With its highest entry list since 2016, Kansas Speedway hosts the ARCA Menards Series for the Tide 150. The 100-lap race will be the first of two ARCA events at the 1.5-mile racetrack, which will also host the season finale.
With 30 cars and zero former Kansas winners in the field, who has a chance to go to victory lane?
Gio Ruggiero will reprise his role driving the No. 18 Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota. The No. 18 team has won two out of the last five Kansas races.
Ruggiero won the season opener at Daytona International Speedway, scoring his first national division triumph. In his lone Kansas start in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series, Ruggiero finished fourth. He has two ARCA starts there as well, finishing fifth and runner-up, leading laps in both races for a combined 83.
Daniel Dye returns from his suspension to make his first ARCA start since the season opener at Daytona. It is unknown how many races he will drive the No. 24 for Sigma Performance Services, so he must make each one count.
Dye drove the No. 24 to a fourth-place result at Daytona, and SPS needs a good run. The first two races of its ARCA Menards Series East season have wound up with DNFs. Dye has eight starts at Kansas in his racing career. Overall, he has logged two top fives and three top 10s with a best finish of third in the first ARCA race there in 2022.
Pinnacle Racing Group swept the 2025 ARCA Kansas races and has won three out of the last five. Jack Wood will pilot the No. 28 Chevrolet and Lanie Buice will be in the No. 77.
In his six overall trips to Kansas, Wood has two top fives, two top 10s, two laps led and a best finish of fourth in this exact race five years ago.
Buice meanwhile competed in the first Kansas race in 2025 and wound up eighth. She has higher expectations for this race.
“We talked about expectations the other day, and the expectation for myself is to see myself in the top three,” Buice told ARCA Racing. “Qualifying and racing in the top three would be a really great weekend for me. I do have a really good teammate in Jack Wood and I’d love to see us finish first and second either way around. I’d love to win the race, but expectations are realistic and a top three where we can build going into Michigan [International Speedway] in a few weeks would be really huge for us.”
Let’s not forget about Nitro Motorsports, which has the points leader in Jake Bollman driving the No. 20 Toyota.
Bollman and his teammates Thomas Annunziata, Jade Avedisian and Gavan Boschele will visit the track for the first time in their careers.
Annunziata is eager to build on his momentum from Phoenix Raceway to take to Kansas.
Annunziata’s crew chief Shannon Rursch has won twice at Kansas, so expect Annunziata to have a fast No. 70 Toyota.
Avedisian is competing at the largest oval in her career, searching for her first top five and her first top 10 in her main-series tenure, albeit with this set to be her third start.
Boschele crashed out at Rockingham Speedway in his 2026 ARCA series debut, but he is debuting a new paint scheme for his No. 25 Toyota at Kansas.
Nitro driver Isabella Robusto has experience at Kansas. She earned her first career pole there in her first start and finished 10th in the most recent Kansas race, too.
Then, there are the two fan favorites: George Siciliano, AKA Squirrel McNutt, and Garrett Mitchell, AKA Cleetus McFarland, driving their Nos. 0 and 30.
Siciliano has spun in both his East starts, but he completed both races and wound up ninth in his series debut at Hickory Motor Speedway. While a top 10 would be another notch to his racing resume, Siciliano should concentrate on a lead-lap finish: he has finished a combined 10 laps down in his two starts.
Mitchell has driven in four different series in 2026, nabbing his first-ever top five in the East race at Rockingham. For a loose comparison, actor-turned-driver Frankie Muniz drove Rette Jones Racing’s No. 30 to an eighth-place showing in his first ARCA Kansas start, so a top 10 for Mitchell is possible.
For two underdog stories, how about Ryan Vargas and Robbie Kennealy? They’re third and fourth in the points.
Vargas has six trips to Kansas in his racing career. Driving for Maples Motorsports in 2025, he wheeled his racecar to 10th in the first 2025 race there.
Kennealy, full time in the ARCA Menards Series West, is making his Kansas debut driving the No. 11 in a partnership between Jan’s Racing Team and Fast Track Racing.
“With a determined mindset and a clear strategy, Kennealy is ready to leverage his recent experiences to navigate the complexities of the Kansas track, setting his sights on achieving a top finish this weekend,” Jan’s Racing posted on its Facebook page. “Being with the same team as Daytona with Andy Hillenburg, I’m excited for the opportunity,’ Kennealy said. … ‘To be on FS1 and gain the national exposure is a great opportunity for me and the team,’ he added. Fast Track Racing owner, Andy Hillenburg is just as excited and said, ‘We’re just getting started!”
The 30 drivers will race in the Tide 150 on Saturday, April 18. The green flag will fly at 12:30 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.
If Bobby Earnhardt doesn’t get taken out early, expect to see him in the top 10
I’d be good with that. An Earnhardt running well is a shot in the arm stock car racing could use right now.
IT WOULD be nice to see a female driver win an arca race for the first time in about 5 or more years and for the other women too do well including spurlock, buice, and jade and isabella