Both the ARCA Menards Series and ARCA Menards Series East seasons have ended. Congratulations to the respective champions, Thomas Annunziata and Tristan McKee.
The ARCA Menards Series West has two races left in its season. Trevor Huddleston holds a 40-point lead over Robbie Kennealy and 43 over Mason Massey. Should Huddleston prevail, it will be his second straight and second career title.
In less than three months, we’ll welcome 2027. As such, conversations are ongoing regarding silly season. Some organizations, such as CR7 Motorsports and Clubb Racing Inc., have their plans mostly set in stone. Others, such as Kimmel Racing, are still working on their plans for the upcoming season.
While the ARCA Silly Season will continue up to the ’27 season opener at Daytona International Speedway, so more stories to come, here is a look at how the ARCA field could look next year.
Nitro Motorsports
Nitro drivers went 1-2-3 in the driver standings this year with Annunziata, Jake Bollman, and Isabella Robusto, respectively.
Nitro team owner Nick Tucker told Frontstretch that he wants the team to have 2-3 full-time drivers next year, similar to the team’s setup this year.
The organization will have a full-time East and West entry, along with one expected full-time West driver.
Bollman is expected to be one of those drivers in the main series. He led the points for 18 races, losing the championship to Annunziata on a tiebreaker. After the season finale at Kansas Speedway, Bollman said. “I will make sure I get that title and multiple wins next year.”
Bollman joined Nitro late last offseason and piloted his racecar to 12 top fives, 18 top 10s, and led 10 laps.
Mia Lovell is likely to return full time to the West series, Tucker added. Viewed highly as a developmental prospect, she has two top fives and five top 10s to the tune of eighth in points.
A plethora of other drivers are expected to feature in Nitro’s roster for 2027. How many races and where they will compete are still to be announced.
We know Annunziata isn’t coming back full time. While there are murmurs about Robusto’s future, nothing concrete has emerged.
Per Tucker, Jade Avedisian will be running more races and Gavan Boschele will run the majority of the season. Both have impressed at times, though neither has broken through to victory lane.
Additionally, after debuting with Nitro this year, Will Robinson will have a mixed schedule across all three ARCA divisions. Robinson has made seven total starts, accruing one top five and four top 10s.
The elephant in the room for Nitro is Keelan Harvick. Keelan will turn 15 years old on July 8, so he will be able to compete at ARCA short tracks, road courses, and dirt tracks.
Door Bumper Clear reported that Harvick will compete in ARCA for a top Toyota team, leading most people to think of Nitro.
“I think you’re still going to see a Toyota ARCA team with maybe an up-and-coming former driver’s son driving. … I mean, it’s not very hard to see that Keelan Harvick’s got to go somewhere,” Freddie Kraft said on the show.
Kevin Harvick disagreed with the claim, however.
While Nitro denied that Keelan has anything set to drive for them next year, a person with knowledge of the situation told Frontstretch that Keelan is likely to pilot a Nitro Toyota next year.
Pinnacle Racing Group
DBC also reported that Max Reaves is going to Pinnacle Racing Group in 2027. With Joe Gibbs Racing closing its ARCA program, Reaves can look elsewhere as he is not a Toyota driver prospect.
Reaves finished second in East points, one spot behind PRG driver McKee. PRG swept the driver and owner standings in the East, and its main-series entries finished second and third in the owner standings. PRG scored eight wins in the main series and five in the East.
Reaves can fill one of two openings at PRG. Team General Manager Shane Huffman confirmed to Frontstretch that neither McKee nor Carson Brown will return to the team in 2027. McKee will likely split his time between the NASCAR FedEx Freight Truck Series, super late model racing, and perhaps other series. Brown will graduate to the NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series.
PRG will field one full-time driver chasing both the national and East series championships, Huffman told Chris Wilner on NASCAR Coast to Coast.
“We’ve got one driver pretty much that’s going to compete for the East championship and the national championship,” Huffman said. “It’ll probably be in the 82 car; we’ll switch the No. 77 back to the No. 82 next year. And then we’ve got a kid coming that’s had some success in other series this year that’s probably going to drive eight to 10 races in the No. 28. And then we’ve got a couple of younger kids that’s probably going to fill out the rest of the schedule in the 28 car.”
