THE RACE: Desert Diamond Casino West Valley 100
THE PLACE: Phoenix Raceway
THE DATE: Saturday, Oct. 17, 2026
THE TIME: 11 pm ET / 8 pm PT
TV: FloRacing, Live
ARCA Menards Series West at The Bullring at Phoenix Raceway:
Desert Diamond Casino West Valley 100 Pre-race Notes
- The ARCA Menards Series West heads to Phoenix Raceway for round 12 of its 13-race 2026 season. It is the second time the series has raced at Phoenix this year, and the 57th time in history the series has raced at the one-mile oval.
- Trevor Huddleston (No. 50 High Point Racing / Racecar Factory Ford) enters the Desert Diamond Casino West Valley 100 with a 40-point lead over Robbie Kennealy (No. 1 Jan’s Towing / Jan’s Racing Ford) with just two races remaining in the 2026 ARCA Menards West season. Huddleston finished a career-best fourth at Phoenix in March, while Kennealy has three straight Phoenix top-ten finishes including a sixth-place result in this race last fall.
- Carson Brown won the ARCA Menards Series / ARCA Menards West combination race at Phoenix Raceway in March, holding off a hard charge from his Pinnacle Racing Group teammate Tristan McKee. PRG has entered two cars in the Desert Diamond Casino West Valley 100, but neither Brown nor McKee will be behind the wheel. Helio Meza (No. 28 Alessandros / Heraldo Media Chevrolet) will make his second ARCA Menards West start for the team this week; he started from the Sioux Chief PowerPEX Pole in his debut at The Bullring at Las Vegas Motor Speedway last week before being derailed by a cut tire. He will be joined by Taylor Reimer (No. 82 Fre Nicotine Pouches Chevrolet), who finished 12th in this race last year driving for Nitro Motorsports.
- Max Reaves (No. 18 Cook Out Toyota) will be looking to close Joe Gibbs Racing’s chapter in the ARCA Menards Series platform with its eleventh win of the 2026 season. Reaves has scored four ARCA Menards Series wins and two in the ARCA Menards East, while teammate Gio Ruggiero has four ARCA Menards Series wins as well. The team has announced it will cease ARCA Menards Series operations to focus on its NASCAR O’Reilly Auto Parts Series teams in 2027. Reaves finished ninth in his only previous start at Phoenix in March.
- The Bill McAnally Racing duo of Hailie Deegan (No. 16 Monster Chevrolet) and Mason Massey (No. 19 Mongoose Power Solutions Chevrolet) looks to rebound from a disappointing end to their collective night at The Bullring at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. Deegan suffered from a cut tire that sent her into the outside wall as the leader was coming to take the white flag that sent the race into overtime, resulting in a 16th-place finish. Massey looked to capitalize on the overtime attempt and was battling for the win off the final corner when he and Kennealy came together, sending him up the track and into Huddleston, with both drivers spinning out of contention. Massey recovered to finish sixth but fell to third in the ARCA Menards West standings. Deegan has a best finish of fourth at Phoenix in 2019, while Massey finished fifth at Phoenix in March, his only previous West start at the track.
- Nitro Motorsports has entered six drivers in the Desert Diamond Casino West Valley 100: Landon Brown (No. 10 University of Kentucky Toyota), Mia Lovell (No. 15 Pine Health Toyota), Kasey Kleyn (No. 20 Thaemert Farms Toyota), Gavan Boschele (No. 25 Toyota Racing Toyota), Jade Avedisian (No. 70 Mobil 1 Toyota) and Wesley Slimp (No. 90 Road Ready Foundation Toyota). Brown and Kleyn will be making their West series debut.
- Dystany Spurlock (No. 66 Charles Schwab Bank Ford) will make her ARCA Menards West debut in the Desert Diamond Casino West Valley 100. She finished seventh in her ARCA Menards East debut at Hickory Speedway and tenth in her ARCA Menards Series debut at Kansas Speedway earlier this season.
- There are an ARCA Menards West record six female drivers entered: Isabella Robusto (No. 2 Random Racing Club / PHOOZY / Roto-Rooter Toyota), Mia Lovell, Hailie Deegan, Dystany Spurlock, Jade Avedisian, and Taylor Reimer. The previous record, set at The Bullring at Las Vegas Motor Speedway in 2021, was five (Jolynn Wilkinson, Mariah Boudrieau, Bridget Burgess, Amber Slagle, and Amber Balcaen).
- The race will be conducted under the Break Pit Stop format; there will be a scheduled caution at or near lap 50 with a five-minute break to allow teams to change tires, add fuel, make adjustments and/or any repairs. The teams will be allotted ten tires to use how they see fit for the event.
- Previous ARCA Menards West winners at Phoenix Raceway include Cale Yarborough (1977), Richard Petty (1978, 1980, 1981), Neil Bonnett (1979), Bobby Allison (1982), Ron Eaton (1983), Bill Schmitt (1984), Rich Woodland (1998), Mike Wallace (1999), Kevin Richards (2000), Ken Schrader (2001, 203, 2004, 2006), Austin Cameron (2002), Scott Lynch (2003, 2004), David Gilliland (2005, 2020), Burney Lamar (2005), Andrew Myers (2006), Joey Logano (2007), Mike David (2008), Jason Bowles (2009), Eric Holmes (2010), Greg Pursley (2010, 2011, 2013), Ryan Blaney (2012), David Mayhew (2012), Michael Self (2012), gray Gaulding (2013), Cole Custer (2014), Nick Drake (2014), Todd Gilliland (2015), Ty Gibbs (2019, 2021 – 2), Taylor Gray (2022), Sammy Smith (2022), Tyler Reif (2023), William Sawalich (2023, 2024), Connor Zilisch (2024), Brent Crews (2025 -2), and Carson Brown (2026).
- Sammy Smith holds the ARCA Menards West track qualifying record at Phoenix Raceway, set in 2022, at 26.570 seconds / 135.491 miles per hour.
- Scott Lynch holds the ARCA Menards West track race record, set in 2003, at 114.262 miles per hour.
- ARCA Menards West races at Phoenix Raceway have gone into overtime on 14 previous occasions. Should the race be extended into overtime, it will conclude with unlimited attempts at a two-lap green flag followed by white flag followed by checkered flag finish. Should the caution flag be displayed after the white flag is displayed, there will be unlimited attempts at a one-lap green and white flag together followed by checkered flag finish.
- The Desert Diamond Casino West Valley 100 is set for 11 pm ET / 8 pm PT on Saturday, October 17. The race will be streamed live on FloRacing. Live timing & scoring data and live race audio will be available on ARCARacing.com; for up-to-the-minute updates please follow @ARCA_Racing on X (formerly known as Twitter).
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 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 www.arcaracing.com, or follow ARCA on Facebook (@ARCARacing) and Twitter (@ARCA_Racing).
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