Joe Gibbs Racing is shutting its ARCA Menards Series program after this season, per JosephSrigley.com.
JGR will field the No. 18 at Phoenix Raceway in the ARCA Menards Series West race for the last time.
The team ran the No. 18 since 2017 and tallied over 50 wins, four driver’s championships and four owner’s championships.
This season, Max Reaves and Gio Ruggiero drove the car to victory lane in eight total races (four each for Reaves and Ruggiero).
De Souza confirmed to Joseph Srigley that Reaves’ development deal with JGR is on hold due to the organization not fielding an ARCA entry. When asked about Reaves’ future plans, Reaves’ driver coach Bobby Labonte told Frontstretch, “We’re still working on things.” After the ARCA Menards Series East season finale at Bristol Motor Speedway, Reaves indicated to Frontstretch that he would be returning to ARCA competition in 2027.
JGR fields four NASCAR Cup Series teams and four NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series teams full time.
Joy joined Frontstretch in 2019 as a NASCAR DraftKings writer, expanding to news and iRacing coverage in 2020. She's currently an assistant editor and involved with photos, social media and news editing. A California native, Joy was raised watching motorsports and started watching NASCAR extensively in 2001. She earned her B.A. degree in Liberal Studies at California State University Bakersfield in 2010.
some good news for arca, maybe now arca can be more competitive with the only nascar team not in arca, maybe other teams can have a chance to win some races and being more parity and opportunities to some smaller teams, this is a good deal for arca maybe make the racing better.