A stacked 33-car lineup heads to Watkins Glen International on Friday (May 8), as ARCA Menards Series regulars, ARCA Menards Series East points leaders, and road course ringers prepare to battle. The General Tire 100 marks the first of two road course races on the ARCA national schedule and kicks off a full weekend of on-track action.
Last year’s race was dominated by Brent Crews, but after his battery died, Tristan McKee found himself in the front and scored his first ARCA victory. McKee returns to defend the trophy as the current ARCA East points leader.
Crews will not return to the JGR No. 18 car, and Max Reaves will take his place. Reaves is coming off a win last weekend in the East Series at Nashville Fairgrounds Speedway.
Over the past two years, Reaves has run a part-time schedule and earned four East Series victories and three national series wins. This will be his first ARCA start on a road course.
Another driver making his first ARCA road course debut is Isaac Kitzmiller. In 12 ARCA starts, Kitzmiller has never finished outside the top 10. With points leader McKee, second-place Reaves, and third-place Kitzmiller all entered, the field features the top three drivers in the ARCA East standings.
Along with the ARCA East points leaders, NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series points leader Kaden Honeycutt is also entered in the race. The former CARS Tour champion will drive the No. 17 for Cook Racing Technologies as he looks to gain more road course experience. Despite limited starts on this type of track, he earned a top-five finish earlier this season in the Truck Series at the St. Petersburg Street Course, putting him firmly on the list of contenders to come away with an ARCA victory.
Another points leader looking to gain more road course experience is Jake Bollman. He currently sits atop the ARCA standings and a solid points day should help maintain his position.
For his Nitro Motorsports teammate Thomas Annunziata, the race presents a strong chance to gain ground. Sitting seventh in points, he won last year’s ARCA road course event at Lime Rock Park and has a solid opportunity to do the same at The Glen.
The third full-time Nitro driver, Isabella Robusto, temporarily ended her season-long misfortune at Talladega Superspeedway where she finished fourth. This season, though, she has an average finish of 21st despite an average starting position of 10.8. With two DNFs already on the board, she currently sits 13th in the standings, 47 points out of the lead. She will aim to turn that luck around this weekend.
Two of the biggest surprises near the top of the ARCA standings this season are Ryan Vargas in third and Andy Jankowiak in fourth. Their positions carry even more weight considering they sit just behind Gio Ruggiero, who is not competing on a full-time basis.
A breakthrough win at Talladega propelled Jankowiak into the top five. He looks to carry that momentum to The Glen. His career-best finish at Watkins Glen is a seventh-place result earned just last year.
Per Frontstretch sources, Ryan Vargas will likely continue to run full time as long as he is running well in the points; he is currently third.
Dystany Spurlock will be looking to notch her third top-10 finish in four races for MBM Motorsports. In a season where she has broken through and achieved many firsts, she can now add another to her list. She will be completing her first doubleheader as she competes in the Truck Series this weekend as well.
There is a common thread of drivers with limited road course experience trying to gain more, along with a few established road course ringers. At the top of that list is Andrew Ranger. Ranger has won four of his last seven ARCA races.
He has not competed in ARCA since his 2014 Watkins Glen start, where he finished second to a young Australian driver, Brodie Kostecki. Kostecki later went on to win the 2023 Supercars Championship over current NASCAR Cup Series driver Shane van Gisbergen, which may take some of the sting out of Ranger’s runner-up finish.
Another road course ringer joining the field is TA2 series competitor Tyler Kicera, who will make his series debut driving the No. 91 car for Maples Motorsports.
Ryan Gemmell, talented road course driver and RAM Race for the Seat contestant, will be returning to the No. 29 for NEMCO Motorsports. This is the same entry he drove to a sixth-place finish in last year’s ARCA race at WGI.
There are multiple contenders capable of taking the checkered flag, but even with the influx of talent and experience, the door remains open for an underdog. That unpredictability is part of what makes the ARCA Menards Series so compelling.
That sentiment was echoed by Craig Pellegrini Jr. following his ARCA East top-10 finish at Nashville. “Competing against bigger budgets has been the story of my life,” he said, later adding that “any car can win on any given night, so you’re going to go there with a fighting chance.”
It’s a reminder that success in ARCA looks different across the field, especially for smaller teams fighting to make their mark. With that in mind, all eyes turn to Watkins Glen to see how these stories will unfold on Friday.
The General Tire 100 is set for 1:30 p.m. ET, with TV coverage on FOX Sports 2 and streaming available on the FOX Sports App.
