ARCA Power Rankings: Give PRG the Bristol Trophies

BRISTOL, Tenn. – Carson Brown led 200 laps at Bristol Motor Speedway and won the race. Sounds exciting, right?

Because just like that, the ARCA Menards Series East season is complete. Congratulations to champion Tristan McKee.

In the ARCA Menards Series season, one race remains. Jake Bollman has a safe, though not insurmountable, 16-point cushion over Thomas Annunziata. Isabella Robusto, Jason Kitzmiller and Takuma Koga round out the top five in points, respectively.

The 200-lap race at Bristol finished in about an hour and a half, slightly less time than it took yours truly to drive to the racetrack. As such, who makes the penultimate power rankings of the 2026 season?

1. Carson Brown

After a less-than-desirable performance at Salem Speedway, Carson Brown redeemed himself at Bristol. Fastest in practice, he snagged the pole and led every single lap. On a night when Pinnacle Racing Group dominated, Brown took home the race-winning trophy.

Moreover, he would have been a contender for the title if he hadn’t missed the season opener at Hickory Motor Speedway. Alas, even with missing one race, Brown still finished seventh in points, besting three full-time drivers.

Brown’s triumph gave PRG first and third in the final East owner standings, another outstanding year for the organization.

Next up? Kansas Speedway, which Brown will visit for the first time. If Bollman indeed wins the championship, then Brown would likely win Rookie of the Year honors, another esteemed award for him.

2. Tristan McKee

McKee did not lead the most laps in the East this season, but he scored the most victories. Those six bonus points more than Reaves proved to be the winning amount, as McKee’s margin of championship glory was three points.

McKee is quieter than Reaves, but they both drive for top-tier teams. It was quite a battle to see them duke it out throughout this eight-race season.

McKee followed his East title with an impressive fifth-place run in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series race at Bristol Motor Speedway. ‘Twas an excellent night for McKee, even if, admittedly, he was not as excited as I thought a champion would be.

3. Jake Bollman

In case his drive at Salem was not his championship moment, Bristol certainly was. Depending on the car count at Kansas, Bollman could drive conservatively, ensuring he has a mistake-free top-10 day. Don’t expect him to do so, though.

“Not really, no, I’m just going to drive like I normally do and not even worry about it, right,” Bollman told Frontstretch post-race. “I mean, you can’t. I’ll just make a mistake at that point if I start worrying about it. And you know, I’ve done it once before when I was racing for a championship a long time ago. And you know, I’m not going to make that same mistake twice.”

If Bollman wins his first main-series race at Kansas, then there’s a real chance he will climb to No. 1 in these power rankings, too.

4. Max Reaves

In the eight-race East season, Reaves had two wins, five top fives, seven top 10s, three poles and 472 laps led. His average finish was the best of the East top-10 points finishers. Yet he could not get it done at Bristol, which was particularly surprising given the No. 18 team’s previous dominance there.

“So close, but so far at the same time, you know,” Reaves told Frontstretch post-race. “First 100 we were really tight so I couldn’t get any track position, which is what I needed. And then we made big swings at it. Second half of the race, I think we had the best car, but maybe not the best driver so I just needed to be less patient with everybody. I needed to go more. There at the beginning, I think I could’ve made up a few more spots. I just didn’t do it cause I thought, you know, these short tracks and stuff, you can make up time so much more than you could at a place like this. So, I don’t know. Rookie mistake. My first time here – next time I come here, we’ll be way better.”

Reaves confirmed he will be back to chase the East title in 2027. He came close this season; it would not be a surprise to see him hoist the championship trophy next season.

5. Isaac Kitzmiller

Isaac Kitzmiller was unable to repeat as the ARCA East titlist, as he wound up third in the standings. He improved his year-to-year average finish from 5.9 to 5.3 and increased his number of top fives. But his lack of laps led – only two – zero poles and no wins cost him valuable bonus points that ultimately left him 20 points behind McKee.

At Bristol, Kitzmiller had a good run, starting eighth and finishing fifth. However, he trailed McKee and Reaves, indicative of the standings. Nevertheless, Kitzmiller gained three spots from his 2025 Bristol run of eighth.

“Man, I feel like it was a really good day for our CR7 Motorsports and everybody that worked on this car,” Kitzmiller told Frontstretch post-race. “They worked really hard all week. And we knew we had a good package for Bristol and I was super excited to get back here. We got up to second there really right around halfway. After the caution, they put some oil dry down on the track into [turn] 1. On the final restart, I kind of went through the oil dry and got my tires pretty slick and hot, just sliding through it. Couldn’t really get it back. We just treaded loose with the sun going down there. Tires were hot, so unfortunately, we couldn’t stay up there and fell back to fifth … it was a blast today. We drove to the front, which is a really big plus for our team, and it’d be a good confidence booster for next year.”

Yep, hot off the presses, Isaac and his dad Jason Kitzmiller will run full time in the main series together in 2027. Isaac will likely earn three points, as he will be 17 years old, at Daytona International Speedway, but then watch out. He’ll be one to keep an eye on for the rest of next season.

Paint Scheme of the Race

As a Tennessee resident, I’m a little biased toward one scheme. Truthfully, I walked through the grid pre-race to look at each racecar to see what cars stood out to me.

Enough suspense though – the Bristol Paint Scheme of the Race Award goes to Quinn Davis’ No. 85 City Garage Motorsports Ford. With a gorgeous new color scheme accented by noticeable Dollywood Parks & Resorts quarter-panel logos, the feelings surrounding Tennessee legend and recently deceased Dolly Parton made this one a lock.

Davis finished her race without a hood on her racecar as she was caught up in an earlier incident. Her 25th-place result was only part of the storyline surrounding her paint scheme.

First, her racecar was unveiled at Dollywood. Then she showed up to Bristol with Dolly-inspired painted fingernails. Her sponsorship brought Dollywood cinnamon bread to the media center. What a cool week for Davis and CGM, even though it was her career-worst finish.

You can find all Frontstretch’s video coverage from Bristol on the Frontstretch Grassroots YouTube channel.

While Davis’ season has ended, the main series will conclude its season at Kansas. The green flag for that race, aptly named the Menards 150, will fly at 8 p.m. ET on Friday, Sept. 25, with TV coverage provided by FOX Sports 1.