The 2020 ARCA Menards Series season was the 68th season of the ARCA Menards Series. It began on February 8 with the Lucas Oil 200 at Daytona International Speedway and ended on October 16 with the Speediatrics 150 at Kansas Speedway. 2020 was the first season that the series was sanctioned by NASCAR.
Bret Holmes won the drivers championship, his first ARCA title.
When the season was put on hold due to the COVID-19 pandemic, drivers from all NASCAR series, including a few ARCA drivers, participated in the inaugural eNASCAR iRacing Pro Invitational Series during that time.
Teams and drivers Complete schedule Manufacturer Team Driver Crew chief Ford DGR-Crosley 4 Hailie Deegan (R) Seth Smith 17 Tanner Gray Blake Bainbridge Taylor Gray Anthony Alfredo Dylan Lupton Marcus Richmond Toyota Joe Gibbs Racing 18 Riley Herbst Mark McFarland Ty Gibbs Venturini Motorsports 15 Drew Dollar (R) Shannon Rursch 20 Ryan Repko Billy Venturini Chandler Smith Jesse Love Corey Heim 25 Michael Self Kevin Reed Toyota Ford Chevrolet 10 Corey Heim Kevin Reed Jr. Fast Track Racing Ryan Huff Dick Doheny Mike Sroufe Kevin Cram Trey Galgon Tim Monroe Mike Basham Morgen Baird Owen Smith Tim Monroe Rick Clifton Toyota Ford Chevrolet 11 Chuck Hiers David Ifft Dawson Cram Clinton Cram Willie Mullins Dick Doheny Trey Galgon Tony Furr Mike Sroufe Tim Monroe Clay Greenfield Mike Basham Dick Doheny Tyler Hill Owen Smith Tim Monroe Rick Clifton Richard Garvie Chevrolet Toyota 12 Jason White Mike Sroufe Ryan London Trey Galgon Ryan Forsythe Tom Berte Ed Pompa Dick Doheny Rick Clifton Armani Williams Nick Igdalsky Max Calles Mike Basham Owen Smith D. L. Wilson Chad Bryant Racing Kris Wright Entries were fielded in a collaboration with GMS Racing. Donnie Richeson Venturini Motorsports Corey Heim Dave Leiner Jr. Chevrolet Toyota Ford Bret Holmes Racing 23 Bret Holmes Shane Huffman Toyota Chevrolet Wayne Peterson Racing 06 Tim Richmond Brad Frye Wayne Peterson Michael Peterson Don Thompson Con Nicolopoulos
Limited schedule Manufacturer Team Driver Crew chief Rounds Chevrolet Allgaier Motorsports 16 Kelly Kovski Jon Hanson Brad Smith Motorsports 48 Brad Smith Leo Kryger Terry Strange Jeff Smith Arlis Basham Carlos Leon Carl Brown Brother-In-Law Racing 57 Bryan Dauzat Bob Rahilly Charles Buchanan Racing 87 Chuck Buchanan Jr. Craig Wood Cook-Finley Racing 41 Kyle SiegEntries was fielded in a collaboration with RSS Racing. Sean Samuels Amber Slagle CR7 Motorsports 97 Jason Kitzmiller Doug George Todd Myers Empire Racing 8 Sean Corr Derick Hartnagel Mike Cheek 82 John Ferrier Racing 01 John Ferrier Jeff McClure GMS Racing 21 Sam Mayer Mardy Lindley Kris Wright Hendren Motorsports 24 Ryan Unzicker Bill Hendren KBR Development 28 David Gravel Frank Kimmel Max Force Racing 9 Thomas Praytor Tevin Bair Our Motorsports 02 Andy Seuss John Merlo 09 Benny Chastain Bob Schacht Reeves Racing 88 Scott Reeves Brian Finney Robert Pawlowski Racing Robert Pawlowski Aaron Brown Spraker Racing Enterprises 63 Dave Mader III Jeff Spraker Steve McGowan Motorsports Zane Smith Bruce Cook Will Rodgers Visconti Motorsports 74 Giovanni Bromante Steven Keller Austin Green Ayrton Ori Wayne Peterson Racing 0 Con Nicolopoulos Michael Peterson Wayne Peterson Win-Tron Racing 32 Gus Dean Jamie Jones Howie DiSavino III Chad Bryant Racing 22 Kris Wright Paul Andrews Ford Connor Hall Christian McGhee Brandon Lynn Derek Griffith Kody Swanson Parker Chase 77 Jacob Heafner Chad Bryant Fast Track Racing Mike Basham Mike Sroufe DGR-Crosley 46 Thad Moffitt Derek Smith Ken Schrader Racing with Fury Race Cars 52 Natalie Decker Tony Eury Jr. Mullins Racing 3 Willie Mullins Tony Furr Rette Jones Racing 30 Dominique Van Wieringen Logan Yiengst Toyota Bill McAnally Racing Lawless Alan Gary Collins 16 Gio Scelzi John Camilleri 19 Jesse Love Kyle Wolosek Jason Dickerson 99 Gracie Trotter Roger Bracken Hattori Racing Enterprises 1 Max McLaughlin Dave