his team and himself. Jason’s son, Isaac Kitzmiller, was crowned ARCA Menards Series East champion at Bristol. Perhaps even more impressively, the feat was accomplished in the first full-time season for CR7 Motorsports. Jason finished ninth at Bristol, continuing a rather impressive run of top 10 finishes throughout the latter portions of the season. He has never raced at Salem, but has done well at short tracks this season, finishing inside the top 10 in every event besides Phoenix Raceway in March.
Joe Gibbs Racing will have Max Reaves back in its No. 18 this week. JGR found victory lane at Bristol with Brent Crews and now welcomes Reaves back to Salem. The 15-year-old Reaves has enjoyed a strong rookie season. He has won five races across the ARCA platform and only finished outside the top two twice, at both dirt tracks. The No. 18 team has won three of the last five ARCA events at Salem.
After Jackson McLerran retired early at Bristol in 26th due to a mechanical woe, MAN Motorsports fields Conner Popplewell at Salem. The 21-year-old Popplewell is from nearby Jeffersonville, Ind. He has only run one previous ARCA race, at Salem in 2023, where he finished fifth.
Rise Motorsports will again have Chase Howard in the No. 31 at Salem, two races after his debut at DuQuoin State Fairgrounds, where he finished seventh, giving the team its first-ever lead-lap finish. The finish was also the team’s career best. Howard carries his same sponsorship from DuQuoin, 2 Fellas Moving.
All on-track action from Salem will take place on Saturday, Sept. 20. Teams will have practice at 3:45 p.m. ET and qualifying at 5:15. The 200-lap race will have two five-minute breaks at laps 75 and 125. The Kentuckiana Ford Dealers 200 is slated to go green at 8 with TV coverage on FOX Sports 2.
Josh joined Frontstretch in 2023 and currently covers the ARCA Menards Series. Born and raised in Missouri, Josh has been watching motorsports since 2005. He currently is studying for a Mass Communication degree at Lindenwood University