After a barnburner of a finish at Dover Motor Speedway, the ARCA Menards East Series will be rockin’ and rolling as they head into Nashville this Saturday for the ‘Music City 200’ at the famous Fairgrounds Speedway. In the heart of the city, the East Series continues its 2023 season at one of America’s most famous short tracks.
Playing the Classics
Looking back, the ARCA Menards Series first visited the .596 miles short track in 1992, where David Green won. Between 2015 and 2019, the Main ARCA Series made the trek to Music City. Winners included Grant Enfinger, Josh Williams, Zane Smith, and Christian Eckes.
The ARCA Menards Series East made its inaugural visit to the track in 2007 when Matt Kobyluck took home the checkered flag, with the series visiting the track since 2021. Sammy Smith has taken home the trophy in each of the last two seasons.
Tuning up for 200 laps
Heading into the 2023 Music City 250, Joe Gibbs Racing’s rookie driver William Sawalich leads the ARCA East points. The Five Flags winner holds the lead by one point over Dover winner Jake Finch.
Finch will look to continue his momentum after his first career win. Last year’s pole winner will be back behind the wheel of the No. 1 Toyota of his family team Phoenix Racing. The Lynn Haven, Florida native drove for Venturini Motorsports for the opening two races of the season. He’ll look to improve upon his second-place finish last season this weekend.
Luke Fenhaus sits in third place in points, after a second and third-place finish to start the season. After two of eight races, Lavar Scott and Zachary Tinkle round out the top five in the standings.
Tinkle will look to continue his strong start to the season with Fast Track Racing. The Speedway, Indiana native is coming off a career-high sixth-place finish at Dover Motor Speedway.
Rookie Sean Hingorani sits sixth in the standings, just 16 points behind Sawalich. The Newport Beach, California native is hoping to rebound after struggling in the East Series so far this season. Issues at Dover forced the 16-year-old to miss the start of the race, finishing 10th, 42 laps down.
Other notables on the entry list include Brayton Laster, who will be making his debut in the ARCA Menards Series East with Fast Track Racing. Tanner Arms will make his second start of the East Series season in the No. 95 for MAN Motorsports.
Gio Ruggiero, a Late Model standout, will take the wheel of the No. 20 for Venturini Motorsports, in the place of Jake Finch, making his ARCA Menards Series East debut. Stephanie Moyer also returns to the track making her 2023 East Season debut driving for Fast Track.
Official Entry list for the 2023 Music City 200 at Nashville Fairgrounds Speedway
| Entry | # | Driver | Team | Crew Chief |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 01 | Brayton Laster | Fast Track Racing Toyota | Josh Duke |
| 2 | 06 | Nate Moeller | Wayne Peterson Racing Toyota | Wayne Peterson |
| 3 | 1 | Jake Finch | Phoenix Racing Phoenix Construction Toyota | Johnny Allen |
| 4 | 6 | Lavar Scott | Rev Racing Max Siegel Inc. Chevrolet | Jay Lupo |
| 5 | 10 | Tim Monroe | Fast Track Racing Universal Technical Institute Ford | Tim Monroe |
| 6 | 11 | Zachary Tinkle | Fast Track Racing NASCAR Foundation NASCAR Day Giveathon Toyota | Todd Parrott |
| 7 | 12 | Stephanie Moyer | Fast Track Racing Fast Track / UTI Chevrolet | Daylan Hairston |
| 8 | 15 | Sean Hingorani | Venturini Motorsports Toyota | Kevin Reed Jr |
| 9 | 18 | William Sawalich | Joe GIbbs Racing Starkey / SoundGear | Matt Ross |
| 10 | 20 | Gio Ruggerio | Venturini Motorsports Toyota | Shannon Rursch |
| 11 | 28 | Luke Fenhaus | Pinnacle Racing Group Chevrolet | Shane Huffman |
| 12 | 31 | Rita Goulet | Rise Motorsports inspirerealchange.org Chevrolet | Tim Goulet |
| 13 | 48 | Brad Smith | Brad Smith Motorsports Copraya Ford | Jeff Smith |
| 14 | 95 | Tanner Arms | MAN Motorsports Sunset Park RV Manufacturing Toyota | Tony Ponkauskas |
| 15 | 98 | Dale Shearer | ShearerSpeed Toyota | TBA |
You can catch the Music City 200 live on FloRacing at 9:30 EST on Saturday, May 13th.
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