Brayton Laster will join Rise Racing for the ARCA Menards Series race at Lucas Oil Indianapolis Raceway Park, he announced on July 18.
Laster will pilot the No. 89 in the 150-lap race on Friday, July 24.
Laster will make his fourth national division start of the year and his second in the ARCA Menards Series East. IRP hosts a combination race featuring the main and East series.
He will be making his fourth career ARCA start at IRP.
Overall, Laster has five top 10s in 39 career main series starts and finished eighth in points last year. He also has nine career East starts.
Although Laster has driven for Wayne Peterson Motorsports this season, Nate Moeller will likely drive the No. 06 for Peterson at IRP. Moeller is sixth in East driver points.
Per Frontstretch sources, IRP is expected to have drivers fail to qualify for the race. Per the race entry form, the maximum number of starters for the race is 34.
Among the expected additions to the IRP entry list are Zachary Tinkle in his self-owned No. 53, Bryce Applegate in the Mullins Racing No. 3, Michael Clayton in City Garage Motorsports’ No. 5, and the MAN Motorsports duo of Jackson McLerran and Hunter Wright presumably in the Nos. 95 and 96, respectively. MAN recently revealed that McLerran will indeed contest the remainder of the East schedule, running it full time. He is currently fifth in the East driver points, 56 behind leader Tristan McKee. Wright will also compete in the East season finale at Bristol Motor Speedway.
Furthermore, Ryan Vargas will return to the Maples Motorsports No. 91. Austin Vaughn will likely wheel the MMS No. 19, and Ashton Higgins will drive the No. 15 Toyota for Nitro Motorsports.
Rise began the season with Bobby Dale Earnhardt piloting the No. 89 full time. However, due to a lack of funding, Earnhardt announced he will not be participating at IRP, and team owner Tim Goulet confirmed to Frontstretch that Earnhardt is unfortunately out of the seat until he secures further funding. If Earnhardt acquires more sponsorship, he will be welcomed back into a Rise race car.
This season, Earnhardt has one top 10, a ninth-place result in the season opener at Daytona International Speedway, and sits seventh in points.
Rise’s No. 89 is 12th in the owner point standings, 52 points behind 10th place. In the East series, the team is 33rd in owner points, as its lone start was at the previous combo race with the national division at Toledo Speedway.
Chase Howard recently announced that he will pilot the No. 89 in the two dirt track races at the Illinois State Fairgrounds and the DuQuoin State Fairgrounds.
“I have the driver to win with Chase,” Goulet told Frontstretch, adding that Howard will pilot a brand-new purpose-built dirt track car.
Laster will take the reins of the No. 89 at IRP on Friday, July 24, at 5:30 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.