As the Chevrolet-backed team, expect both cars to run all main-series events.
If Reaves is the favorite – albeit unconfirmed – for the East ride, then Lanie Buice is one to consider for the main-series one. Huffman praised Buice’s performance this season, and noted that Chevy executives are high on her. She scored top fives in all five of her starts this year, nabbing the pole at Pocono Raceway and finishing second at Chicagoland Speedway. Buice said that she does not have anything planned, though.
If history repeats itself, then Taylor Reimer and Helio Meza are two drivers likely in contention for PRG rides. Both drivers are running the upcoming West event at Phoenix Raceway.
Reimer’s number of races will be set based on her sponsorship. In eight combined series starts in 2026, she has three top fives, five top 10s and was in contention for the victory at the Illinois State Fairgrounds before a restart penalty ended her bid for the trophy.
Meza is an interesting case. He leads the Trans AM TA2 points and already has quite the resume.
At age 19, he is eligible to compete full time in the main series. He made his first ARCA start in the West race at The Bullring at Las Vegas Motor Speedway, earning the pole before a flat tire cost him a finish indicative of the speed in his car.
Don’t expect Caden Kvapil or Landon S. Huffman to be in PRG cars, though. Kvapil has been successful in CARS Tour competition, but he will not drive for PRG, Huffman confirmed. Moreover, while Landon S. Huffman is Shane’s son, Landon is not a Chevy development driver, so although he is seeking ARCA opportunities, those would more likely be with CR7, not PRG.
Regardless of who’s in the car each race, PRG will have two fast Chevys on track.
Cook Racing Technologies
CRT won the West race at the Vegas bullring with Taylor Mayhew, it won twice with Kaden Honeycutt in main series events, and sources have told Frontstretch that CRT will have a full-time entry in 2027.
Those sources have said that CRT’s entry will be a fast Toyota, as team owner Bruce Cook will be receiving some Toyota funding now that JGR is folding its ARCA team.
Mayhew told Frontstretch that he would like to compete full time in the East along with a part-time campaign nationally.
Mayhew debuted this year with four national starts, achieving two top 10s with a best of eighth at Phoenix. He then won the West Vegas one, joining his father David Mayhew as West victors.
Along with Mayhew, Mike Christopher Jr. told Frontstretch that he will run some ARCA events in 2027. Christopher has made four Truck starts and debuted in ARCA at Kansas with a ninth-place run. He comes from a NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour background with a racing family history, nephew of the series legend Ted Christopher.
Maples Motorsports
It was a year of ups and downs for Maples Motorsports. The team began the year with four full-time entries; it ended with two.
According to Frontstretch sources, part of those struggles come from within, with too many chiefs, not enough Indians, in the team. Monty Tipton and Shane Backes never made a start with the team, Ryan Roulette’s funding never materialized, and Tony Cosentino departed after two races.
Still, the organization made some headway in 2026. Its No. 91 finished ninth in main-series owner standings with the No. 99 in 14th. The No. 91 scored eight top 10s, but Ryan Vargas withdrew from full-time participation. Team owner Michael Maples was sixth in main points and 10th in East. Full-time East driver Austin Vaughn finished sixth in East points. In addition, he scored his first two top 10s in the main series, with a career-best day of ninth at Salem Speedway.
Although Vargas is scaling back his role with the organization in 2027 due to his full-time participation in Monster Jam, he told Frontstretch that the team hopes to field Maples in the No. 99 and Vaughn in the No. 91 full time.
Maples has one top 10 in 85 ARCA series starts and three straight main-series top-10 finishes in the points.
Vaughn turned 18 on Aug. 15, so he will be eligible to compete at all racetracks in 2027. Admittedly, his first big-track start at Kansas ended poorly, collecting Bollman in a crash.
However, despite MMS ideally wanting Vaughn in the racecar, no deal has been signed, with a Vaughn spokesperson telling Frontstretch, “A couple of options have popped up but no definite decisions have been made.”
Silly season will continue, but one fact is certain: ARCA will go at least 21 years without a back-to-back national division champion.
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.
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