- A total of 82 drivers and 49 different racecars made at least one lap during Friday and Saturday’s two-day Pre-Race Practice leading into the ARCA Menards Series season opener at Daytona International Speedway. The number of participating drivers and cars are the highest since 2012.
- Gus Dean (No. 25 Nitro Motorsports Toyota), the 2024 winner at Daytona, made his first laps at the track since he went to victory lane two years ago. Dean quickly showed he hasn’t lost a step, setting the quickest lap of the weekend at 48.744 seconds/184.638 miles per hour.
- The seven quickest laps of the weekend were turned at the end of the day on Friday when the six Nitro Motorsports teammates hooked up in a tight draft for several laps. Dean was followed by Gavan Boschele, 2024 Talladega Superspeedway winner Jake Finch, 2025 Lime Rock Park winner and 2024 Daytona runner-up Thomas Annunziata, reigning ARCA Menards Series Bounty Rookie of the Year Isabella Robusto, and Jake Bollman, all in Nitro Motorsports entries. YouTube superstar Garrett Mitchell (No. 30 Kenetix Ford), known to his legion of fans at Cleetus McFarland, was seventh quickest as he tagged on to the tail of that draft.
- Austin Green (No. 82 Pinnacle Racing Group Chevrolet) was on top of the speed charts on Saturday, timing in at 49.202 seconds/182.919 miles per hour. Green is expected to contend for the NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series rookie of the year award in 2026.
- Reigning ASA STARS National Tour champion Cole Butcher (No. 30 Rette Jones Racing Ford) was second quickest on Saturday. Butcher made laps in the same car Garrett Mitchell piloted on Friday, a car originally constructed by Chip Ganassi Racing in 1999 and famously driven by Sterling Marlin in the 2002 Daytona 500. Marlin was leading the race when he got out of the car under a late-race red flag and tugged on the right front fender, which is not allowed per NASCAR rules. The car has been a part of the Rette Jones Racing fleet for nearly 15 years and has finished in the top five at Daytona twice, once with team co-owner Terry Jones in 2017 and third with fellow Canadian Grant Quinlan in 2019.
- Timothy “Mini” Tyrell (No. 17 Cook Racing Technologies Chevrolet)
- Eight female drivers participated over the course of the two days of track activity, led by Isabella Robusto who was fifth overall. Amber Balcaen (No. 24 Sigma Performance Services Ford) was 13th overall, with Taylor Reimer (No. 77 Spire Motorsports Chevrolet) in 16th. Alli Owens (No. 68 Kimmel Racing Ford) made her first laps at Daytona in 16 years and was 19th overall, Jade Avedisian (No. 90 Nitro Motorsports Toyota) made her first laps ever at Daytona and was 25th overall. Sanford, Florida native Logan Misuraca (No. 85 City Garage Motorsports Ford) was 49th overall, while her teammates Quinn Davis and Becca Monopoli shared the No. 5 car and were 68th and 71st respectively. Avedisian, Misuraca, Davis, and Monopoli worked solely on single car runs and did not run any laps in the draft.
- Reigning ARCA Menards Series West Bounty Rookie of the Year Robbie Kennealy was the fastest of the six participating Road to Daytona drivers, all of whom made laps in cars prepared by Andy Hillenburg, the 1995 and 1997 ARCA Menards Series winner at Daytona. Each of the drivers, Kennealy, Brad May, Albert Francis, Craig Lutz, Hudson Bulger, and Kody King, all ran approximately 100 miles at speed in single-car conditions, their first-ever laps around Daytona International Speedway.
- Joe Gibbs Racing had two drivers on track on Friday. Giovanni Ruggiero will return in February with the team in an attempt to give the organization its first ARCA Menards Series victory at the track. Sixteen-year-old Max Reaves, who won five times across the ARCA Menards Series platform in 2025, also made his first laps at the track under the tutelage of 2000 NASCAR Cup Series champion Bobby Labonte.
- Michael Maples Motorsports arrived at Daytona with four racecars, with Ryan Vargas leading the way in 23rd overall. Team owner Michael Maples was 40th.
- There were only two on-track incidents over the course of the two days, and both happened within minutes of each other on Friday. First, Amber Balcaen punctured a left rear tire in the tri-oval sending her into a spin. She made contact with the front of the car, necessitating a move to the team’s backup car to finish the day. The second happened moments after the track went back green when Bob Martin (No. 52 Martin Racing Toyota) had the car jump out from underneath him exiting turn two. Neither driver was injured.
- The ARCA Menards Series returns to Daytona International Speedway in February for the 63rd Annual Daytona ARCA 200. On-track activity starts with practice on Thursday, February 12, with the starting field determined in qualifying on Friday, February 13. The Daytona ARCA 200 is set for noon on Saturday, February 14 and will be televised live on FOX. The race will also be broadcast on select affiliates of the MRN Radio network nationwide and can be heard on SiriusXM NASCAR Radio Channel 90. Live timing & scoring data for all on-track activities can be found at ARCARacing.com; follow @ARCA_Racing on X (formerly Twitter) for up-to-the-minute updates.
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 and regional tour racing all across the country, the organization to sanctions over 100 races per year in the ARCA Menards Series, ARCA Menards Series East, ARCA Menards Series West, ASA STARS National Tour, ASA CRA Super Series, ASA Midwest Tour, ASA Southern Super Series plus weekly racing at Toledo and Flat Rock Speedways. For more information about ARCA visit , or follow ARCA on Facebook (@ARCARacing) and Twitter (@ARCA_Racing).
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