The 2020 ARCA Menards Series season was the 68th season of the

ARCA Menards Series The ARCA Menards Series is an American stock car racing, stock car series, the premier division of the Automobile Racing Club of America (ARCA). It is considered a minor, semi-professional league of stock car racing, used as a feeder series into ...

. It began on February 8 with the Lucas Oil 200 at

Daytona International Speedway Daytona International Speedway is a race track in Daytona Beach, Florida, Daytona Beach, Florida, United States, about north of Orlando, Florida, Orlando. Since opening in 1959, it has been the home of the Daytona 500, the most prestigious race ...

and ended on October 16 with the Speediatrics 150 at

Kansas Speedway Kansas Speedway (formerly known as Kansas International Speedway in initial planning and construction stages) is a tri-oval Oval track racing#Intermediate, intermediate speedway in Kansas City, Kansas. The track, since its inaugural season of ...

. 2020 was the first season that the series was sanctioned by

NASCAR The National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing, LLC (NASCAR) is an American auto racing sanctioning and operating company that is best known for stock car racing. It is considered to be one of the top ranked motorsports organizations in ...

. Bret Holmes won the drivers championship, his first ARCA title. When the season was put on hold due to the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

, drivers from all NASCAR series, including a few ARCA drivers, participated in the

inaugural In government and politics, inauguration is the process of swearing a person into office and thus making that person the incumbent. Such an inauguration commonly occurs through a formal ceremony or special event, which may also include an inau ...

eNASCAR iRacing Pro Invitational Series eNASCAR was launched in 2018, by the parent company, NASCAR, to act as the Esports arm of the auto-racing body. The organization primarily uses the '' iRacing'' game via a PC platform for organizing its competitions, but has previously used othe ...

during that time.

Teams and drivers

Complete schedule

Limited schedule

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 Kyle Busch Motorsports (KBM) is an American professional dirt racing team that competes in dirt divisions across the United States. They formerly competed in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series, NASCAR Xfinity Series, CARS Tour, CRA Super Series, A ...

starting in

2020 The year 2020 was heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, which led to global Social impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, social and Economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, economic disruption, mass cancellations and postponements of even ...

. * On November 20, 2019, it was announced that Chase Cabre and

Nick Sanchez Nicholas Anthony Sanchez (born June 10, 2001) is an American professional stock car racing driver. He competes full-time in the NASCAR Xfinity Series, driving the No. 48 Chevrolet Camaro (sixth generation), Chevrolet SS for Big Machine Racing and ...

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 Tyler Brad Majeski (born August 18, 1994) is an American professional stock car racing driver. He competes full-time in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series, driving the No. 98 Ford F-150 for ThorSport Racing, as well as in late model racing. He ha ...

would compete full-time in the NASCAR Gander RV & Outdoors Truck Series in 2020. * On December 17, 2019,

Hailie Deegan Hailie Rochelle Deegan (born July 18, 2001) is an American professional auto racing, racing driver who competes in the 2025 Indy NXT driving for HMD Motorsports. She is best known for competing in NASCAR stock car racing, last driving the No. 15 ...

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 Chandler Michael Smith Sr. (born June 26, 2002) is an American professional stock car racing driver. He competes full-time in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series, driving the No. 38 Ford F-Series (fourteenth generation), Ford F-150 for Front Row Mot ...

. * On December 23, 2019, it was announced that

Tim Richmond Timothy Lee Richmond (June 7, 1955 – August 13, 1989) was an American race car driver from Ashland, Ohio. He competed in American Championship Car Racing, IndyCar racing before transferring to NASCAR's Winston Cup Series. Richmond was one o ...

, 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 Robert Peyton Gerhart Jr. (born July 21, 1958) is an American former professional stock car racing driver and businessman. He last competed in the ARCA Menards Series, driving Chevrolet SS for Gerhart Racing and the No. 63 Chevy Silverado for ...

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 Late Model stock car racing, also known as late model racing and late models, refers to a type of auto racing that involves purpose-built cars simultaneously racing against each other primarily on Oval track racing, oval tracks. This type of ra ...

. *

Thad Moffitt Thaddeus Drake Moffitt (born September 12, 2000) is an American professional stock car racing driver. He competes part-time in the ARCA Menards Series, driving the No. 46 Toyota for Nitro Motorsports. He previously competed in the NASCAR Craftsma ...

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 World of Outlaws Sprint Car Series, originally known as the World of Outlaws (often abbreviated WoO) is an American national touring dirt track racing series. It is owned and operated by World Racing Group, and was rebranded when the World of O ...

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 is a Japanese Multinational corporation, multinational Automotive industry, automotive manufacturer headquartered in Toyota City, Aichi, Japan. It was founded by Kiichiro Toyoda and incorporated on August 28, 1937. Toyota is the List of manuf ...

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. * Races highlighted in gold are combination events with the

ARCA Menards Series East The ARCA Menards Series East (formerly known by other names) is a regional stock car racing series owned and operated by the Automobile Racing Club of America (ARCA) and the National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing (NASCAR). Races are h ...

. The season was paused from March to June due to the

. A number of races were cancelled, rescheduled, or shifted to other tracks as a result of the pandemic.

Broadcasting

Fox Foxes are small-to-medium-sized omnivorous mammals belonging to several genera of the family Canidae. They have a flattened skull; upright, triangular ears; a pointed, slightly upturned snout; and a long, bushy tail ("brush"). Twelve species ...

and MAVTV continued to share broadcasting rights to the schedule, consistent with previous years.

Results and standings

Races

Drivers' championship

Note: The pole winner also receives 1 bonus point, similar to the previous ARCA points system used until 2019 and unlike NASCAR. ( key) Bold – Pole position awarded by time. ''Italics'' – Pole position set by final practice results or rainout. * – Most laps led.

References

External links

Official website
{{2020 ARCA Menards ARCA Menards Series seasons

Arca Menards Series The ARCA Menards Series is an American stock car racing, stock car series, the premier division of the Automobile Racing Club of America (ARCA). It is considered a minor, semi-professional league of stock car racing, used as a feeder series into ...