- Gio Ruggiero (No. 18 1st Auto Group Toyota) scored the victory in the ARCA Menards Series’ season-opening General Tire 200 at Daytona International Speedway. Ruggiero held off Jake Bollman (No. 20 SynerFuse Toyota) on a one-lap overtime dash to the checkered to win for the first time in his ARCA Menards Series career.
- Ruggiero has three career NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series starts at Daytona and its sister track, Talladega Superspeedway. His worst finish is second, twice, at Daytona in 2025 and 2026 and he won at Talladega in 2025. It was his first career ARCA Menards Series start at Daytona.
- Bollman turned the fastest lap in Sioux Chief PowerPEX Pole Qualifying, but his time was disallowed after an infraction in post-qualifying technical inspection relegating him to 33rd starting position. Bollman steadily worked his way through the field and missed two big accidents in the final ten laps to score his first career ARCA Menards Series top-five finish.
- Kole Raz (No. 76 Breeze Hydrogen Fuels Ford) narrowly made the race on time, starting in the 32nd position. Raz was bumped into the field when Bollman’s time was disallowed; had that not happened, he would have missed the starting field due to not having enough owner points from 2025 to fall back on. Raz finished a career-best third driving for 2009 ARCA Menards Series championship-winning crew chief Mark Rette and team co-owner Terry Jones, who finished second in the 2017 ARCA Menards Series race at Daytona.
- Hometown hero Daniel Dye (No. 24 Champion Container Ford) restarted on the front row for the final restart but didn’t get help from behind over the final lap and dropped to fourth at the finish. Dye, from nearby Deland, Florida, finished in the top five in both career ARCA Menards Series starts at Daytona; he was third in 2022.
- Glen Reen (No. 07 New Wave Bath Ford) scored his second consecutive top-five finish in the ARCA Menards Series in fifth. Reen, a former regular in the NASCAR Whelen Modified Tour, also finished fourth last year at Watkins Glen International. Reen was joined in the top ten by KLAS Motorsports teammate Andy Jankowiak (No. 71 Dak’s Markets Chevrolet), who finished tenth.
- Jack Wood (No. 28 Road Ranger Chevrolet) finished sixth driving for last year’s race-winning and championship-winning team, Pinnacle Racing Group. Wood’s teammate Taylor Reimer (No. 77 BuzzBalls Chevrolet) was running in the top ten late in the race before being befallen with electrical issues that ended her day in 30th position.
- Jason Kitzmiller was also relegated to the 34th starting position after his qualifying time was disallowed, but he expertly drove to the front of the field and notched his third consecutive top-ten finish at Daytona in seventh.
- Ryan Vargas (No. 91 Maples Motorsports Ford) led for the first time in his ARCA Menards Series career when he crossed the line first to complete lap 24. Despite losing the lead before the completion of the next lap, Vargas stayed in the top ten the rest of the way and came home a career-best eighth.
- Bobby Earnhardt (No. 89 SmartGrid Integrations Chevrolet) kept team owner Tim Goulet’s car in the front half of the field all afternoon, scoring an impressive ninth-place finish. Earnhardt is the only member of the Earnhardt family driving in competition during SpeedWeeks 25 years after the loss of his grandfather Dale Earnhardt on the final lap of the 2001 Daytona 500.
- There were nine different organizations represented in the top ten: Joe Gibbs Racing in first, Nitro Motorsports in second, Rette Jones Racing in third, Sigma Performance Services in fourth, KLAS Motorsports in fifth and tenth, Pinnacle Racing Group in sixth, CR7 Motorsports in seventh. Michael Maples Motorsports in eighth, and RISE Racing in ninth.
- There were seven lead changes among seven drivers; Sioux Chief PowerPEX Pole Award winner Gus Dean led the opening nine laps before ceding the lead to his Nitro Motorsports teammate Isabella Robusto (No. 55 Mobil 1 Toyota). Dye took the lead at lap 20 and led for four laps before Vargas led lad 24. Dye led again from lap 25 through lap 40, while Dean led from lap 41 through 46. Jake Finch (No. 15 Phoenix Toyota) led the most laps of the day, 31, from laps 47 through 78. He crashed from the lead on lap 79, sending the race into overtime and allowing Ruggiero to lead the final four laps.
- Ruggiero’s winning margin of victory was 0.142 seconds; his winning average speed was 107.202 miles per hour. Twenty-three of the race’s 40 starters finished on the lead lap. Thirty-one drivers were still running at the finish; only three were out due to accidents.
- 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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