LONG POND, Pa. — For the first time since 2023, the ARCA Menards Series will take on the “Tricky Triangle” at Pocono Raceway in Friday’s Sunset Hill Shooting Range 150.
The 60-lap, 150-mile race is set to be the eighth of 20 races for the ARCA Menards Series in 2026 and the 76th for the series – and the 72nd championship points-paying race – at Pocono Raceway since the first in 1969.
The first ARCA Menards Series race at Pocono Raceway in 1969, won by Bobby Watson, was held on the now-defunct three-quarter mile oval. The proceeding 70 races, starting in 1982, have been held on the familiar 2.5-mile three-turn triangle layout.
• There were three non-points invitation-only ARCA Menards Series races held at Pocono Raceway from 1985 through 1987, those races were won by Bob Schacht (1985 and 1987) and Bobby Jacks (1986).
• There have been 32 consecutive ARCA Menards Series races at Pocono Raceway without a repeat winner; with no previous Pocono winners in the field that streak will extend to 33 this week. The last driver to repeat was Frank Kimmel in 2006.
• Jake Bollman (No. 20 Nitro Motorsports Toyota) leads the ARCA Menards Series championship point standings headed into Friday’s Sunset Hill Shooting Range 150. Bollman is coming oƯ a second-place finish in the most recent race at Michigan International Speedway, matching a career-best he set in the season opener at Daytona International Speedway. Bollman’s only finish outside the top ten so far this year was an 18th-place finish at Talladega Superspeedway. Bollman has completed 722 of a possible 723 laps so far this season, only finishing oƯ the lead lap once at Talladega.
• Bollman’s Nitro Motorsports teammate Thomas Annunziata (No. 70 JBL Toyota) moved to second in the ARCA Menards Series standings after his sixth-place finish at Michigan. Annunziata has finished among the top 10 in every ARCA Menards Series race this season except the two drafting tracks, Daytona and Talladega.
• Michigan winner Gio Ruggiero (No. 18 First Auto Group Toyota) will make his fifth ARCA Menards Series start of the season on Friday; Ruggiero’s three career series wins have all come this season at Daytona, Kansas Speedway, and last Friday at Michigan.
• Pinnacle Racing Group will have Carson Brown (No. 28 Distributor Wire and Cable Chevrolet) and Lanie Buice (No. 77 Sunoco Chevrolet) aboard its two entries. Brown has finished first, second, and third in his first three starts this season at Phoenix Raceway, Watkins Glen International, and Toledo Speedway; he became the 39th driver to win in his debut race in ARCA’s modern era (post-1979) with his win at Phoenix. Buice will be making her third start of the season; she has a pair of fifth-place finishes at Kansas and last Friday at Michigan.
• Gavan Boschele (No. 25 Toyota Gazoo Racing Toyota) will make his fourth start of the 2026 season on Friday.
Boschele has finished in the top four in all three previous starts this season, with a pair of fourth-place finishes at Kansas and Watkins Glen International and a career-best third-place finish last week at Michigan.
• In addition to Brown, reigning ARCA Menards East champion Isaac Kitzmiller (No. 79 A.L.L. Construction / Carter CAT Chevrolet) will also make his superspeedway debut on Friday. ARCA Menards Series rules permit drivers 17 years of age and older to compete at Pocono.
• Ryan Vargas (No. 91 Maples Motorsports Ford) dropped a position to third in the ARCA Menards Series standings after a 12th-place finish at Michigan. Vargas was battling for a position in the top ten when he made contact with Sioux Chief PowerPEX Pole Award winner Garrett Mitchell, known to his fans on YouTube as Cleetus McFarland, on lap 52. In a throwback to the sport’s roots, Vargas’ car was towed to Michigan on an open flatbed trailer.
• Dystany Spurlock (No. 66 Foxxtecca Ford) will continue her history-making season with her fourth ARCA Menards Series start of the year in Friday’s Sunset Hill Shooting Range 150. Spurlock became the first Black female driver to race in a nationally-touring stock car series when she raced in the ARCA Menards Series race at Kansas Speedway in April; she finished 10th in her debut and 13th in her most recent appearance last Friday at Michigan.
• Four female drivers are entered in the Sunset Hill Shooting Range 150; in addition to Buice and Spurlock, Isabella Robusto (No. 55 Yahoo! Toyota) and Jade Avedisian (No. 15 Mobil 1 Toyota) are entered. Robusto sits third in the ARCA Menards Series standings with four consecutive top-ten finishes to her credit; Avedisian will be making her third ARCA Menards Series start of the season following a seventh-place finish in her most recent appearance at Kansas in April.
• Bobby Earnhardt (No. 89 Colony Ammo Chevrolet) and RISE Racing will host over 40 cadets from the North Plainfield High School Navy JROTC program at Pocono. The cadets will present colors during Friday’s pre-race activities and have one cadet with every driver on the grid during driver introductions.
