On Saturday (April 25), the ARCA Menards Series rolls into Talladega Superspeedway for the first back-to-back race weekend on its 2026 schedule.
Forty-one drivers are entered in the race for 40 spots, marking the second time this season that the series will have DNQs. Last year, 38 drivers were entered in the race, so the trend of increased entries this season will continue.Â
In that race last season, Lawless Alan found victory lane after holding on to the lead on an overtime restart. The win marked Alan’s first and only ARCA win to date, and it was Venturini Motorsports’ final victory before the organization closed its doors at the end of 2025.Â
While Alan is not entered this weekend, a pair of former Talladega winners are. Gus Dean and Jake Finch will both pilot Nitro Motorsports Toyotas on Saturday, with Dean in the No. 25 and Finch in the No. 15. Dean was victorious in this race a decade ago in 2016, with Finch taking home the checkered flag in 2024. Both drivers are part time in 2026, and neither has made a start since the season opener at Daytona International Speedway.Â
The other trio of Nitro drivers, Isabella Robusto, Thomas Annunziata and Jake Bollman, continue their pursuits of the championship title. Robusto’s best career finish came at Talladega a year ago, but she has struggled out of the gate this season. Annunziata has previous success on drafting-style tracks, but has finished outside of the top five in two of the first three races. Bollman is currently the points leader after three races, finishing sixth or better in each race thus far.
For the second consecutive week, Jack Wood will pilot the No. 28 Chevrolet for the Pinnacle Racing Group. Wood had a top-five run going at Kansas Speedway last week, before getting collected in an incident on an overtime restart. The 25-year-old finished sixth in the season opener at Daytona and has two previous Talladega starts in the series.Â
The second PRG entry, the No. 77 Chevrolet, will be filled by Taylor Reimer this week. Kansas was the first race this season that Reimer was not entered for, though her first two starts did not treat her well. A mechanical failure at Daytona ruined a potential top 10, and an incident at Phoenix Raceway gave her back-to-back 30th-place or worse finishes. Prior to 2026, Reimer’s track record was impressive, never finishing worse than 10th in her limited national division starts.Â
Speaking of last week at Kansas, the series most recent winner, Gio Ruggiero, returns to the seat again at Talladega. Ruggiero’s record to start the 2026 season is hard to top, making two starts and finding victory lane both times. Looking ahead to Talladega, he would be a safe bet once again. Ruggiero won the season opener at Daytona and has never finished worse than second on traditional drafting-style tracks in his NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series career.Â
Much like Kansas, the duo of George Siciliano and Garrett Mitchell, AKA Squirrel McNutt and Cleetus McFarland, will run Rette Jones Racing Fords at Talladega. Siciliano had a bit of a journey to make it to this point, needing to run two ARCA Menards Series East races and Kansas to get approval for Talladega. He recorded a top-10 finish at Rockingham Speedway, his best finish to date.
McFarland is no stranger to ARCA at this point and is arguably coming off his two best starts to date. McFarland recorded his only top five at Rockingham and ran quietly inside the top 10 at Kansas prior to engine issues that ended his race early. After nearly missing a top 10 at Daytona in February and finishing 10th at Talladega last season, another top 10 is a very attainable goal for McFarland this weekend.
While on the subject of drivers that are comfortable with the draft at Talladega, it’d be wrong not to mention Jason Kitzmiller. The 52-year-old quietly sits second in points, just 12 notches behind Bollman. This weekend at Talladega will be the 14th superspeedway race of his career, though Talladega has treated him slightly worse than Daytona. Kitzmiller finished fifth at Talladega in 2024.
As it stands, a pair of part-time drivers sit in the top 10 in points after three races: Ryan Vargas and Robbie Kennealy. Both have competed in each of the three races, but neither is expected to be full time. Vargas has been anchoring the No. 91 for Maples Motorsports, and is coming off of an 11th-place finish at Kansas, and recorded a top 10 in the season opener at Daytona. Vargas has never made an ARCA start at Talladega; however, he has a handful of races under his belt there in various NASCAR series.Â
Kennealy has been a little less consistent, recording just one top 10 finish in three races, that coming at Phoenix. However, both Daytona and Kansas were learning curves for the 20-year-old, as he’d previously never made a start at a track larger than Phoenix. Though the ARCA Menards Series West schedule will be his primary focus for 2026, it’s been an honorable start for Kennealy. He recorded a 15th-place finish in the draft at Daytona.
With the starting lineup set by owners’ points this week and no qualifying session being held, a handful of teams are utilizing other teams’ points. With that, a set of unique number-driver pairings is in order. City Garage Motorsports and Logan Misuraca will drive the No. 34, rather than the No. 85, utilizing Vaughn Racing’s points. Andrew Patterson will do the same, using MMS No. 1 instead of his usual No. 40. Steve Lewis Jr. will ditch his No. 62 and use CR7 Motorsports No. 79 instead.
Also unique to Talladega is the structure of the starting lineup. The final four spots will be set between five drivers, thanks to having 41 entries for 40 spots. The last five cars in owners’ points will have their own practice group, and the slowest car of the five will fail to qualify for the race. That group includes Alli Owens, Ryan Huff, Nick White, Ron Vandermeir Jr., and Sean Corr.Â
ARCA has a rare two-day schedule lined up this week, with teams having their lone track time prior to the race on Friday afternoon. Starting at 2:30 p.m. ET, teams will be divided into groups and have an hour of track time. The General Tire 150 will go green at 12:30 p.m. ET on Saturday, the 25th, and will air live on FOX Sports 1.
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