The ARCA Menards Series is back at Pocono Raceway after not visiting there since 2023. The Tricky Triangle will host the series for the 72nd time, third-most behind short track staples Salem Speedway and Toledo Speedway.
Moreover, there have been 32 straight ARCA Pocono races without a repeat winner. Because no former winners are entered, that streak will extend to 33, quite a historic achievement.
Pinnacle Racing Group and Joe Gibbs Racing are undoubtedly the top two organizations in the series. Combined, they won 16 of the 20 races in 2025 – including the final seven – and five of the first seven this season.
Gio Ruggiero competed in the 2025 NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series race at Pocono. He started sixth and finished 11th. His No. 18 team has won twice at Pocono, too. Ruggiero leads ARCA in wins, is tied for the most top fives, and has led the third-most laps. He is undoubtedly the favorite.
Don’t tell that to the PRG duo of Carson Brown and Lanie Buice. Both are visiting The Tricky Triangle for the first time, driving the Nos. 28 and 77 Chevrolets, respectively.
Brown won in his national series debut at Phoenix Raceway this season and has one win, three top fives, three top 10s, one pole and 169 (second-most) laps led this season. The No. 28 is second in the owners’ point standings, trailing the JGR No. 18 by 14. Brown will also be quick.
Buice hasn’t been as fast, though she finished fifth at Michigan International Speedway. Buice has two top fives and four top 10s in six main-series starts, so she’ll look to build upon that at Pocono.
After those three, who else stands out?
Four of the five Nitro Motorsports drivers have competed at Pocono before, though the three full-time drivers are all in the top five in points with Jake Bollman in first, Thomas Annunziata in second, and Isabella Robusto in fifth.
Bollman’s No. 20 was the last team to win at Pocono, albeit as Nitro’s predecessor Venturini Motorsports with Jesse Love driving the racecar.
Annunziata went to The Tricky Triangle in the NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series competition, starting 37th and finishing on the lead lap in 28th in the 2024 race.
In six starts at oval racetracks at least two miles long, Robusto has two top fives, four top 10s and 16 laps led. She has come close to winning before; can she break through at Pocono?
Gavan Boschele finished third at Michigan and has been quick in his brief ARCA tenure. In four national starts, he has three top fives and four top 10s.
Don’t bet on Jade Avedisian to win – frankly, she is talented, but still learning. Nevertheless, she is one of four women to compete in this race, joining her teammate Robusto, Buice and Dystany Spurlock.
Debuting this year, Spurlock has impressed in her five total platform starts, scoring two top 10s and only one DNF, due to a mechanical failure. She’ll be driving one of the cars that ought to be considered for the Paint Scheme of the Race.
Outside of those two, there are two other especially noteworthy drivers: Ryan Vargas and Andy Jankowiak. The duo began the year slated to run a part-time schedule. Both have run all seven races thus far, and they are third and fourth in points, respectively.
Vargas’ 12th-place run at MIS left him believing his long-shot championship hopes are over.
He has three Pocono starts in a NOAPS car, so hopefully his experience will aid him at The Tricky Triangle.
Jankowiak has also been to Pocono before, three times in fact. He has a pair of seventh-place results there, including in ’23.
Except that Pocono will be the end of his full-time campaign.
It’s a damn shame Jankowiak is likely going to miss the series’ next race at Berlin Raceway. A stout run would at least send him and his KLAS Motorsports team on its break on a high note.
Will one of these drivers win the race? Who else will stand out, such as Daniel Dye, the Kitzmiller duo, or someone else? We’ll find out after 60 laps on Friday, June 12.
Yes, ARCA will race at Pocono tomorrow, Friday the 12th, at 3 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.
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