18-Year-Old Racer Leads Every Lap From the Pole to Earn Third Career ARCA Victory
Date: Thursday, Sept. 17
Event: Bush’s Best 200
Series: ARCA Menards Series
Location: Bristol (Tenn.) Motor Speedway (.533-mile oval)
Length: 200 laps (106.6 miles)
Start/Finish: 1st / 1st (Running, completed 200 of 200 laps)
Overview:
Carson Brown dominated the Bush’s Best 200 ARCA Menards Series race Thursday night at Bristol (Tenn.) Motor Speedway. The driver of the No. 28 Distributor Wire & Cable Chevrolet for Pinnacle Racing Group (PRG) started from the pole and led all 200 laps to take his third career ARCA victory. Despite the domination, it was far from easy. Brown had to thread his way through lapped traffic during the entire race, and do it quickly as his PRG teammate Tristan McKee was in second place and poised to take advantage of any hiccup, as was third-place Kaden Honeycutt. It never happened. Brown was steady in slicing through the field, taking the checkered flag by a healthy 2.056 seconds over McKee.
Carson Brown, driver of the No. 28 Distributor Wire & Cable Chevrolet for Pinnacle Racing Group:
“This victory ranks pretty high up there, to be honest. Just a big thank you to everyone at Distributor Wire & Cable, RCR, Wise Optimization, Chevrolet and Pinnacle Racing Group, and Derek Nealon, my spotter up there on the tower. He was working his butt off to help me out and be my other set of eyes. Lapped traffic kind of forced me to the top line, and it was rolling really fast there at the end. I was just doing everything I could to move around, chase that top line, and make it as easy as possible to get by some of those lapped cars and not cut anything too close. It was a tough one, and I’m glad I was able to bring it to victory lane for all these guys. We’ve been really strong all year, had a lot of speed. Just been missing this factor, right? Knew that this was one everyone here wanted, and we worked really hard for it.”
Notes:
● This was Brown’s third career win in the ARCA Menards Series. Brown earned his maiden ARCA victory March 5 at Phoenix Raceway when he started from the pole and led every lap. He won his second race Sept. 6 at the DuQuoin (Ill.) State Fairgrounds, where he again started from the pole and led all but 10 of the race’s 100 laps.
● This was Brown’s eighth overall victory of 2026. In addition to his three ARCA wins, Brown has four ASA STARS National Tour victories. He won Feb. 10 at New Smyrna (Fla.) Speedway, March 14 at Five Flags Speedway in Pensacola, Florida, June 21 at Slinger (Wis.) Speedway and July 25 at Newport (Tenn.) Speedway. Brown also earned his first CARS Tour West win Aug. 15 at Evergreen Speedway in Monroe, Washington, by leading every lap from the pole.
● This was Brown’s first start of any kind at Bristol (Tenn.) Motor Speedway. You’d never know it, as Brown led practice with a best time of 15.427 seconds at 124.379 mph, scored the pole with a time of 15.334 seconds at 125.134 mph and won the race by leading all 200 laps.
● This was Brown’s seventh career ARCA pole – a number that includes National and East/West divisions. It was also Brown’s sixth pole in the last three months. Brown won his first ARCA pole March 5 at Phoenix.
● This was Brown’s 17th career ARCA start, a number that includes National and East/West divisions. He has now finished among the top-three 12 times, a mark highlighted by his three wins this season.
Next Up:
It will be back-to-back ARCA races for Brown. The 18-year-old from New London, North Carolina, returns to the developmental series next weekend driving the No. 28 Whelen Chevrolet for Pinnacle Racing Group in the season-ending Menards 150 on Sept. 25 at Kansas Speedway in Kansas City.
