ARCA Menards Series

The Race: Menards 250

The Place: Elko Speedway

The Date: Saturday, June 24, 2023

The Time: 9 pm ET

TV: Live, FS2, 9 pm ET

Distance: 250 Laps/93.75 Miles

 

  • The Menards 250 will be the seventh race of 20 for the ARCA Menards Series in 2023 and the second consecutive race contested on a short track. At just 0.375 miles in length, Elko Speedway is the shortest track on the ARCA Menards Series schedule.
  • Eden Prairie, Minnesota native William Sawalich earned his first career ARCA Menards Series victory last Saturday night at Berlin Raceway in Marne, Michigan.
  • Driving for Joe Gibbs Racing, Sawalich leads the ARCA Menards Series East championship standings with two wins so far in 2023 at Five Flags Speedway in Pensacola, Florida and Flat Rock Speedway in Michigan. His win at Berlin came in his second ARCA Menards Series start. Sawalich started from the General Tire Pole in his series debut at Phoenix Raceway in March; he finished 13th after a late-race spin while battling for the lead.
  • Saturday’s Menards 250 will be the ninth ARCA Menards Series race at Elko Speedway dating back to 2012. Previous winners include Brennan Poole (2012), Frank Kimmel (2013), Grant Enfinger (2014), Austin Theriault (2017), Gus Dean (2018), Chandler Smith (2019), Corey Heim (2021), and Sammy Smith (2022).
  • Two-time ARCA Menards Series West champion Jesse Love leads the ARCA Menards Series championship standings by 20 points over Hollywood superstar Frankie Muniz.
  • Love led 197 laps at Berlin Raceway; he lost the lead to Sawalich coming to the white flag at Berlin and was relegated to a runner-up finish. Love entered the Berlin race on a three-race win streak, taking victories at Talladega Superspeedway, Kansas Speedway, and Charlotte Motor Speedway. Love finished second last year at Elko.
  • Muniz, the star of “Malcolm in the Middle” and Agent Cody Banks will make his second career ARCA Menards Series start on a short track; he finished sixth at Berlin. Muniz has completed all but two of the 719 possible laps of competition so far in 2023.
  • Love has led 433 laps so far in 2023, more than four times more than Sawalich, who is second in the category with 97 laps led.
  • Current NASCAR Cup Series star Justin Haley holds the Elko Speedway track qualifying record at 14.282 seconds/94.525 miles per hour, set in 2014.
  • Brennan Poole holds the record for the fastest race at Elko Speedway, winning in 2012 with a 74.090 mile per hour average speed.
  • No driver has earned their first career ARCA Menards Series win at Elko Speedway. 
  • The record for the most cautions in an ARCA Menards Series race at Elko Speedway is eight, three times, in 2013, 2017, and 2018.
  • The fewest number of cautions in an ARCA Menards Series race at Elko Speedway was four, in a 200-lap race in 2012.
  • Last year’s race was slowed by caution a total of six times for 40 laps. The record for the most laps under caution is 62 in races in 2018 and 2019.
  • Should the race need to be extended into overtime, there will be unlimited attempts at a two-lap “green-white-checkered” 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 together” finish.