McCarty J. J. Pack Racing 61 J. J. Pack Dan Givins Performance P-1 Motorsports 77 Takuma Koga Ron Norman Rev Racing Chase Cabre Glenn Parker 6 Nick Sanchez Steve Plattenberger TC Motorsports 91 Justin Carroll Jim Long Troy Williams Racing Max Gutiérrez Troy Williams Venturini Motorsports Mason Diaz Dave Leiner Jr. Ford Toyota Chevrolet CCM Racing 7 Eric Caudell Jeremy Petty Chevrolet Toyota Cook-Finley Racing 42 Kyle Sieg Sean Samuels Parker Retzlaff Ford Toyota Chevrolet Fast Track Racing 01 Armani Williams Dick Doheny Tommy Vigh Jr. Trey Galgon Mike Basham Alex Clubb Brian Clubb Ford Toyota Chevrolet Kimmel Racing 69 Scott Melton Bill Kimmel Brian FinneyEntry was fielded in a collaboration with Finney Racing Enterprises. Eric CaudellEntry was fielded in a collaboration with CCM Racing. Will Kimmel Toyota Ford Russ Lane RacingEntries were fielded in a collaboration with Empire Racing and using Empire Racing's owner points. 8 Russ Lane Derick Hartnagel Mike Cheek
Notes
Changes Teams On November 20, 2019, it was announced that longtime East Series team Rev Racing would run in the ARCA Series for the first time, fielding two cars during Sioux Chief Showdown races. On December 17, 2019, DGR-Crosley announced an expansion to a full-time ARCA effort, a step up from previous part-time schedules. They had previously only run part-time in the series with their No. 54 in both 2018 and 2019 as well as the No. 4 in 2019. On May 9, 2020, KBR Development announced that the team closed. The team fielded an entry for David Gravel in one of two 2020 races that occurred before the team's closure.
Drivers On November 14, 2019, it was announced that 2019 series champion Christian Eckes would move up to the Truck Series full-time for Kyle Busch Motorsports starting in 2020. On November 20, 2019, it was announced that Chase Cabre and Nick Sanchez would drive two cars for Rev Racing in the Sioux Chief Showdown races. On December 10, 2019, it was announced that 2019 part-time driver Ty Majeski would compete full-time in the NASCAR Gander RV & Outdoors Truck Series in 2020. On December 17, 2019, Hailie Deegan announced a full-season Rookie of the Year campaign with DGR-Crosley in 2020, moving over from a part-time schedule with Venturini Motorsports in 2019. On December 18, 2019, it was announced that Drew Dollar would run a full schedule for Venturini, moving over from a part-time schedule with DGR-Crosley in 2019. On December 18, 2019, it was announced that Taylor Gray would make his debut and run all races he was eligible for after his 15th birthday, running with DGR-Crosley. On December 20, 2019, it was announced that Ryan Repko would drive the No. 20 for Venturini Motorsports in five races, sharing the car with Chandler Smith. On December 23, 2019, it was announced that Tim Richmond, who drove most of the season for Wayne Peterson Racing in 2019, would run full-time for the team in 2020. Richmond later scaled back to a part-time schedule for the team. On January 2, 2020, Bobby Gerhart announced his exit as a driver from the series following a heart attack. On January 5, 2020, Travis Braden revealed that he would not run full-time in the series in 2020 after driving the No. 27 for RFMS Racing for the last two years, instead focusing on late model racing. Thad Moffitt switched teams for his part-time schedule, moving from Empire Racing in 2019 to DGR-Crosley in 2020. On January 10, 2020, it was announced that World of Outlaws driver David Gravel would run some ARCA races, including Daytona, in the No. 28 for KBR Development in addition to competing in the Truck Series part-time for GMS Racing this season. On January 16, 2020, it was announced that Corey Heim signed with Venturini Motorsports for a limited schedule in 2020; Heim raced with Chad Bryant Racing in 2019. On January 18, 2020, Scott Melton announced he was scaling back his schedule for 2020 compared to 2019.
