Ilmor Engineering will be going for its 72nd-consecutive ARCA Racing Series presented by Menards victory. Since the ARCA Ilmor 396 was approved for competition in 2015 it has won all 71 events and earned all 53 General Tire Pole Awards (18 qualifying sessions have been canceled). Ilmor has produced 118 engines for ARCA competition, 44 of which have won at least one race. Over that time span, 43 drivers have scored at least one win, including 26 first time winners. Additionally, there have been 37 different General Tire Pole Award winners, including 20 first timers. Ilmor, which also produces the Chevy Indy V6, will be going for its 325th win in the Verizon IndyCar Series on Sunday.
Chad Bryant Racing, formerly Cunningham Motorsports, is going for its third consecutive win at Iowa Speedway with the No. 77 Ford. Chase Briscoe won in 2016, and Dalton Sargeant won in 2017. The team has three other wins at Iowa including Parker Kligerman in 2009, Tom Hessert in 2010 and Alex Bowman in 2012. Kligerman is now competing part-time in the NASCAR Camping World Truck Series and is an analyst for NBC Sports’ NASCAR coverage; Bowman replaced Dale Earnhardt, Jr. in Hendrick Motorsports’ No. 88 Chevrolet in the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series. Joe Graf, Jr. will pilot the No. 77 Big Tine Ford in Saturday’s Fans with Benefits 150.
Chandler Smith will be making his fifth career ARCA Racing Series start in the No. 20 Smith General Contracting Toyota in the Fans with Benefits 150. He won his last series start in the Herr’s Potato Chips 200 at Madison International Speedway. Smith has started from the General Tire Pole in every ARCA Racing Series start he’s made; he looks to extend that record by becoming the first driver to earn the pole in each of his first five series appearances in the modern era.
Two former ARCA Racing Series presented by Menards champions from the state of Iowa will be at the Fans with Benefits 150. Ramo Stott and Ron Hutcherson, both of whom hailed from Keokuk, will be in attendance and signing autographs in the “Fans with Benefits” Fan Zone inside turn 4 from 5 to 5:30 pm Central on Saturday. They will also greet the drivers as they are introduced prior to the race. Stott is seventh on the all-time ARCA win list with 27; Hutcherson, who only raced three full-time seasons and was a champion in all three, is 25th on the all-time win list with 12 wins. The duo accounted for every ARCA championship from 1970 through 1974.
Another former ARCA champion from Iowa will be making his first series start since this race last season. Mason Mitchell will drive his own No. 98 Mason Mitchell Motorsports Chevrolet in the Fans with Benefits 150. Mitchell is the 2014 ARCA Racing Series presented by Menards champion and the 2015 winner at Iowa.
The Fans with Benefits 150 is scheduled for delayed broadcast on MAVTV. The first showing is scheduled for August 4 at 10 pm ET.
