TOLEDO, Ohio (June 2, 2017) — The ARCA Racing Series presented by Menards is headed back to Michigan Int’l Speedway for the 36th running of the Corrigan Oil 200 Friday, June 16. The Corrigan Oil 200, live on FS1, serves as the weekend show-opener for the Sunday afternoon grand finale – the Monster Energy NASCAR Cup Series FireKeepers Casino 400.
Entries are pouring in for the annual ARCA classic on the renowned 2-mile Michigan tri-oval.
Venturini Motorsports is already entered with three cars — Easley, South Carolina’s Kyle Benjamin in the No. 15 Toyota and Huntington Beach, Calif.’s Zane Smith in the No. 55 Toyota. The team’s flagship car, the 25, is currently listed as a TBA. Benjamin is a two-time ARCA winner with victories at Madison and Salem. Benjamin also finished third at Michigan in 2016 as a teammate to race winner Brandon Jones. Smith recently finished a career-best fourth at Toledo.
Cunningham Motorsports is matching Venturini’s effort at Michigan with three entries of their own. Championship contenders Dalton Sargeant (No. 77 Big Tine Ford) and Shane Lee (No. 22 Big Tine Ford), currently second and third and championship standings respectively, are running full seasons. Sargeant’s from Boca Raton, Fla. while Lee comes from Newton, N.C. The third entry for Cunningham Motorsports for Michigan is Seymour, Wisconsin’s Ty Majeski. Majeski, under the Roush Fenway Racing driver development plan, is a three-time ARCA Midwest Tour late model champion.
Current ARCA Racing Series presented by Menards championship leader Austin Theriault (left) is also entered in the No. 52 Ford for Ken Schrader Racing. Theriault, who opened the ’17 season with a victory at Daytona, won the ARCA race at Michigan in his ARCA debut in 2014. Theriault hails from Fort Kent, Maine.
St. Johns, Michigan’s Chad Finley has also filed an entry. Finley is a second-generation ARCA driver who won his career-first ARCA Racing Series event earlier this year at Fairgrounds Speedway Nashville. Finley has just one other ARCA start in 2017, finishing third at Toledo Speedway in late May. Finley’s dad Jeff Finley won an ARCA race on the DuQuoin State Fairgrounds dirt mile in 1999.
Other early entries include Munford, Alabama’s Bret Holmes, considered to be a next-generation member of the infamous Alabama Gang, first made popular by the likes of Bobby, Donnie and Davey Allison, Red Farmer and Neil Bonnett. 2015 ARCA national champion Grant Enfinger is also considered a member.
Also entered is Bluffton, S.C.’s Gus Dean, who won in only his second ARCA start at Talladega Superspeedway in 2016. Dean, No. 32 Toyota, drives for 3-time ASA national champion Kevin Cywinski, owner of the Win-Tron Racing team. Win-Tron has also entered a second car (No. 33), expected to be driven by Fletcher, N.C.’s Justin Fontaine.
An entry has also been received from Joe Gibbs Racing, the team’s No. 18 Toyota expected to be driven by Las Vegas, Nevada’s Riley Herbst. Herbst finished a career-best fifth at Toledo in May.
Additional entries are Thomas Praytor (Mobile, Ala.), AJ Fike (Galesburg, Ill.), David Sear (La Jolla, Calif.), Nick Higdon (Big Clifty, Ky.), Jeffery MacZink (Brownstown, Mich.) and Kyle Weatherman (Wentzville, Mo.). Both Fike and Weatherman are former ARCA winners, Fike winning on the Springfield dirt mile in 2015 with Weatherman (left) winning on the New Jersey Motorsports Park road course in 2015. Fike drives for his family-owned team while Weatherman wheels for the 2014 ARCA championship team, Mason Mitchell Motorsports.
Located in the Irish Hills of Brooklyn, Michigan, the renowned two-mile superspeedway is about an hour away from ARCA’s Temperance, Michigan-based home office, and has long been considered the tour’s hometown superspeedway. The ARCA sanction, in its 65th consecutive season, is well known and established in the area.
ARCA’s relationship with Michigan reaches back to 1980 when Joe Ruttman won the inaugural ARCA race event from the pole. Other former Michigan ARCA winners over the decades include Bob Keselowski, Jeff Purvis, Tim Steele, Frank Kimmel, Kerry Earnhardt, Casey Mears, Reed Sorenson, Steve Wallace, Parker Kligerman, Ty Dillon, Chris Buescher and Ross Kenseth. Brandon Jones is the most recent ARCA winner at Michigan, winning in 2016. There hasn’t been a repeat ARCA winner at Michigan since Steele pulled off the feat in 1996 and 1997.
The on-track action begins Thursday, June 15 with practice from 1 – 3 p.m. General Tire Pole Qualifying starts at 1:40 p.m. Friday afternoon. The Corrigan Oil 200 is scheduled to get underway Friday at 6 with live coverage on FS1. ARCAracing.com will provide live timing, scoring and chat.
