After an off week, the ARCA Menards Series returns to action on Friday, July 24, at Lucas Oil Indianapolis Raceway Park.
The race is a combination event with ARCA Menards Series East teams sharing the track with national division regulars for a 150-lap battle around the 0.686-mile short track.
As a combination race, the entry list has 36 drivers vying for 34 starting spots. It marks the third-largest entry list of the season, behind the first two races at Daytona International Speedway and Phoenix Raceway, which both featured 40 or more cars.
Two cars will go home this year, with Andrew Patterson and Michael Clayton being the two go-or-go-home drivers based on owners’ points position.
Friday’s race marks the 18th time ARCA has contested an event at IRP, and the fourth time the East series has run there. Nine of the last 11 race winners at the track have gone on to find success in the upper levels of NASCAR, including Jesse Love, Connor Zilisch, Chandler Smith and Chase Briscoe. Brent Crews won the race in 2025, leading 58 of the 150 laps.
While the reigning race winner isn’t entered in the event, Joe Gibbs Racing, the reigning winning team, is entered with Max Reaves in the No. 18 Toyota. He will run his first race at the track Friday, coming off two consecutive wins on short tracks at Berlin Raceway and Elko Speedway. The 16-year-old has developed quite a knack on short tracks, winning five events on tracks shorter than a mile in length over the course of his two partial ARCA seasons.
If we’re talking about defending winners, Kaden Honeycutt is certainly that. No, he hasn’t run an ARCA race in over two months, but he won his last time out at Watkins Glen International. Honeycutt returns to the ARCA seat at IRP, driving the same No. 17 Toyota for Cook Racing Technologies that he won at The Glen. He’s also one of two drivers pulling double duty with the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series at IRP, joining Gavan Boschele in that regard.
Speaking of Boschele, IRP marks a significant career milestone for him as he’ll make his first Truck Series start. He enters IRP with Nitro Motorsports finishing inside the top four in four of his five races. While he finished 12th at Chicagoland Speedway, he’s competed for a podium in each of his other four starts this season. Interestingly, Boschele has yet to run a short track this season, but finished eighth at Berlin in 2024 while driving for Venturini Motorsports.
Nitro will bring four other cars to the track, with Ashton Higgins, Isabella Robusto, Jake Bollman and Thomas Annunziata rounding out the driver lineup. Robusto likely welcomes the return to short tracks, which have been her bread and butter this season. She’s coming off two consecutive finishes outside the top 10, including a 25th at Lime Rock Park after enduring fuel pump issues. Robusto finished fourth in this IRP race.
Bollman has been incredibly consistent, finishing outside the top 10 just once and outside the top five only three times. None of those, however, have come on short tracks. His worst finish at those courses is fourth and he will look to add another top-five finish on Friday.
Annunziata has never run a race at IRP, but he is the reigning ARCA winner. The 21-year-old dominated the race at Lime Rock and competed for the win in the Truck Series race as well the following day. His prowess on short tracks in ARCA has been developing all season, and he finished runner up at both Toledo Speedway and Berlin. Annunziata should compete for a top-five finish on Friday, if not better.
As for Higgins, he’s more unknown to the series. He’s slated to make his first start for the team in the No. 15, and his third career ARCA platform start. The previous two came for his family-owned team in 2022, finishing seventh in an East race at Five Flags Speedway and 19th at Bristol Motor Speedway later that season.
Pinnacle Racing Group has its two anchor drivers in the race Friday, with Carson Brown in the No. 28 and Tristan McKee in the No. 77.
Brown’s last short track start was at Toledo where he finished third. He has yet to finish outside the top three in his national division starts this year, and pilots the same racecar that Brenden Queen led 91 laps and finished third at IRP in ’25. McKee has only contested a pair of short track events this season, but he was victorious at Toledo. He also ran the previous race at Lime Rock, finishing seventh.
As customary in the combination races, CR7 Motorsports has the father-son duo of Jason and Isaac Kitzmiller behind the wheel of its Nos. 97 and 79, respectively. Jason’s last short track start was a fifth at Elko. Isaac joined the field at Lime Rock, finishing eighth. Isaac has made some short track starts this year too, finishing 13th most recently at Toledo. Both drivers ran IRP last year as well, with Isaac finishing seventh and Jason right behind him in eighth.
Racing runs deeply rooted in Indianapolis culture, and Hoosier natives Brayton Laster and Zachary Tinkle will run this race. Laster hails from Greenwood, about 45 minutes south of the track, and Tinkle from Speedway, less than 15 minutes from IRP. Laster will be competing in the No. 89 for Rise Racing. Laster finished 25th in this race a year ago. Tinkle will bring his own No. 53 to the track for the second time this season, and the first time since he finished ninth at Berlin. Tinkle has four previous races at IRP, finishing as high as 11th back in 2024.
Returning to the track this weekend will be Dystany Spurlock, who has not run since Pocono. The 34-year-old’s introduction to ARCA could not have gone better, clicking off four impressive finishes, including three top 10s, in her first three platform starts. Since then, she’s hit rougher luck. Mechanical issues have plagued her three starts since, keeping her out of a top-10 finish and only finishing inside the top 20 in one of those races. She hasn’t run a short track since the East race at Rockingham Speedway, where she finished 12th. She also finished seventh at Hickory Motor Speedway in her East debut this season, so IRP could be a strong bounce-back race for Spurlock.
Friday’s race will be run as a one-day show in partnership with the Truck Series race later that evening. ARCA teams will have a 45-minute practice session starting at 1 p.m. ET, with qualifying to follow shortly after at 2:20. Two cars will be sent home in that session. After the trucks take to the track for their practice and qualifying sessions, ARCA gets its 150-lap race at 5:30 p.m. ET, with the race broadcast 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