Crew chiefs On December 18, 2019, it was announced that Shannon Rursch would be the crew chief of the No. 15 Venturini team, replacing Kevin Reed. In 2019, Rursch crew chiefed Venturini's No. 25 car. On January 23, 2020, it was announced that Reed would be the crew chief of the Venturini Motorsports No. 25 car, making it a crew chief swap with Rursch.
Manufacturers On December 11, 2019, DGR-Crosley announced that they would be switching from Toyota to Ford beginning in 2020.
Rule changes ARCA adopted the current NASCAR points system after using the 1975-2010 NASCAR points system up until 2019. Additionally, steel-bodied cars were phased out entirely in favor of composite-bodied cars, which also saw the end of Dodge's presence in the series due to a lack of a composite body.
Schedule The complete schedule was released on October 10, 2019. That came after a soft reveal of some Sioux Chief Showdown tracks on October 2.
No. Race title Track Date 1 Lucas Oil 200 Daytona International Speedway, Daytona Beach February 8 2 General Tire 150 Phoenix Raceway, Avondale March 6 3 General Tire 200 Talladega Superspeedway, Talladega June 20 4 General Tire #AnywhereIsPossible 200 Pocono Raceway, Long Pond June 26 5 Calypso Lemonade 200 Lucas Oil Raceway, Brownsburg July 3 6 General Tire 150 Kentucky Speedway, Sparta July 11 7 Shore Lunch 150 Iowa Speedway, Newton July 18 8 Dawn Ultra 150 Kansas Speedway, Kansas City July 24 9 Menards.com 200 presented by XPxEThe two races at Toledo replaced the races at Mid-Ohio and Elko, the Mid-Ohio 50 and the Elko 250, respectively. Toledo Speedway, Toledo July 31 10 Menards 200 presented by Crosley Brands August 1–2 11 VizCom 200 Michigan International Speedway, Brooklyn August 9 12 General Tire 100 Daytona International Speedway (Road Course), Daytona Beach August 14 13 Dutch Boy 150 World Wide Technology Raceway, Madison August 29 14 Zinsser SmartCoat 200 Lebanon I-44 Speedway, Lebanon September 5 15 Royal Truck & Trailer 200 Toledo Speedway, Toledo September 12 16 Bush's Beans 200 Bristol Motor Speedway, Bristol September 17 17 Toyota 200 presented by Crosley Brands Winchester Speedway, Winchester September 19 18 Sioux Chief PowerPEX 200 Memphis International Raceway, Millington September 26 19 Illinois Truck & Equipment Allen Crowe 100 Illinois State Fairgrounds Racetrack, Springfield October 4 20 Speediatrics 150 Kansas Speedway, Kansas City October 16
Races highlighted in gold are combination events with the ARCA Menards Series East.
The season was paused from March to June due to the COVID-19 pandemic. A number of races were cancelled, rescheduled, or shifted to other tracks as a result of the pandemic.
Broadcasting Fox and MAVTV continued to share broadcasting rights to the schedule, consistent with previous years.
Results and standings Races