Temperance, MI – (Jan. 5, 2026) – Over 70 drivers are expected to hit the high banks as the 2026 ARCA Menards Series season fires up with its annual Pre-Race Practice at Daytona International Speedway on Friday and Saturday, January 9 and 10.
The entry list for the two days of track activity leading into the season-opening Daytona ARCA 200 is led by pre-season championship favorites Isabella Robusto and Thomas Annunziata, both of whom will be campaigning full-time for Nitro Motorsports. Nitro, led by team principal Nick Tucker, will also field cars for 2024 Daytona winner Gus Dean and 2024 Talladega winner Jake Finch, as well as ARCA Menards Series West winner Jake Bollman. Youngsters Jade Avedisian and Gavan Boschele will also make laps in a Nitro Motorsports Toyota at the pre-race practice.
Reigning championship team Pinnacle Racing Group, who took Brenden “Butterbean” Queen to the title in 2025, will not be chasing the ARCA Menards Series drivers’ championship in 2026 but the team’s Chevrolets will be loaded with talent at Daytona, with drivers Jack Wood, team manager Shane Huffman’s son Landon S. Huffman, Carson Brown, and Taylor Reimer set to make laps. Brown, just 17 years old, will compete for the ARCA Menards Series East championship in 2026.
KLAS Motorsports will be at Daytona with two cars for the first time, as perennial contender and fan favorite Andy Jankowiak looks for his first career series victory with teammate Glen Reen alongside. YouTube superstar Garrett Mitchell, known to his fans as Cletus McFarland, will also return for his second attempt at Daytona in a Ford prepared by Rette Jones Racing.
Former Daytona runner-up finisher and 2024 pole winner Willie Mullins is expected to participate, along with 2012 pole winner and five-time Daytona top-five finisher Sean Corr. Tim Richmond, who started on the front row and finished a career-best fifth at Daytona in 2024, will be on track, as well as Joe Gibbs Racing Toyota drivers Max Reaves and Gio Ruggiero in addition to 2025 ARCA Menards East champion Isaac Kitzmiller.
Andy Hillenburg’s Fast Track High Performance Racing Team will field entries for Presley Sorah, Ed Pompa, Ohio’s Austin Hill, and Takuma Koga in addition to six drivers participating in the ARCA Menards Series Road to Daytona program. Hudson Bulger, Albert Francis, Robbie Kennealy, Kody King, Craig Lutz, and Brad May will all spend half a day on track in a car prepared by Hillenburg, a two-time ARCA Menards Series winner at Daytona in 1995 and 1997.
Live timing and scoring data will be available throughout the two days of track activity via ARCARacing.com.
The 2026 ARCA Menards Series formally launches its 74th season, as it has since 1964, at Daytona International Speedway with practice on Thursday, February 12, Pole Qualifying on Friday, February 13, and the 63rd Annual Daytona ARCA 200 set for 12 noon ET on Saturday, February 14. The race will be televised live on FOX and broadcast nationwide on select affiliates of the MRN Radio Network. Live timing & scoring for all on track sessions is available at ARCARacing.com.
About ARCA
The Automobile Racing Club of America (ARCA), founded in 1953 by John and Mildred Marcum in Toledo, Ohio, and acquired by NASCAR in April 2018, is the leading grassroots stock car sanctioning body in the United States. Bridging the gap between NASCAR’s top three national touring series and weekly racing all across the country, the organization administers more than 100 events annually, including the ARCA Menards Series, ARCA Menards Series East, ARCA Menards Series West, plus weekly racing at Toledo and Flat Rock Speedways. For more information about ARCA visit www.arcaracing.com, or follow ARCA on Facebook (@ARCARacing) and Twitter (@ARCA_Racing).
