As the ARCA Menards Series enters its summer stretch, the series has yet to see a full-time driver find victory lane.
Friday’s (June 12) return to Pocono Raceway offered very little variation from that statistic. Gio Ruggiero was victorious for the fourth time this season, having only made five starts thus far.
Ruggiero has had a knack for dominating the races he’s run this season. In fact, he’s led just over 40% of the laps he ran this season. While he was not able to record the pole at Pocono, the race was no different. He took the lead from Daniel Dye on an early restart following an early Bobby Dale Earnhardt wreck, and led 51 of the 60 total laps. By the time the checkered flag flew, Ruggiero had built a near 15-second lead over second place, truly cruising to victory lane.
With that being said, how does this week’s edition of the Fronstretch ARCA Power Rankings stack up heading into the Midwest short track portion of the schedule?
1. Gio Ruggiero
Ruggiero might be a part-time driver in the most dominant car in the field, but at this point, it’d be malpractice to leave him off the top of this list. As previously stated, Ruggiero has won four of the five races he’s started this season, giving him an average finish of 1.8 and a still impressive average starting position of 3.8.
Pocono stood as one of Ruggiero’s last scheduled races of the season. The series is heading into a short track and road course-heavy portion of the schedule, giving Max Reaves the reins of the No. 18.
It’s unclear when we will see Ruggiero next, but Chicagoland Speedway and the season finale at Kansas Speedway are the only two races Reaves is not eligible to run based on age for the remainder of the season. It’s likely that Ruggiero will appear in at least one of those events.
2. Jake Bollman
Jake Bollman entered Pocono as the points leader and did exactly what he needed to do at the 2.5-mile triangular racetrack to keep it that way. Bollman recorded his fifth top-five finish in eight races, crossing the line fourth after 60 laps.
Approaching the halfway point in this year’s ARCA season, Bollman’s season thus far has mirrored Andres Perez’s championship season in many ways. Both came into their ARCA careers as relatively unknown drivers. Similar to Perez in 2024, consistency has certainly been key for Bollman. The 19-year-old has only finished outside the top five twice and outside the top 10 once. Despite this, Bollman has only led six laps this season and has yet to truly compete for any wins.
Short tracks are certainly a big part of Bollman’s racing background, running the ARCA Menards Series West last season, and some CARS Tour prior to that. Luckily for him, that’s what a large portion of the second half of the schedule contains. Looking more specifically at the next event at Berlin Raceway, Bollman has never contested a race there in his career. However, he has recorded four top-five finishes across ARCA’s platforms on short paved ovals, including a fourth-place finish at Toledo Speedway a few weeks ago.
3. Gavan Boschele
Gavan Boschele, like Ruggiero, is not a full-time driver this season. However, he has a much more expansive ARCA schedule ahead of him. In four races this season, Boschele has recorded four top-five finishes, finishing no worse than fourth. In his last two races, he’s been able to finish on the podium, with a third-place finish at Michigan International Speedway and a runner-up at Pocono.
Boschele’s second-place finish last week at The Tricky Triangle was certainly hard earned. The 18-year-old showed impressive speed in the first half of the race, but brought out a caution after stalling on track with a flat tire a few laps before the halfway break. After falling a lap down and losing much of his left rear quarter panel, Boschele got his lap back when the field came down pit road on lap 30. He charged from outside of the top 10 all the way back up to second in the final 26 green flag laps, battling hard with Carson Brown for the spot in the closing laps.
Boschele’s website indicates that he won’t be in the car again until Chicagoland, though he will make a stop in the West Series at Sonoma Raceway on June 27.
4. Thomas Annunziata
Another week, another top 10 for Thomas Annunziata. The 21-year-old recorded a sixth-place finish at Pocono, narrowly beating out Dye for the position after a lengthy, spirited battle towards the end of the race. The finish marked Annunziata’s second straight sixth-place result and sixth overall top-10 finish.
After being widely considered the championship favorite entering the 2026 season, Annunziata has not held that level of consistency thus far. He’s run fairly well, only finishing outside of the top 10 at the superspeedways, and finishing on the podium in three different events. However, like his Nitro Motorsports teammate Bollman, he’s yet to truly compete for a win. He was not far off from Kaden Honeycutt at Watkins Glen International earlier this season, but finished third and didn’t lead any laps. In fact, the No. 70 has not been out front of the field for any laps yet this season.
The silver lining for Annunziata is very similar to Bollman’s case once again. He’s shown much more prowess on short tracks and road courses in his career, and the upcoming schedule very much falls into his favor in that regard. He’s never contested races at either Berlin or Elko Speedway, the next two upcoming races, but has shown well in limited short track starts across ARCA’s three platforms. The series’ annual visit to Lime Rock Park also looms in the not-so-distant future, a race that Annunziata won last season.
5. Ryan Vargas
Ryan Vargas’ blue-collar season continued at Pocono, recording his fourth top 10 in eight races this season. His consistency for Maples Motorsports has not only kept him in the championship discussion but also put him ahead of quite a few drivers running for more-funded programs.
Pocono offered much of the same type of race that Vargas has run all season long. He started in the rear as he was unable to qualify. He worked his way up into the top 10 and stayed out under caution to lead a pair of laps prior to the halfway caution break. Combined with slightly fresher tires and high attrition in the event, Vargas worked his way well inside the top 10 in the second half. He ended up bleeding a few positions late in the going due to an oil slick on his tires, finishing 10th.
Just as his season has been all year to this point, Vargas is still on a week-to-week basis in the No. 91. He’s officially announced that he will no longer be running for the championship, scaling back to part time.
However, we will still see him on occasion, and his exact schedule is not known. If he does run Berlin, it’ll be the first time he’s contested a race at the track.
Paint Scheme of the Race
ARCA teams have developed a knack for bringing some very eye-popping paint schemes to the track this season but one stood out more than the others at Pocono. Dystany Spurlock’s race certainly didn’t go as she had intended, finishing last and only running five laps after an apparent brake failure.
However, the short time that the No. 66 Ford was on track, the car certainly stood out. Spurlock’s sponsor, Foxtecca, has brought some very impressive paint schemes to the track this season, and this week was no different. The car was designed in celebration of Juneteenth, which will be celebrated on June 19. We won’t see Spurlock in the series again until Chicagoland in July, so Spurlock and MBM Motorsports celebrated the holiday a week early with the Pocono Paint Scheme of the Race.
You can find all of Frontstretch’s video coverage from Pocono on the Frontstretch Grassroots YouTube channel.
ARCA teams will return to the grassroots style of track this week, heading to Berlin in Marne, Mich. The Herr’s Snacks 200 will go green on Saturday, June 20, at 6:30 p.m. ET, with TV coverage coming 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
Thanks for choosing to comment on this article. A name and email address are required to post a comment. The email address is not publicly visible or shared. Please keep in mind that comments are moderated according to our comment policy.