2020 ARCA Menards Series East


The 2020 ARCA Menards Series East season is the 34th season of the ARCA Menards Series East, a regional stock car racing series sanctioned by NASCAR. It began on February 10 at New Smyrna Speedway with the Skip's Western Outfitters 175, and will conclude on October 10 at Five Flags Speedway with the Pensacola 200.
2020 marks the first season the series was known as the ARCA Menards Series East, as it was known as the NASCAR K&N Pro Series East for the previous ten years. Sam Mayer enters as defending champion, and will return to seek his second straight title.
When the season was put on hold due to the COVID-19 pandemic, drivers from all NASCAR series, including some ARCA East Series drivers, participated in the eNASCAR iRacing Pro Invitational Series during that time.

Teams and drivers

Complete schedule

Limited schedule

Notes: "E" stands for the ARCA East Series
ManufacturerTeamDriverCrew chiefRounds
ChevroletBen Kennedy Racing43Daniel DyeGlenn Garrison
ChevroletBrad Smith Motorsports48Brad SmithJohn Ward
ChevroletBret Holmes Racing23Bret HolmesShane Huffman
ChevroletConnor Okrzesik Racing14Connor OkrzesikJeff McClure
ChevroletFinney Racing Enterprises80Brian FinneyWally Finney
ChevroletRobert Pawlowski Racing11ERobert PawlowskiAaron Brown
FordChad Bryant Racing2Derek GriffithChad Bryant
FordDGR-CrosleyTBATanner GrayTBA
FordJett Motorsports09Stephen NasseChris Tater
FordMullins Racing3Willie MullinsTony Furr
FordRette Jones Racing30Tristan Van WieringenMark Rette
ToyotaBill McAnally Racing16Giovanni ScelziJohn Camilleri
ToyotaBill McAnally Racing19Jesse LoveKyle Wolosek
ToyotaBill McAnally Racing50Holley HollanHenry Nascimento
ToyotaBill McAnally Racing99Gracie TrotterRoger Bracken
ToyotaBrandon Oakley Racing22Brandon OakleyTBA
ToyotaFast Track Racing11Chuck HiersMike Sroufe
ToyotaFast Track Racing11Mike BashamAndy Hillenburg
ToyotaJoe Gibbs Racing18Ty GibbsMark McFarland
ToyotaTC Motorsports91Justin S. CarrollTerry Carroll
Jim Long
ToyotaVenturini Motorsports20Corey HeimShannon Rursch
ToyotaVenturini Motorsports20Ryan RepkoShannon Rursch

Changes

Teams

Beginning this season, NASCAR allowed ARCA teams in the East, West, and the big 20-race ARCA Menards Series to run the same car number in a race together like in lower levels of racing. This is the first time this has occurred when Chuck Hiers and Robert Pawlowski both used the No. 11 at the East Series opener at New Smyrna, with Pawlowski as the No. 11E. The reason for which teams had the letter "E" or "W" next to their number was because those teams come from the ARCA East and West Series. Previously, under the old format of the NASCAR K&N East and West Series, when teams from both of those series held combination races each year at Iowa Speedway, one team was forced to switch their car number after qualifying if they were slower than the other. For example, the No. 6 Rev Racing team in the East Series and the No. 6 Sunrise Ford Racing team in the West Series would race together, and one of those teams would usually use the No. 66 or No. 69 in the race.

Schedule

On November 6, 2019, NASCAR released the schedule for the 2020 season. As part of the unification of the East and West series with the ARCA Menards Series, the schedule decreased from fourteen races in 2019 to eight races in 2020. The number of races was originally seven, however, an additional race at Fairgrounds Speedway was announced on December 14, 2019.
The races at Memphis International Raceway, Iowa Speedway, Watkins Glen International as well as Bristol Motor Speedway's second race were taken and moved from the East Series schedule to the ARCA Menards Series schedule. All four of those races are also Sioux Chief Showdown events. New Hampshire Motor Speedway, which had two East Series races in 2019, was reduced to have only one race in 2020. Five Flags Speedway, Fairgrounds Speedway and Toledo Speedway were added to the East Series schedule, moving over from the ARCA schedule. Berlin Raceway, which hosted an ARCA race from 1999–2016 and 2018 with an East Series race in 2017 instead, but no race in either series in 2019, was added back on the schedule as an East Series event. The races at South Boston Speedway and World Wide Technology Raceway at Gateway were completely dropped from the schedule. Gateway previously had an East/West combination race as well as an ARCA race, but will now only have one ARCA race, also a Sioux Chief Showdown event.
In terms of TV, NBC will continue to broadcast the East Series schedule on tape delay as they have in the past.
Race start times have yet to be announced.

Schedule changes due to the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic

The Pensacola 200 presented by Inspectra Thermal Solutions, originally scheduled for March 14, was postponed due to the coronavirus It was later announced that all ARCA races would be postponed through May 3, meaning the race at Bristol, which was to be held on April 4, will also have to be run at another time. The race would later be rescheduled to October 10, which made it the season-finale instead of the race at New Hampshire in September.

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.
Bold – Pole position awarded by time. Italics – Pole position set by final practice results or rainout. * – Most laps led.
PosDriverNSMTOLBRINSHBLNDOVNHAFFLPoints
1Sam Mayer1292
2Ty Gibbs31*90
3Nick Sanchez '4579
4Chase Cabre9475
5Parker Retzlaff8773
6Giovanni Bromante '51172
7Max McLaughlin101266
8Justin S. Carroll21661
9Mason Diaz171457
10Robert Pawlowski231055
11Derek Griffith '2*45
12Bret Holmes341
13Stephen Nasse638
14Corey Heim737
15Taylor Gray '836
16Ryan Repko935
17Tristan Van Wieringen 1133
18Jesse Love1232
19Giovanni Scelzi1331
20Mike Basham1331
21Brian Finney1430
22Holley Hollan1529
23Brad Smith1529
24Gracie Trotter1628
25Tanner Gray1826
26Daniel Dye1925
27Willie Mullins2024
28Chuck Hiers2222