TOLEDO, Ohio — Corey Heim became just the third driver to win back-to-back ARCA Menards Series races at Daytona Int’l Speedway with his victory in the Lucas Oil 200 Driven By General Tire.
Bobby Gerhart won nine times at Daytona, consecutively from 2005 through ’07 and again from 2010 through ’12, followed by Grant Enfinger who won back-to-back in 2014 and ’15.
• John Menard, owner of series sponsor Menards, visited the ARCA garage for the first time since Iowa Speedway’s race last summer. Menard and his entourage spent time visiting with drivers, teams and fans before heading to the grandstand side of the track to watch the race.
• Venturini Motorsports earned the organization’s fifth consecutive Daytona victory dating back to Michael Self’s win in 2018. Other winners include Harrison Burton in 2019, Self again in 2020, and Heim in 2021.
• Nine drivers either matched or set a career-best ARCA finish at Daytona: Heim, second-place finisher Parker Chase, fourth-place Sean Corr, sixth-place Andy Jankowiak, ninth-place Toni Breidinger, and 12th-place Dale Quarterley all tied or bettered their previous career best, while 13th-place Brayton Laster, 16th-place Amber Balcaen, and 31st-place Christian Rose all set their career best in their series debuts.
• Daytona 500 winner Austin Cindric, runner-up Bubba Wallace, third-place finisher Chase Briscoe, and fourth-place finisher Ryan Blaney have all won ARCA races. Cindric won at Kentucky Speedway in 2016 and scored two road course wins in the ARCA Menards Series East that season at Virginia Int’l Raceway and Watkins Glen Int’l. Wallace has six career East wins; Briscoe is the 2016 ARCA Menards Series champion with four career series wins and one additional ARCA Menards Series West victory last year at Sonoma Raceway; Blaney won in the ARCA Menards Series West at Phoenix Raceway in 2011.
• Thirty of the 36 cars that started the Lucas Oil 200 Driven By General Tire were running at the finish, and only four were listed as out due to a crash. The ARCA Menards Series starting field at Daytona, 36, is the largest since 39 cars took the green in 2018.
• Heim’s eighth career series win moves him to a tie for 45th on the series’ all-time win list. Others with eight career ARCA Menards Series wins include Jack Shanklin, Charlie Glotzbach, three-time series champion Dave Dayton, NASCAR Hall of Fame member and Daytona 500 winner Davey Allison, Jimmy Horton, Jeff Purvis, Chad Blount, and former series champions Justin Allgaier and Austin Theriault.
• Max Gutierrez was joined on the grid by Mexican businessman, and noted motorsports enthusiast, Carlos Slim. Slim has sponsored several drivers and teams over the years and was instrumental in Daniel Suarez’s NASCAR Xfinity Series championship.
• Sammy Smith scored his fourth career ARCA Menards Series East victory in the season-opening Race to Stop Suicide 200 presented by Place of Hope at New Smyrna Speedway. The top three finishers at New Smyrna were in inverse order of last year. In 2021, Max Gutierrez stole the win on the final lap after Smith and Taylor Gray got into a pushing match in turns three and four, with Gray holding on and Smith finishing third. This year, Smith won with Gray second and Gutierrez in third.
• Leland Honeyman made his East debut driving for Young’s Motorsports and finished an impressive fourth. Logan Misuraca, a former winner and champion at New Smyrna Speedway, made her series debut driving for Josh Williams’ JW Motorsports team and finished a solid sixth.
• Mason Diaz finished sixth at New Smyrna and seventh at Daytona driving for long-time ARCA Menards Series driver-turned-crew chief, and now team owner, Jeff McClure.
• Sammy Smith’s ARCA Menards East win at New Smyrna is the first series career win for Kyle Busch as a team owner. As a driver in the ARCA Menards Series, Busch earned three wins, two in 2003 at Nashville Superspeedway and Kentucky Speedway, and in 2004 at Daytona Int’l Speedway.